Bodily and Symbolic Constructions among Homosexual Men in Mexico

Abstract

Female dressing and bodily transformations (like hormone injections and breast implants) are frequently used components in the personality constructions of male homosexuals in the urban popular classes in Mexico. This article, based on fieldwork among such vestidas in a suburb of Mexico City, seeks to analyze how they construct a style and an identity out of an interpretation of themselves, but at the same time in a dialogue with their surroundings: how they create a presentation of self that explains their homosexual desires, that can accord to their own, class-determined esthetics, and that is found attractive by the men they are themselves attracted to. A particular cultural context protects their bisexual, masculine-looking partners against stigmatization as homosexuals. The vestidas take the whole burden of stigmatization, but they protect their own dignity through a subtle play with sexual categories. They may pretend to be almost women, but they may also take advantage of their biological sex when it suits them.