From the Editor

Abstract

From the Editor Alberto Varon (bio) The politics of gender are on full open display as I write these words. Or perhaps more specifically, it is the politicization of gender that has exploded, again, onto the national discourse. Just this week, a Supreme Court document that purportedly lays the case for overturning decades of reproductive rights legal precedent was leaked. Although the outcome of this disclosure remains to be seen, and more importantly, we are yet to see the eventual Court ruling, which will have widespread consequence, the leaked document has triggered a mass public response from both ends of the political debate. Numerous state legislatures have already moved to further restrict access to legal abortion, while scholars and journalists have called into question the legal arguments informing Justice Alito's draft majority opinion. On both sides, debates in the medical profession and practice are now rendered legal evidence. It seems increasingly likely that women's control over their own lives and bodies will be restricted, which will disproportionately impact the underresourced and women of color, particularly in states with traditionally conservative governments. It is a stunning politicization of the institution that historically has maintained an image of objectivity, yet the event has made clear the importance of culture in all facets of democratic political life. This attack on women's rights is not in isolation, but a counterpoint to other assaults on gender freedom across the US and the Americas. Rather than forming part of a broader movement or indicating a general direction of social consensus, what is occurring in the US runs counter to recent gains on reproductive rights in places like Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, for example. These events are part of larger movements toward gender equality that intersect with issues of immigration, economics, organized crime, and violence extending across the hemisphere. It remains unclear how the eventual Supreme Court ruling might influence these gains. We have witnessed a decades-long femicide along the US-Mexico border impacting women's mobility and liberty. In Mexico alone, thousands of people disappear each year, and prosecution or justice is infrequent. These horrific events require new forms of thinking, new frameworks for gender and sexuality. These concerns shape the cultural backdrop against which we release this issue of Chiricú Journal. Indeed, gender is at the forefront of this issue, particularly in the critical essays that cohere around diverse ideas of gendered and sexual representation. The essays revisit well-known artistic representation or chart new ground for [End Page 1] understanding the complex dynamic between human and nonhuman. Whether on the stage or in the environmental fiction of the ecoGothic, they actively defy existing categories of femininity and subjectivity and ask us to imagine new forms of female agency and subjectivity. The legacy of patriarchy, colonization, and racial systems continue to shape our public discourse. Despite the assaults and the differences in our positions, these longstanding social forces stress the importance of community and organization as a defense against violence or the impingement of rights. While much has changed over the last half century, the discussion on gender and political rights is equally pressing today. Our cover image, extracted from Hernández Sánchez and Bejarano's "Feminist Border Manifesto," reminds us of the countless ways in which our transborder communities are inseparably linked to one another. The unworn costume of an ocelot lies along the edge of a desert road, strewn though not discarded in temporary respite from its use as part of ongoing social organization. In the background, sage, yucca, and pink sand both are of and recede into the landscape behind the road, the hard line of the pavement rapidly dissolving into the natural world. The costume—meant to be worn, donned, lived in—represents an important connection between these spaces. We are of both worlds, part of the environment that shapes our movements and social lives. These creative and critical pieces help us better conceptualize how gender structures social life and how we, like the unoccupied costume inviting its animation, might inhabit new modes of social being affecting change. [End Page 2] Alberto Varon Indiana University Alberto Varon Alberto Varon is Associate Professor of English and Latino...