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Feminists Around the World: Amaranta Gomez Regalado · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I
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  Speaker 1: never told your production of iHeartRadio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And welcome to another activist around the world. And we
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  Speaker 2: are still in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, so
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  Speaker 2: we are continuing on with featuring Latina activists and advocates
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  Speaker 2: and today we are talking about the works of Amarantha
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  Speaker 2: Gomez Rogalado. So before we start, let's go ahead and
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  Speaker 2: put this here. We are talking about mouchet, which I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to give a little more definitions in a minute.
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  Speaker 2: So they are technically thought of as a third gender
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  Speaker 2: within the Zappotech, which is an indigenous group within the
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  Speaker 2: Mexican communities. So didn't find and I probably would have
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  Speaker 2: to do a little more deep dive as to specifically
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  Speaker 2: whether or not trans is appropriate. I think for the
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  Speaker 2: lack of terms within English and Spanish, they go with
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  Speaker 2: transactivists for Ruggalado and a lot of mouchet identifying people.
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  Speaker 2: Just note that is not the same thing, and I
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  Speaker 2: think that's something that we need to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: we talk about, especially when it comes to indigenous communities,
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  Speaker 2: which have existed way before any of these terminologies wherever
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  Speaker 2: created or heard of. So we want to put that
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  Speaker 2: as a note here. So if you hear us talking
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  Speaker 2: about trans, I don't know if that's just like an
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  Speaker 2: interpretation from different types of documents or research papers. I
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  Speaker 2: believe Ruggolato uses the term trans transsexual, trans community as well,
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  Speaker 2: but if you look at the broader scope, you know
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  Speaker 2: that's again debatable. I think, and we are a show
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  Speaker 2: that continues to grow and continues to change with the
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  Speaker 2: preferences and terminologies, that is a better identify. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe five years down the road and we come back
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  Speaker 2: to this twenty twenty five episode will be like, I
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  Speaker 2: can't believe you said that. This is what we're working
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  Speaker 2: with today. Just to note that, as well as the
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  Speaker 2: fact with them being mouche, I believe a majority of
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  Speaker 2: references when we're talking about ragul Lotto they do say she.
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  Speaker 2: I have not seen anywhere in which they identifies themselves
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  Speaker 2: as she or they, But just to keep it safe
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  Speaker 2: for myself, when I reference them, I'm going to say
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  Speaker 2: they or them. And then if you hear me use
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  Speaker 2: the term she, it is because it is written in
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  Speaker 2: a quote. So with all of that big caveat, let's
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  Speaker 2: jump into it. So Ragolatto is a social anthropologist who
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  Speaker 2: actually graduated in twenty sixteen with their thesis on mouche.
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  Speaker 2: So Muche is a term that was first noted to
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  Speaker 2: be used in the sixteenth century, which is a ginger
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  Speaker 2: neutral term within this Zeppotech culture, which is a part
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  Speaker 2: of the Wahaca, Mexican area. The term is for a
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  Speaker 2: person who was assigned as mel at birth but lives
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  Speaker 2: in a more feminine gender role. So the culture is
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  Speaker 2: so big that they even have almost like their own
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  Speaker 2: identifying clothing. It's beautiful dresses and like it is very
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  Speaker 2: Mexican culture, like we know, those kinds of brightly colored
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  Speaker 2: dresses and a little bit of a petticoat as they
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  Speaker 2: would call it underneath because the skirts a little flu fear.
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  Speaker 2: But they do seem to identify in that, especially when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to like celebrations with including mauches. There is
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  Speaker 2: a pretty big population in the Zapotech culture that do
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  Speaker 2: identify as moche. I'm I say big, I mean, like
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  Speaker 2: they're noted. They are also known to be a third
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  Speaker 2: gender within this culture. So it's not just binary that
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  Speaker 2: and more, and of course we talk about the spectrum,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's so much more. But here there is
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  Speaker 2: this as the third gender. It's also important to know
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  Speaker 2: that before the Spanish colonization, they don't have records of much,
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  Speaker 2: so the likelihood that the moush was known and existed
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  Speaker 2: beforehand is high. Like we know there's always been trans people,
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  Speaker 2: and that's kind of that same lane of like there's
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  Speaker 2: probably always been mouche people, but they just don't note
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  Speaker 2: it because colonization. Yeah. Also one more thing, there are
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  Speaker 2: several different terms and words within the zeppotech culture that
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  Speaker 2: are gender neutral, so that's something big. And the cultural
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  Speaker 2: things like musche is a celebration of the culture in itself.
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  Speaker 2: So I think we've talked about that when we talk
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  Speaker 2: about two spirits within the American indigenous culture or the
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  Speaker 2: North American cultures. Within the indigenous communities, they've always existed.
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  Speaker 2: We've talked about that that's always been a thing, and
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  Speaker 2: that in itself is a celebration of their own culture.
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  Speaker 2: So that's kind of put it in context when we're
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  Speaker 2: talking about the mouche culture. Sogolato first came out as
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  Speaker 2: trans or muche at the age of thirteen, and they
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  Speaker 2: have been a fierce advocate who has traveled all around
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  Speaker 2: the world speaking out for the rights of their community.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, they already made a name for themselves for
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  Speaker 2: their work in gender identity and HIV care work in
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  Speaker 2: two thousand and two, like they were already known for
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  Speaker 2: this work. And what makes Rauguolotta's work so significant is
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  Speaker 2: that they not only highlighted the cultural significance and impact
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  Speaker 2: of their indigenous community, but they became the first mouchet
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  Speaker 2: to get their professional degree and be legally recognized by
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  Speaker 2: their university, the University of Averacruz. So here's a bit
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  Speaker 2: from that university site. Had a whole interview with them,
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  Speaker 2: and so they say this with future plans to return
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  Speaker 2: to activism, a role she's been pursuing since she was eighteen.
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  Speaker 2: Amranda commented that although she initially considered studying psychology, she
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  Speaker 2: ultimately chose anthropology because she was always surrounded by many
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  Speaker 2: like minded people. She was drawn to the circle by
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  Speaker 2: the discussion topics, the way of reflecting, and the ability
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  Speaker 2: to analyze thinking question. Therefore, in twenty eleven, she arrived
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  Speaker 2: in the city of Halapa, ready to begin her professional
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  Speaker 2: studies and put aside her work as a member of
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  Speaker 2: various activism networks. Which also involved constant travel to countries
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  Speaker 2: in Europe and Latin America. We mouches in Huakatan Wuhaka
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  Speaker 2: are not well accepted. One of Amaranta's challenges when she
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  Speaker 2: began her research two years ago was confronting the community
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  Speaker 2: and culture where she comes from. In this epithech community
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  Speaker 2: of the Isthmus of Tauantepec Juakatan Whaka mouches are people
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  Speaker 2: born male with assume feminine roles in the societal, sexual
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  Speaker 2: and personal spheres. This status places them in terms of transvestites,
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  Speaker 2: transgender women, and transsexuals. So again, this is kind of
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  Speaker 2: where we came from the beginning of this conversation of
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  Speaker 2: a rasure and cultural identity. So would I have a
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  Speaker 2: hard time going back with saying that they are trans
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  Speaker 2: activists is not fully true because obviously the intersectionality of
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  Speaker 2: this is that they are also disabled because they actually
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  Speaker 2: lost their arm at a young age in a correct
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  Speaker 2: But they are in this intersectional level of being an
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  Speaker 2: indigenous mouche identifying as well as disabled individual who has
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  Speaker 2: worked their lives and making sure that these identities are
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  Speaker 2: seen and not ignored, and they talk about their challenges
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  Speaker 2: in their work. This was something very specific to them
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  Speaker 2: that they wanted to make sure that the world understood
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  Speaker 2: who they were. Then it wasn't necessarily a pushback on
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  Speaker 2: any other types of groups of identifiers. It's just that
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  Speaker 2: they were something different that was culturally more significant for
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  Speaker 2: them to not be labeled as one specific thing. So
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  Speaker 2: Ragalatto was very adamant in this type of work, and
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  Speaker 2: their work in activism has been an ongoing thing before
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  Speaker 2: and after her studies. So in two thousand, Rigolotto ran
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  Speaker 2: for a political office as the federal Deputy of Mexico
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  Speaker 2: Postibligue Party, which brought a lot of attention because they
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  Speaker 2: were then known as the first transgender candidate in Mexico.
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  Speaker 2: And this was in two thousand and three, pretty significantly
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  Speaker 2: twenty two years ago, and you know, times were not
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  Speaker 2: good than either, just like no, So they have been
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  Speaker 2: doing this work and that was kind of what they
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  Speaker 2: were known for. And so with their work and their thesis,
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  Speaker 2: they really were talking about something on a different level
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  Speaker 2: specific to their indigenous background. And they have continued to
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  Speaker 2: publicly speak for the trades and indigenous communities as well
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  Speaker 2: as the Mouchet community. They've been leading the Transformadome project
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  Speaker 2: and here's a bit from Archisfoundation dot Org about that.
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  Speaker 2: They quote them saying, we've had to create a strategy
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  Speaker 2: for community safety so we're not invisible, and so we
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  Speaker 2: can seek support from public agencies, which is so important,
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  Speaker 2: for example, for healthcare during the pandemic, says Amaranto Gomez
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  Speaker 2: Argalado and Mushe activist and professor as well as a
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  Speaker 2: leader of the Transformadome project and coordinator of the private
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  Speaker 2: investigation team. Transformandome is laying the foundations within the Wahaka
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  Speaker 2: state systems to begin the process of recognizing our rights
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  Speaker 2: that has been strengthened with activism in the last few years.
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  Speaker 2: The guiding thread to our resilience has been that we
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  Speaker 2: have started to become visible. Gomez continues, visibility is a
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  Speaker 2: kind of social armor that we MUCHE have built for ourselves. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they have worked to transform this conversation on a larger scale,
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  Speaker 2: and their visibility advocacy has even led to schools being
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  Speaker 2: named after them. The Esquela Amaranta Gomez Vagulado, which is
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  Speaker 2: a private school that is located in Santiago, Chile, and
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  Speaker 2: the school is specifically for trans students from the ages
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  Speaker 2: of six through seventeen. So they are doing a lot
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  Speaker 2: of work. I've seen them being featured on so many
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  Speaker 2: panels and conversations about visibility and writes an advocacy for
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  Speaker 2: their community. So they are doing so much, and I
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  Speaker 2: want to come back in conversation about the Indigenous community
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  Speaker 2: and trans writes and what they did beforehand to have
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  Speaker 2: such an impact in our community and how we should
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  Speaker 2: follow their example.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we should definitely come back and talk
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  Speaker 1: about that in the meantime. Listeners, if you have any
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  Speaker 1: resources on that or anybody we should look into, please
• 10:30
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