Chicanas Speak Out!  
 Marisela Gonzalez 
  

Not too long ago I attended a soccer game between two rival Mexican teams at the Oakland Coliseum, las Aguilas del America y las Chivas del Guadalajara.  The stadium was packed.  The  audience was predominantly male; the spread in ages was wide.  In front of me sat a young boy whom I guessed to be about my little brother's age, maybe six or seven.  A couple rows behind me I could hear the voice of a young man probably in his late teens yelling out to one of the soccer players, "Sacen esa vieja.  No sirve pa' nada."  Vieja.  This happened maybe three weeks into the first quarter of my sophomore year in college and I was just beginning to realize the impact that feminist studies was having on me.  I couldn't pay attention to the soccer game.  All I could think about was that little boy soaking in the accusatory "Vieja." 

Then there is my little brother who told me last weekend that he only likes me because I'm his sister.  If I wasn't his sister he wouldn't like me because he doesn't like girls.  He says that when the boys pick teams, if you pick a girl everybody says, "Ooohhhh" So he doesn't pick girls. 

What's frightening is that a few months ago I wouldn't have questioned those things.  I would have said, "Ay, esta chiquito.  He'll grow out of it," or "he doesn't mean it, y eso de vieja, pues es un decir nada mas."  But I couldn't help but be very sad that my little rother couldn't choose a girl to be on his team.  And then they compare the mediocre players to the viejas.  If they won't let us on the team, what do they expect?  Pele y Campos no nacieron metiendo goles. 

The pressure that little boys feel to fit into a socially constructed concept of masculinity leads them to assert their "manhood" through the subordination of others.  This competition for power, and not only power, but power over others leads to violence.The frat reminded me of all of the hype created by Big Game.  The rivalry between Cal and Stanford was likened to a middle/upper class Crips vs. Bloods rivalry by poet activist Cesar Cruz who spoke on the Stanford campus during this same time period.  He said that when he was at Berkeley, there was a group of guys who wore t-shirts with a Cal bear raping the Stanford tree and that they read "Fuck Stanford.  Big Game 19__." Rape becomes the ultimate form of asserting that you can be defined as "masculine".  The male dominates the female.  Humiliates her, hurts her, intimidates her, conquers her, la hace suya.  Now nobody will question his manliness.  No one will call him a faggot.  No one will call him a vieja. 

I used to cringe at guys calling women viejas.  It sounded ugly.  Mi vieja.  But why does it have a negative connotation?  There is nothing wrong with being an old women, in fact old women are  venerated and respected in our culture.  Why do they mock us andworship us at the same time?  Si algun dia voy a ser vieja, pues de una vez, que no?  Asi es que call me a vieja, but when you call that loser soccer player a vieja you disrespect me, your mom, tu abuelita, and not to mention the women who might be better than this poor guy you're taunting. 

Quiero dedicar estas palabras a las mujeres que han luchado a su manera contra los viejos que dicen ser "muy machos" segun ellos.  
 

Archived Guest Columns: 

  Cynthia Rojas, "I'm a Tourist in My Own Country" 

This month's guest column