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    13 views10 pages

    Mayate

    Uploaded by

    Hector Dominguez

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 10
    The Maer Sou: ton tin on Moisi Ar ari eat ln sy on Neate Thy ne Modernity and the Nation in se ie Mexican Representations Ste te nang Pare of Masculinity Fortheoming Tiles (Que Leto Ta, Kh arg ed ey From Sensuality to Bloodshed Pt Rea Amn 3 Yer of Ato Change "ody Reo ad la Ha Rodis Héctor Dominguez-Ruvleaba palgrave macmillan 8 Mayate: The Queerest Queer ‘This chapter discusses three novels ofthe so-called Mexican gay literature from the 1960s through the 1980s: Despuis de todo (1968) [After Al] by José Ceballos Maldonado, El vampire de le colonia Roma (1379) [The Vampire of Roma Neighbortoos] by Las Zapata and Paberescandforas (1985) (Adolescent Canephor) by José Joaquin Blanco, as well a Aimor Chaca! (2000) by Jose, Catlos Bautista and Victor Jaramillo, a touristethnographic Gos: lumentacy on coastal homoerotic. This chapter focuses on tae characterization of the “mayate," a character whose resistance to ing himself as homosexual, despite his home ‘ies, challenges the concept of denticy ade relevant object of queer analysis. Wishing to Be Desired: Ceballos Maldonado In che novel Después de todo (After All] by José Ceballos Maldonado (1968), che protagonist Javier Lavalle, a mature homosexual man, tries to fill the emptiness of his boredom, onesn Ployment, and solitude by writing his memoirs in 3 moder room he rents in the Colonia Roma, a middleclass neighborhood te Mexico City. From this setting e imagines his past in Guanajuat where he spent his youth, His tory unfolds as a conseane tension between the invisibility and the exposure of his sexual relation, ships with other men. Lavalle calks about his seductive sratges such as furtive adveneues, always under the threat of discovery, The most outstanding actions in his remembrances—to hide ty 132 Poncan Hepreseratene of Mazcuny denounce, to watch over, to expose to blackmail, ro simvlate, and to dissimulate—refer 10 his meticulous escape from the social kaze. Lavalle develops two daring skills: to seduce men who do ‘ot consider chemselves homosexuals and to hide from the gaze of those who could condemn him. Lavalles power can destabilize both the narm that prohibits homoeroicism and the masculine hegemony that presumes itself impenetrable by seduction, He seciuces what is considered unsodueible, turing upside davwn the patriarchal rules, Lavalle lars that he can achieve this destab- lization by cultivating the art of secrecy. He confirms Annick Prieur’ insight that Mexican society tolerates homoerotic encown= ters, provided they say invisible, in @ homosocial masculine con- ‘and perfectly dssimulaced with euphemisms and absolute 8-189). Critics of this novel have emphasized the selaéfirmation of ¢ homosexual middle-class man. The protagonistnarrator eractrizes himself as a homosexual, throughout an episodic citain of sexual encounters with men who are ostensibly hetero xual. Lavale goes bck to his childhood ro remember his rela nships with pederast priests, classmates, and his assistants in ‘he schoo! laboratory where he used 10 work. Aevording to Mario ‘Mufoz, Javier Lavalle “en el decarso de los acontecimientos evo cados va asumiendo sin ninguna eulpabilidad a condivion homo: sexual pete alos desagradables contratiempos que esta forma de conciencia le cartes" (15} {in the development of the remem: bered events assumes his homosexual condition without guilt, even though this consciousness brings unpleasant setbacks). Luis Mario Schneider, on his pat, observes that Ceballos Maldonado “descubre los mecenismos dl cinismo como fnien poribilidad de autoafirmacin para salvar de los preuicios que una sociedad ingolerante exige a la marginaci6n homosexual” (7S) [discovers the mechanisms of eynicism as the only form of selraffrmation to liberate oneselé ftom prejudices that an intolerant society demands from the homorext! marginlity). The sell-affirmation Schneider refers to results from associating guilt with seduction, 2 combination whose rooss we can find in the bypermasculine myth of Don Juan, where seduction challenges the role of guilt in the moral system of the Catholic Church. Seduction focuses on Quewest Queer 13 men who, despite their participation in mele-to-male sexual contacts, reject identifying shemselves as homatexvale or biexi- als. Ths lack of definition characterizes the mayate,chichifo, ot chacal, a subject thats prevalent bus inssible in the panorama of ‘Mexican masculinites, These three terms traditionally name the person who plays the penetrating role in homoerotic intercourse, Who is characterized further by his reluctance to express attrac: tion rowaed his sexual partner (Prieue 189) Meyate, chicbifo, and ehscal are words that belong to the discourses of the joto (the man who playt the pasive roe in Jhomoerotic intercourse; 9 whom we usally algo ascribe feminine characteristics). The joto objectities bis “top” partner with these designations and thus the effeminace man claims his subject pos tion and wses the power of representation over his object of dese. In her ethnographic work on tranwestites in Mexico Ciry, Priewt finds that these labels are exclusively used in homosexual jargon (189) In general, these three corms are synonyms, although they can be nuanced as follows: chichifo connotes prostiution oF giving sex for favors; mayate describes the top position, not necestarily related to expressed prostittion; and chacale applied t individu als who are uncultured and mostly marginal and from the coutry- Side, These differences are anything but fixed. The word mayate, the most common, comes from mayatl, 2 ndbuatl word (the lan” ‘guage of the Aztecs) for a species of bright green beetle whore la- ae grow in manure, Mayate chen is an allusion co the col proletarian man's ess, as well a 2 feal metonym to describe his Sexuality. Chacal comes from chacal, also from aihvatl, which refers to species of slrimp that has a scorpion form, The fro: cious appearance ofthe chacel and ie edibty connotes a savage Sensuality. On the other hand, she word joto and eho (whose oot seems to be the Gypsy verb chotear, to make fan oto mock) define an effeminate man who i sciallyeignatzed “The main difference berweea the mayate and the foto i the lack of self-definition in the former andthe derogatory visibility ofthe later In the presence of those meeyates who reject identification and expression of deste, the cynicism of Javier Lavalle enables his self-afhrmation and produces their desie for im. In the novel the moments of edvetion become a struggle between the lack of desire 134 MesicanReprsartatins of Masclsyy and its provocation. For instance, in an episode in which Lavalle stops bombarding Gaston—one of his seduced mayates—with exe ual insinuations, he describes how Gastn's desie emerges af lows: “mientras charlamos él ie, muere la cabera, xe contonca y hasta me aprieta el brazo con la mano. Pero sobre todo siento que ime reprocha: ‘Eh, tonto, no quisist, Por fin, zeres 0 no eres” ™ (90-91) [White we char he laughs, nods his head, swapgers, and ven squeezes my arm, Most important, [fel he teprosehes te! ‘Hey foolish one, you didn't want, #0... are you (oto) of not...) Although Lavalle hae produced a desize in Gaston by suppressing the courcshp, thir identity situations are the semis Lavalle has to define himself and Gattn has to remain undefined ‘0 keep the mayateoro relationship intact. Nevertheless, she pre tence of being desieless person that Gastén is supposed t9 keep is ruined. Possibly being desired by the mayzte is an invention of Lavalles nostalgia that his solitude and poverty foster The nara. tive construction of the mayate's desire would then be a strategy of the nareator’ self affirmation, In juxtaposition with this nostalgic aecount, unexpectedly may ates erupt inthe preset tense narration, While Lavalle wetting his memories, many knock et his window. They are poor yout men, who are nor allowed ro enter as Lavalle has nothing to give, They ask for money and offer “lo que uated quiera” [whateve you want]. These interruptions reat fisures inthe plot that allow us fo sec an aspect ofthe novel thatthe narrator hesitates to cou ‘Whereas ths narrator is meticulous in constructing his own pase, ‘dealzing bis sexual encounters and calling them tomaness, when ‘alking about the narration inthe present, he shows his cscomfort, ‘with his visitors. The late reside on the margins ofthe story they lack citizenship in the narrative of desire that, projected onto the Past, ecount what the homorexual would lke to be. Ths lack of ‘codification less us see the mayatc' lack of identity Lavale dose ‘ot fel deste for these young men, aor they do fel deste for him, The narrative interest dissolves as the dynamics of seduction, ‘cancelled. Precisely in these absences of desire we find the most rel. evant tats of machismo, at lease in the field of homoerotic elas Sionships. The disruptive actions, she brief visits and calls from those men ouside the window, function as counterpoints to the Queerest Queer 135, plan of se affirmation ofthe homosexual character underlined by Mario Mufoz and Luis Mario Schneider, Rather than follow the narrative plan of Lavalle’s storycleasly foFiented to conceive 2 homosexal identity that departs fom esitanoe against the forces cha matginalize him, guilt and macho supremacy—I want to emphasize the liminal’ postion of the ‘mayate, whose chacacterization denies homoerotic deste. Lavalle repeatedly avoids being identified or named as « homosexual, which contrasts with the homosexual identity that Lavalle oulnes in his “romances.” The episodic seuctuce is periodically in rupted by a mayate, establishing « naratve plan based on Fiera sion. A transversal reading of Lavalle's various romances and the intermittent vignertes of rejected mayates opens the way to a dis: cession of an economy, a morality, and strategic set of skills of domination that are developed by the individuals involved in homoerotic relationships, Throughout his life, Lavale generously gives presents or money to his sexual pariners. To give something for intimate contact shows an economy established around the exchange value of sex. ‘This economy implies the existence of a market where pleasure produces a relationship of power whece on the one hand, there i Power in possessing a valuable piee of goods to offer and on the ‘other, there is power in the ability to purchase such a piece of goods. While in Lavale’s narrations of the pas, he boasts an inex !bausible purchasing power, nthe present, with scatceresourcesto prtcipate in this sexual economy, he has to eject all ofers, This ie seems that Lavalle’s sexuality depends on hie curent financial Status. Payment is associated wih a lack of dest; therefore, the ‘more the mayate resets seduction, the more the joto has to pay for sex. This fondness for prostiruted contact unmasks the story ofthe homosexual Don Juan tha is revealed in che narration. The fina fal decline that forces Lavalle into sexual absineace opens a deep ‘wound inthe novel: the protagonise-narator takes the perspective of someone who is wrecked, having experienced a loss of purchas ing power; he has also experienced decline in his capacity for desire. I would seem thatthe nazrative strategy of selt-asirmacion through seduction is ukimacely dependent on his acceptance of economic defeat. The mayater, who lke Lavalle are unemployea, Representations of Masculinity must look for other windows to knock on to maintain themselves, The characterization of mayate as chihifo (a prostituted individe ual as mentioned earlier recurs i the literature and ia a number stimonial texts such as memoirs, chronicles, biographies, and sogtaphic works! The fact thatthe mayate isa proletarian or ‘an unemployed young man, or somebody who hasta choose pron, tution as a way of life, positions him as subaltern with respect co the foto Novertheess, the dominant position of the foto is neutralized if we consider that what he is actually negotiating is his submission to the symbolic domination of the mayate, The pact between the joto and the mayateis based on symbolic and economic value of the virile body; this relationship einforces and. maguies ‘machismo, The deste for virile domination support a social dynamic thar takes place in the underground community, in a voce «ty of enjoyment. There we can observe how a politics and econ ‘omy of the body is built on the socal structure of prestige that defines subjects in the patriarchal system, reflecting the binagy clas ship masculine-feminine,effeminizing the jote and masculaie, ing the mayate. However, that it takes place in the margins problematizes this replica of the patriarchal binary structuce As this gender system is subjeced to the multiple simulation that Prostitution effcs, ve can reflect against the grain on che implica, tions of being marginalized. The condition of marginalcy defines the mayate;oto relation- ship as emergent. As Nely Richard states cheit identities would claim the “derecho a I singularzacin dela diferencia contra la represiva uniformidad stindard de laidentidad mayoritarie” {1 [the right to singularize their difference against the repressive unt formity of the identity standards of the majors). Howeres, the ‘mayate’s determination to tarry inthe zone of the unnamed and therefore remain invsible—and the oto’ fouinine stetegy of Seduction lead us to realize that this kind of relationship diverges fom the identity politics of gay and feminise activism, seek liberation from oppression and invisibility. Thi is due to the mayate’s lack of definition as one of his conditions of exss tence. We have, then, to propose that the mayate's homoecotcism 's only possible by escaping signification Infact, i is significant Quevrest Queer 137 that in the gay pride marches in Mexico City no sector has ‘represented itself o far as mayate,chihif, or chaca, The episodic structure ofthe novel Después de todo makes the mayatejoto encounter seem ephemeral and hazardous, which explains thei resistance eo establishing a cleat ideatity. Sine the ‘mayne exists only by exception, his elf definition inludes nothing bout his homoerotic adventure. This undefined sexuality, ss we 8s his resistance to expressing deste toward his male sexed paren ‘insalls the mayate in a doubeful heterosexualic, although this oubt hes more o do with machismo chan with heterosexuality per fs. The resistance once identified opens the way tan analysis ofthe subjectivity of meyate atthe point zero of meaning. At he wanders ‘on the margins of che cartography of sexuality with especto iden Sty designations) the mayate is always in tans; he never belongs 'o a fixed category. This contrast bewoen identity and resistance to ‘categorization suggests a distinetion between identity and subject. ity. IF we accept Jorge Larrain’s cam, Ia consteueion dela lone dad es un proceso intersujeivo de reconocimiento mueuo” (46) the onstruction of identity is am inertubjetive process of mutual when the oto defines the mayate as uch, by implice rizs his heterosexuality, Yet when the mayate defines himself as heterosexual, he recognizes himself within che dominant norm. The obstacle to the recognition ofthe muayate as an ty isthe articulation of is desire. Although his sexual practice does nor express desire forthe efeminized to's masculine bop ‘we cannot interpret it as an absence of desire, but only a lack of

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