Las Hijas de Violencia and the Rhetoric of Place in Protest
Faculty Mentor Information
2
Presentation Date
7-2017
Abstract
Feminist punk rock group Las Hijas de Violencia, or the Daughters of Violence, have taken the streets of Mexico City by storm. The theatre group has taken to the streets in Mexico, shooting confetti guns and screaming punk rock lyrics at street harassers in an attempt to combat the record number of reported harassment and assaults in Mexico City. The women aim to shift the balance of power in situations of assault, making the harasser feel startled. Samantha Senda-Cook and Danielle Endres’s model “The Rhetoric of Place in Protest” can help illuminate the potentially transformative power of the these women’s actions. In applying the three tenants of Endres and Senda Cook’s model: pre-exising meaning present within a place, temporary reconstruction of a place, and an analysis of the use of bodies within a space, it becomes discernible that the group is making headway in terms of shifting the stagnant power dynamics present within the streets in Mexico.
Las Hijas de Violencia and the Rhetoric of Place in Protest
Feminist punk rock group Las Hijas de Violencia, or the Daughters of Violence, have taken the streets of Mexico City by storm. The theatre group has taken to the streets in Mexico, shooting confetti guns and screaming punk rock lyrics at street harassers in an attempt to combat the record number of reported harassment and assaults in Mexico City. The women aim to shift the balance of power in situations of assault, making the harasser feel startled. Samantha Senda-Cook and Danielle Endres’s model “The Rhetoric of Place in Protest” can help illuminate the potentially transformative power of the these women’s actions. In applying the three tenants of Endres and Senda Cook’s model: pre-exising meaning present within a place, temporary reconstruction of a place, and an analysis of the use of bodies within a space, it becomes discernible that the group is making headway in terms of shifting the stagnant power dynamics present within the streets in Mexico.