ABSTRACT
At a workshop led by the Independent Women’s Movement of Chiapas (MIM) in San Cristóbal, Chiapas, a team of facilitators enthusiastically introduced the agenda:
Participants, who unlike the facilitators were indigenous, from rural areas, and had little formal education, were divided into small groups. In our group, a young woman translated the question and the discussion began in Tseltal. One woman spoke up quietly. Th en others began laughing and nodding. Th e translator smiled, “She says the property that they are angry about is their panties. Th ey wash them and hang them on the clothesline to dry and men, maybe soldiers, steal them. But they are ours and we are ashamed and angry that our panties are stolen.” Th e note taker wrote “panties.” Th e workshop facilitators seemed not to have imagined that the conversation would focus on women’s undergarments. I too was surprised, not only because talking about underwear transgressed conventional norms, but also because participants did not raise concerns about land (perhaps the primary source of identity in Mexico).
