The Evolution of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Chicano Art free essay sample

A beautiful dark-skinned brunette stands before you. Her long, flowing hair beautifully frames her sweet face and demure smile. Yards of richly colored clothing adorn her tall, slender frame. Rays of sunlight appear from behind, emphasizing pure beauty. Her hands are joined together and she holds them at her chest in worship or, perhaps, in gratitude. Who is she, or rather, who do you see? Practicing Catholics all over Central and South America see a venerated patron saint. In Mexico, she is immediately recognizable as symbolic mother of a nation, ‘nuestra madre. New generations of mestizos see a symbol of all that is woman, as real and complex as their mothers, sisters, daughters, and lovers. Who you see depends on who you are, but all identify her as the Virgin of Guadalupe, perhaps the most recognizable icon to emerge out of post-conquest Americas. La Virgen of Guadalupe has evolved throughout history as a cross-cultural and multi-generational icon of virginity, femininity, purity, and maternal love. We will write a custom essay sample on The Evolution of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Chicano Art or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Her presence can be seen everywhere, on clothing, jewelry, car windows, and even on coffins. This essay charts the evolution of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Chicano art, from religious icon to feminist mascot; I examine the forms in which contemporary Mexican-American artists have adopted this image, in the tradition of the Chicano art movement, to galvanize communities toward a common social or political cause, and, as Chicana artists will co-opt her image as a vehicle to assert gender issues within the larger agenda, I will argue that the opposition to such efforts reveals a double-standard of allegiance in stark contrast to the goals of the Chicano movement. To understand how La Virgen has evolved outside of her intended religious context, her genesis must first be examined. Origin stories vary but, according to tradition, on Dec 9, 1531, Juan Diego first saw La Virgen on top of Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She instructed him to have the Bishop build a church on the site. Little Juan Diego immediately found the Bishop and relayed the message, but was dismissed as a storyteller. Three days later, on Juan Diego’s walk to church, la Virgen again reappeared. This time, she told Juan Diego to go the hilltop and pick roses, pack them in his tilma, and take them to the bishop to prove he saw her and to convince the bishop to build a church there. When he presented them to the bishop as instructed, he dropped his cloak with the roses. What appeared in their place was the brightly painted image of the Lady. Once news spread of Juan Diego’s sightings of the Mother of God speaking to him in his native tongue, thousands traveled to Mexico City to see the legendary cape of the ‘brown‘ Virgin Mary. Some say the Virgin of Guadalupe represents early efforts at syncretism by the Catholic church in an era when indigenous religious practices were discouraged. Jeanette Rodriguez explores this theory in Our Lady of Guadalupe, beginning with an in depth analysis of the Aztec empire and its eventual conquest by the Spanish. Rodriguez argues that, through conquest and colonialism, Christian deities overpowered indigenous gods in terms of propagandistic exposure and eventually a dichotomy of virtues emerges. The monotheistic male god came to represent power, assertiveness, rationality and independence, attributes once associated with Aztec gods. Opposing characteristics like purity, virginity, fertility and maternal love were then attributed to female deity figures, like the Euro-Catholic Virgin Mary and Aztec goddess, Tonantzin. Concurrently, contends Rodriguez, the folkloric story of Juan Diego and La Virgen on Tepayac Hill emerges and the legend of Guadalupe is born. Eventually, this image evolves into the dominant national icon, symbolizing the new mestiza, who was born from both Spanish and indigenous blood. Jody Brant Smith agrees, in The Image of Guadalupe, that she appeared â€Å"miraculously on the cactus cloth tilma, or cape, of Juan Diego, an Aztec peasant, in 1531, a mere dozen years after Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico for the King of Spain. † This cape proved valuable to the Church and its goals of conversion. â€Å"In just seven years, from 1532 to 1538, eight million Indians were converted to Christianity. Whether one believes the Virgin de Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego on the hill or believe that Guadalupe was created to convert the Indians to the Catholic Church, the legend of Guadalupe as we know her today begins at this time. As a placebo for a changing guard, La Virgen de Guadalupe proved highly successful. The iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe remains static in both form and symbolism until the mid twentieth cen tury, when a new movement among Mexican-Americans emerges in California, dubbed the Chicano movement. As visual propaganda becomes a large part of the movement, a significant body of art with common themes and styles, known as Chicano art, follows. This shift in subject matter among Mexican-American artists toward a specific social and political agenda began earlier, as evidenced by the work of Rivera, Orozco, and Posada, but, it isn’t until the mid 1960’s that national or religious iconographic images are recycled to support a larger political or social agenda. Scholars cite the famous 1966 United Farm Workers protest, in defense of migrant farm worker’s rights, as the beginning of what is now known as the Chicano Art movement. Organizers for the protest communicated through graphic art forms, like newsletters, posters, and cartoons. Symbolism and iconography that drew upon cultural resources, like La Virgen de Guadalupe and an Aztec inspired thunderbird, connected visual communication to these agendas. Reclamation of traditional cultural and religious iconography for political purposes becomes a recurring theme among Mexican-American artists and the defining criteria for the classification of art as Chicano. While Chicano art differs from Mexican art in that Mexican and other Latin art is rooted in pre-Columbian traditions and folklore, Chicano art also acknowledges American education and experience as part of what shapes an artist and his message. On the heels of the Chicano movement, the Civil Rights movement, and public outrage over America’s participation in the Vietnam War, women’s issues also battle for attention on a national level. Feminism as a movement gains significant momentum in the 1960’s; within a decade, Chicana feminists begin to use Guadalupe in their artwork. As Rosie the Riveter forged a path for Anglo feminists, Guadalupe remains the most powerful vehicle for the Chicana agenda. Up until this point, the Virgin was most often appropriated for purely inspirational purposes, and artist’s interpretation of her image and intent remain congruous to her religious authority. Now, in light of new feminist theory, says Felipe Ehrenberg in Framing an Icon: Guadalupe and the Artist’s Vision,â€Å" Latina artists â€Å"seek to reconstruct the deity’s presence, and in doing so, manage to define her usefulness to their causes. † Ester Hernandez, a Chicana artist working early in the movement’s history, is one of the first to utilize the visual power of La Virgen for feminist purposes. Hernandez’s work, which has exhibited internationally, focuses on â€Å"the dignity, strength, experiences, and dreams of Latina women. † The etching, La Virgen de Guadalupe Defendiendo los Derechos de los Xicanos, (etching; 1974), does not explore issues of sexuality, but rather Hernandez takes the opportunity to make a social statement. The image portrays a woman in karate clothes, stepping out of the classic ring of sunrays, with one leg in the air in a classic Karate pose. Reinterpreted by Hernandez, La Virgen is now a symbol of emerging feminist ideas, and will set the path for similar explorations by other Chicana artists. Born in 1942, Yolanda Lopez is another Chicana artist who uses Guadalupe as a springboard to discuss a feminist agenda. Lopez portrays herself in the image of la virgen in Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe (oil pastel on paper, 1978, 32â€Å"x24â€Å"). No longer a passive icon, Lopez utilizes Guadalupe to represent slowly shifting views about gender issues and sexuality in Chicano culture. Lopez situates herself in the position of the virgin, assuming the role. However, Lopez instead depicts herself athletic and strong, even assertive. She wears jogging shoes and a grin as she appears to sprint toward the viewer. Juan Diego, the putti-like boy that generally supports the virgin in traditional versions, instead lay underfoot. Still, characteristics that identify this portrayal as an interpretation of Guadalupe are unmistakable: the palette remains faithful to original portrayals, the iconic rays surround her, and the navy tilma billows behind Lopez as she moves. For early Chicana feminist artists, utilizing the iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe is critical to their agenda; in the tradition of the Chicano art movement, Guadalupe recalls nationalistic affiliations while including gender issues as part of the debate. However, secondary to political concerns of the Chicano movement as a whole, Chicana artists whose work serves to insert gender issues into the rubric of the Chicano movement are criticized within the community. Says Gaspar de Alba, â€Å"[a]ny divergence from that role, be it through a political engagement with the ideology of women’s liberation, as in the case of Chicana feminists [†¦] mmediately casts Chicanas who subscribe to either or both of these choices in a suspect light. † Further challenging the virgin ideal, new generations of women are reinterpreting her image from a feminist viewpoint to explore sexuality as it pertains to gender. Perhaps the most controversial example of such discourse involve s the work of Mexican-American artist, Alma Lopez. Lopez, a contemporary Chicana artist, explores her relationship with La Virgen de Guadalupe through mixed media piece titled Our Lady (digital print on canvas; 1999). She planned to show it at the Fullerton Museum Center as part of a larger exhibit, â€Å"The Virgin of Guadalupe: Interpreting Devotion. † The work depicts her partner, Raquel Salinas, posed and framed in the likeness of la Virgen de Guadalupe. Lopez choices, using her lover as subject and depicting her clothed only in bunches of roses worn like a bikini, reflect the difficulties experienced by Lopez and other lesbian women in a deeply Catholic culture. Lopez explores personal contradictions between her religious piety and her own sexuality as a lesbian woman of Mexican-American descent. She saw the image of Guadalupe as one that belonged to her, to interpret as she saw fit. I am relating her to the women in my life, my mom, my grandma, my aunt. They had to be strong to survive, like Christs mother. The piece caused a controversy among Mexican-American citizens in the community, and many citizens worked tirelessly to block the work from public view. Gustavo Arellano covers this story for OC Weekly in an article titled, â€Å"Nuestra Senora de Censorship: Who Says the Virgin Can’t be Sexy? † which discusses the controversy surrounding the exhibit. Arellano cites a letter written by Ernesto Cienfuegos, editor of La Voz de Aztlan, a website devoted to contemporary Chicano/a issues. In the letter, Cienfuegos expresses his outrage (and homophobic sexism) with Lopez and her work. â€Å"Firstly, the person†¦representing the ‘Mother of Jesus’ is nothing less than Raquel Salinas, the lesbian lover of the so called artist Alma Lopez. Raquel Sa linas calls herself ‘La Chuparosa’ which Alma Lopez often depicts on her abominable images. † He goes on to assert that such artwork is being â€Å"†¦promoted by many USA based pornographers† and dismisses the museums director’s decision to feature the piece as â€Å"†¦merely ignorant of the facts and not involved in an anti-Mexican effort to destroy our most revered spiritual beliefs and cultural values. † Lopez defends her position, citing her unique perspective as a Chicana artist, and says of the backlash, â€Å"I admit, I was surprised by the violent reaction to Our Lady because I am a community artist born in Mexico and raised in California with the Virgin as a constant in my home and my community. I am know that there is nothing wrong with this image which was inspired by the experiences of many Chicanas and their complex relationship to La Virgen de Guadalupe. I am not the first Chicana to reinterpret the image with a feminist perspective, and Im positive I wont be the last. Cienfuegos‘ letter touches upon a larger, more serious concern for Chicana artists, such as Lopez, who utilize Guadalupe in their art. Such evident venom and blanket disapproval is consistent with aggression received by many homosexual activists, including that of the Mexican-American woman, for whom both gender, religion, and race are inextricably linked. Gaspar de Alba offers insight into why Chicana artists like Lopez have met with so much opposition, even within her own community. Viewed as ‘wannabe’ white women, Chicana feminists are still accused in some inner circles of betraying the Chicano revolution and subscribing to a divisive politics that breaks up the ‘familia’ -both symbolically, by criticizing the ‘brothers’ and ‘jefes’ of the movement and calling them on their sexism and heterosexism, and literally, by not using their sexuality in the service of breeding new revolutionaries for La Causa[. Sandra Cisneros’ essay, â€Å"Guadalupe as a Sex Goddess,† offers an alternative contemporary perspective on the implied symbolism of the Virgin of Guadalupe through her personal experiences growing up in a Mexican-American household. Within this framework, she reconciles her cultural roots with her emerging sexual curiosity. She writes that she looked for signs of Gua dalupe as a ‘whole woman. ’ She wanted to look â€Å"underneath her dress† to see if she was a real woman. † Cisneros’ discussion about â€Å"the double chastity belt of ignorance and erguenza† also touches on the double standard that exists in Mexican-American culture as it relates to La Virgen. â€Å"Did boys have to aspire to be Jesus? I never saw any evidence of it. † These types of double standards perpetuate la Virgen as the symbol for a virgin/whore dichotomy deeply rooted in Mexican-American culture. As Emma Perez writes in Sexuality and Discourse, â€Å"Consciousness is born out of one’s intimate awareness of one’s oppression. † By claiming sitio y lengua, or a place and a voice, she states Chicanas and other women of color can form a new discourse on issues of feminism and sexuality. Claiming sitio y lengua, as argued by Perez, also includes the freedom to adopt images and icons like La Virgen. For centuries, la Virgen de Guadalupe has served as the single strongest symbol of virginity in the Americas. New generations of Chicana artists, such as Isis Rodriguez, San Francisco based cartoonist, adopt Guadalupe as an image, manipulating or controlling her attributes, claiming a personal, as opposed to cultural relationship, with la Virgen. In a discussion with Benjamin Francisco Hernandez for Low Rider Arte Magazine, Rodriguez says of this piece, â€Å"Whenever I have her in my artwork it’s not so much disrespectful as it is that she carries certain virtues that we assign her. She is a protectress [sic] or a caregiver. I put her in those roles. † Others, like Sandra Cisneros and Lopez, also acknowledge personal connections with Guadalupe, yet question what is known, and not known, about the Americas’ most revered female figure. As Cisneros notes in â€Å"Guadalupe is a Sex Goddess,† â€Å"When I see La Virgen de Guadalupe I want to lift her dress as I did my dolls and look to see if she comes with chones, and does her panocha look like mine, and does she have dark nipples too? † Like the term Chicana, the symbolic meaning of the Virgin of Guadalupe is always growing, evolving, and changing. As she was born out of syncretism, it is befitting her history to continually redefine her in contemporary terms, by contemporary participants of society. Alma Lopez and Sandra Cisneros have experienced firsthand the backlash from the Mexican-American community and society at large. It is more difficult to examine why something makes society uncomfortable than to ignore or destroy it. It is the very awkwardness, tension and insecurity of the experience itself that serves to formulate new and relevant questions about solidarity, femininity, and sexuality within the Chicano art. The Evolution of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Chicano Art free essay sample A beautiful dark-skinned brunette stands before you. Her long, flowing hair beautifully frames her sweet face and demure smile. Yards of richly colored clothing adorn her tall, slender frame. Rays of sunlight appear from behind, emphasizing pure beauty. Her hands are joined together and she holds them at her chest in worship or, perhaps, in gratitude. Who is she, or rather, who do you see? Practicing Catholics all over Central and South America see a venerated patron saint. In Mexico, she is immediately recognizable as symbolic mother of a nation, ‘nuestra madre. New generations of mestizos see a symbol of all that is woman, as real and complex as their mothers, sisters, daughters, and lovers. Who you see depends on who you are, but all identify her as the Virgin of Guadalupe, perhaps the most recognizable icon to emerge out of post-conquest Americas. La Virgen of Guadalupe has evolved throughout history as a cross-cultural and multi-generational icon of virginity, femininity, purity, and maternal love. We will write a custom essay sample on The Evolution of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Chicano Art or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Her presence can be seen everywhere, on clothing, jewelry, car windows, and even on coffins. This essay charts the evolution of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Chicano art, from religious icon to feminist mascot; I examine the forms in which contemporary Mexican-American artists have adopted this image, in the tradition of the Chicano art movement, to galvanize communities toward a common social or political cause, and, as Chicana artists will co-opt her image as a vehicle to assert gender issues within the larger agenda, I will argue that the opposition to such efforts reveals a double-standard of allegiance in stark contrast to the goals of the Chicano movement. To understand how La Virgen has evolved outside of her intended religious context, her genesis must first be examined. Origin stories vary but, according to tradition, on Dec 9, 1531, Juan Diego first saw La Virgen on top of Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She instructed him to have the Bishop build a church on the site. Little Juan Diego immediately found the Bishop and relayed the message, but was dismissed as a storyteller. Three days later, on Juan Diego’s walk to church, la Virgen again reappeared. This time, she told Juan Diego to go the hilltop and pick roses, pack them in his tilma, and take them to the bishop to prove he saw her and to convince the bishop to build a church there. When he presented them to the bishop as instructed, he dropped his cloak with the roses. What appeared in their place was the brightly painted image of the Lady. Once news spread of Juan Diego’s sightings of the Mother of God speaking to him in his native tongue, thousands traveled to Mexico City to see the legendary cape of the ‘brown‘ Virgin Mary. Some say the Virgin of Guadalupe represents early efforts at syncretism by the Catholic church in an era when indigenous religious practices were discouraged. Jeanette Rodriguez explores this theory in Our Lady of Guadalupe, beginning with an in depth analysis of the Aztec empire and its eventual conquest by the Spanish. Rodriguez argues that, through conquest and colonialism, Christian deities overpowered indigenous gods in terms of propagandistic exposure and eventually a dichotomy of virtues emerges. The monotheistic male god came to represent power, assertiveness, rationality and independence, attributes once associated with Aztec gods. Opposing characteristics like purity, virginity, fertility and maternal love were then attributed to female deity figures, like the Euro-Catholic Virgin Mary and Aztec goddess, Tonantzin. Concurrently, contends Rodriguez, the folkloric story of Juan Diego and La Virgen on Tepayac Hill emerges and the legend of Guadalupe is born. Eventually, this image evolves into the dominant national icon, symbolizing the new mestiza, who was born from both Spanish and indigenous blood. Jody Brant Smith agrees, in The Image of Guadalupe, that she appeared â€Å"miraculously on the cactus cloth tilma, or cape, of Juan Diego, an Aztec peasant, in 1531, a mere dozen years after Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico for the King of Spain. † This cape proved valuable to the Church and its goals of conversion. â€Å"In just seven years, from 1532 to 1538, eight million Indians were converted to Christianity. Whether one believes the Virgin de Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego on the hill or believe that Guadalupe was created to convert the Indians to the Catholic Church, the legend of Guadalupe as we know her today begins at this time. As a placebo for a changing guard, La Virgen de Guadalupe proved highly successful. The iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe remains static in both form and symbolism until the mid twentieth cen tury, when a new movement among Mexican-Americans emerges in California, dubbed the Chicano movement. As visual propaganda becomes a large part of the movement, a significant body of art with common themes and styles, known as Chicano art, follows. This shift in subject matter among Mexican-American artists toward a specific social and political agenda began earlier, as evidenced by the work of Rivera, Orozco, and Posada, but, it isn’t until the mid 1960’s that national or religious iconographic images are recycled to support a larger political or social agenda. Scholars cite the famous 1966 United Farm Workers protest, in defense of migrant farm worker’s rights, as the beginning of what is now known as the Chicano Art movement. Organizers for the protest communicated through graphic art forms, like newsletters, posters, and cartoons. Symbolism and iconography that drew upon cultural resources, like La Virgen de Guadalupe and an Aztec inspired thunderbird, connected visual communication to these agendas. Reclamation of traditional cultural and religious iconography for political purposes becomes a recurring theme among Mexican-American artists and the defining criteria for the classification of art as Chicano. While Chicano art differs from Mexican art in that Mexican and other Latin art is rooted in pre-Columbian traditions and folklore, Chicano art also acknowledges American education and experience as part of what shapes an artist and his message. On the heels of the Chicano movement, the Civil Rights movement, and public outrage over America’s participation in the Vietnam War, women’s issues also battle for attention on a national level. Feminism as a movement gains significant momentum in the 1960’s; within a decade, Chicana feminists begin to use Guadalupe in their artwork. As Rosie the Riveter forged a path for Anglo feminists, Guadalupe remains the most powerful vehicle for the Chicana agenda. Up until this point, the Virgin was most often appropriated for purely inspirational purposes, and artist’s interpretation of her image and intent remain congruous to her religious authority. Now, in light of new feminist theory, says Felipe Ehrenberg in Framing an Icon: Guadalupe and the Artist’s Vision,â€Å" Latina artists â€Å"seek to reconstruct the deity’s presence, and in doing so, manage to define her usefulness to their causes. † Ester Hernandez, a Chicana artist working early in the movement’s history, is one of the first to utilize the visual power of La Virgen for feminist purposes. Hernandez’s work, which has exhibited internationally, focuses on â€Å"the dignity, strength, experiences, and dreams of Latina women. † The etching, La Virgen de Guadalupe Defendiendo los Derechos de los Xicanos, (etching; 1974), does not explore issues of sexuality, but rather Hernandez takes the opportunity to make a social statement. The image portrays a woman in karate clothes, stepping out of the classic ring of sunrays, with one leg in the air in a classic Karate pose. Reinterpreted by Hernandez, La Virgen is now a symbol of emerging feminist ideas, and will set the path for similar explorations by other Chicana artists. Born in 1942, Yolanda Lopez is another Chicana artist who uses Guadalupe as a springboard to discuss a feminist agenda. Lopez portrays herself in the image of la virgen in Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe (oil pastel on paper, 1978, 32â€Å"x24â€Å"). No longer a passive icon, Lopez utilizes Guadalupe to represent slowly shifting views about gender issues and sexuality in Chicano culture. Lopez situates herself in the position of the virgin, assuming the role. However, Lopez instead depicts herself athletic and strong, even assertive. She wears jogging shoes and a grin as she appears to sprint toward the viewer. Juan Diego, the putti-like boy that generally supports the virgin in traditional versions, instead lay underfoot. Still, characteristics that identify this portrayal as an interpretation of Guadalupe are unmistakable: the palette remains faithful to original portrayals, the iconic rays surround her, and the navy tilma billows behind Lopez as she moves. For early Chicana feminist artists, utilizing the iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe is critical to their agenda; in the tradition of the Chicano art movement, Guadalupe recalls nationalistic affiliations while including gender issues as part of the debate. However, secondary to political concerns of the Chicano movement as a whole, Chicana artists whose work serves to insert gender issues into the rubric of the Chicano movement are criticized within the community. Says Gaspar de Alba, â€Å"[a]ny divergence from that role, be it through a political engagement with the ideology of women’s liberation, as in the case of Chicana feminists [†¦] mmediately casts Chicanas who subscribe to either or both of these choices in a suspect light. † Further challenging the virgin ideal, new generations of women are reinterpreting her image from a feminist viewpoint to explore sexuality as it pertains to gender. Perhaps the most controversial example of such discourse involve s the work of Mexican-American artist, Alma Lopez. Lopez, a contemporary Chicana artist, explores her relationship with La Virgen de Guadalupe through mixed media piece titled Our Lady (digital print on canvas; 1999). She planned to show it at the Fullerton Museum Center as part of a larger exhibit, â€Å"The Virgin of Guadalupe: Interpreting Devotion. † The work depicts her partner, Raquel Salinas, posed and framed in the likeness of la Virgen de Guadalupe. Lopez choices, using her lover as subject and depicting her clothed only in bunches of roses worn like a bikini, reflect the difficulties experienced by Lopez and other lesbian women in a deeply Catholic culture. Lopez explores personal contradictions between her religious piety and her own sexuality as a lesbian woman of Mexican-American descent. She saw the image of Guadalupe as one that belonged to her, to interpret as she saw fit. I am relating her to the women in my life, my mom, my grandma, my aunt. They had to be strong to survive, like Christs mother. The piece caused a controversy among Mexican-American citizens in the community, and many citizens worked tirelessly to block the work from public view. Gustavo Arellano covers this story for OC Weekly in an article titled, â€Å"Nuestra Senora de Censorship: Who Says the Virgin Can’t be Sexy? † which discusses the controversy surrounding the exhibit. Arellano cites a letter written by Ernesto Cienfuegos, editor of La Voz de Aztlan, a website devoted to contemporary Chicano/a issues. In the letter, Cienfuegos expresses his outrage (and homophobic sexism) with Lopez and her work. â€Å"Firstly, the person†¦representing the ‘Mother of Jesus’ is nothing less than Raquel Salinas, the lesbian lover of the so called artist Alma Lopez. Raquel Sa linas calls herself ‘La Chuparosa’ which Alma Lopez often depicts on her abominable images. † He goes on to assert that such artwork is being â€Å"†¦promoted by many USA based pornographers† and dismisses the museums director’s decision to feature the piece as â€Å"†¦merely ignorant of the facts and not involved in an anti-Mexican effort to destroy our most revered spiritual beliefs and cultural values. † Lopez defends her position, citing her unique perspective as a Chicana artist, and says of the backlash, â€Å"I admit, I was surprised by the violent reaction to Our Lady because I am a community artist born in Mexico and raised in California with the Virgin as a constant in my home and my community. I am know that there is nothing wrong with this image which was inspired by the experiences of many Chicanas and their complex relationship to La Virgen de Guadalupe. I am not the first Chicana to reinterpret the image with a feminist perspective, and Im positive I wont be the last. Cienfuegos‘ letter touches upon a larger, more serious concern for Chicana artists, such as Lopez, who utilize Guadalupe in their art. Such evident venom and blanket disapproval is consistent with aggression received by many homosexual activists, including that of the Mexican-American woman, for whom both gender, religion, and race are inextricably linked. Gaspar de Alba offers insight into why Chicana artists like Lopez have met with so much opposition, even within her own community. Viewed as ‘wannabe’ white women, Chicana feminists are still accused in some inner circles of betraying the Chicano revolution and subscribing to a divisive politics that breaks up the ‘familia’ -both symbolically, by criticizing the ‘brothers’ and ‘jefes’ of the movement and calling them on their sexism and heterosexism, and literally, by not using their sexuality in the service of breeding new revolutionaries for La Causa[. Sandra Cisneros’ essay, â€Å"Guadalupe as a Sex Goddess,† offers an alternative contemporary perspective on the implied symbolism of the Virgin of Guadalupe through her personal experiences growing up in a Mexican-American household. Within this framework, she reconciles her cultural roots with her emerging sexual curiosity. She writes that she looked for signs of Guadalupe as a ‘whole woman. ’ She wanted to look â€Å"underneath her dress† to see if she was a real woman. † Cisneros’ discussion about â€Å"the double chastity belt of ignorance and erguenza† also touches on the double standard that exists in Mexican-American culture as it relates to La Virgen. â€Å"Did boys have to aspire to be Jesus? I never saw any evidence of it. † These types of double standards perpetuate la Virgen as the symbol for a virgin/whore dichotomy deeply rooted in Mexican-American culture. As Emma Perez writes in Sexuality and Discourse, â⠂¬Å"Consciousness is born out of one’s intimate awareness of one’s oppression.