Gender Critical Feminism in Mexico: Origins, Particularities, Attributes

Abstract

The rise of gender critical feminism in Mexico began in the year 2017 with the publication by Laura Lecuona of the now-infamous essay Cuando lo trans no es transgresor (“When Trans Is Not Transgressive”) (Guerrero Mc Manus, 2021a). In retrospect, trans-exclusionary feminism became prominent in a context in which two important developments were already occurring. On the one hand, in 2017, the Fourth Wave of Mexican feminism was already gaining influence on young women and LGBT+ populations. On the other hand, a year before, the Mexican anti-gender and anti-LGBT movement made a public demonstration of force with a national protest in which the Frente Nacional por la Familia (National Front for Family) expressed its opposition to what they described as “gender ideology” (Guerrero Mc Manus, 2016b). These two situations have since then become central in the particular rhetoric that we observe in this regional variety of gender critical feminism.