Introduction

Summary

The Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska told Michael K. Schuessler in her authorised biography that misogyny almost always made her feel betrayed and that only her tenacity and, in a way, her unconsciousness had helped her to progress in life. The words uttered by the veteran Mexican author on that occasion acquired full meaning when, in an interview with Excélsior during the promotion of her novel El amante polaco, she revealed that her first son, Emmanuel, was the result of a sexual assault by the writer Juan José Arreola: ‘It was already known, many know it. But it must not be said, what for; also, so many years have passed. He used his ability to convince, be very seductive, to hurt people.’ Poniatowska also revealed that she gave birth to Emmanuel in a nursery in Italy and she had to fight to keep him: ‘It was one of the first battles I won. I would not be who I am if it were not for the presence of this child.’ At the age of 88 Poniatowska affirmed that this sexual assault changed her attitude towards life and motivated her, as a single mother, to sympathise with other women who were in the same situation.

Quite apart from the sexual abuse, Poniatowska's account reveals something else: it shows how the patriarchal culture of the region forces women to remain silent about the dynamics of violence and abuse perpetrated against them. That was at least how we, the authors of this book (Stephen M. Hart and María E. López), interpreted this issue on an afternoon in late November 2019, a few days after Poniatowska's interview was published in Excélsior. We agreed that violence against women had been the ‘skeleton in the closet’ in Poniatowska's life. The topic led to a conversation about how, in Latin America, violence and other problems specific to the region, such as poverty, unemployment and systemic violence, among others, intersect and exacerbate the impact of the machista ideology and the battle for the control of women's bodies; this often occurs with the complicity of the patriarchal society, the police and other relevant authorities, due to either an inability to guarantee the rule of law or a tendency to stigmatise certain social groups, including women.