Queer Feminist Hip Hop

doi:10.1017/9781108976459.021

Chapter 20 - Queer Feminist Hip Hop

from Part IV - Positionalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2022

Melissa Castillo Planas

Edited by

Mónica Szurmuk and

Debra A. Castillo

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Mónica Szurmuk: Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de San Martín and National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina
Debra A. Castillo: Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York

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Summary

According to Guatemalan MC Rebeca Lane, “Feminism for me and for us and many women in Latin America it’s not about a book, it’s not about theory, it’s not about academics. It’s about how you feel and how you want to live your life without machismo.” As a hip-hop artist, that means addressing what she sees as targeted attacks on vulnerable populations in Latin American: women, Indigenous, and queer. Through a message that is infused with feminism and social justice, as well as national, international, and personal histories, Lane fights for greater visibility for queer women in hip hop through her collective Somos Guerreras, which furthers female networks among a new and younger generation of women. Building on the hip hop of Krudas Cubensi, the Black queer feminist hip-hop group formed in Cuba in the 1990s, this chapter traces the emergence of queer hip-hop feminisms throughout Latin America. Doubly marginalized both by cultures and music genre that celebrate heteronormativity, machismo, and overtly sexualized female representations, artists like lesbian Mexican rapper Niña Dioz are changing not just what it means to be a female in hip hop but also a feminist in the Americas.

Keywords

queer feminism hip hop feminism queer hip hop Rebeca Lane Latin American hip hop

Type: Chapter
Information: Latin American Literature in Transition 1980–2018 , pp. 314 - 327

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108976459.021 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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