Of soldiers and saints: gender constructs, the Puerto Rican independence movement, and the fight against conscription, 1964–1970

Abstract

This article examines the anti-draft movement in Puerto Rico through a gendered lens, exploring the ways that independence activists used gendered constructions of Puerto Rican identity in their efforts to resist the Vietnam War. It focuses on two central figures, the good soldier and the long-suffering mother, in order to explore the relationship between gender and colonialism, and how they came to bear on the antiwar movement. In contrast to mainland antiwar activists, who frequently challenged gender norms in their opposition to the draft, Puerto Rican independentistas instead embraced traditional gender constructs, challenging the state’s monopoly on dominant gender tropes and appropriating them in their struggle against US imperialism. This article argues that such an approach to gender was necessary in the colonial context, and that by adhering to well-established gender hierarchies, Puerto Rican independentistas were able to successfully challenge conscription while denying the state its ability to feminize them as colonial subjects.