 "Photo: Emily Kinsolving/The Daily Texan")
Painted cinder blocks and a wooden cross were arranged as a makeshift grave for one of the female victims of violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
This was one of many images illustrating anthropology instructor Cecilia Balli’s research during her Friday presentation, “Militarization in Mexico: The Regeneration of Gendered Violence.”
Balli discussed the link between the machismo attitude — the exaggerated masculinity prevalent in Mexico — and maquiladoras, foreign-owned factories in Juarez that take advantage of cheap labor.
Since maquiladoras opened in 1965, violence against women has steadily increased, Balli said.
“The workers were initially mostly women, at around 80 percent,” Balli said. “Many women in Juarez became financially independent, upsetting this idea of patriarchy, and since then, there has been a strong backlash from men.
”Murdering women was a way men preserved their masculinity, Balli said. Her research deals specifically with how the history of militarization contributed to a hypermasculine attitude.
“Most of [the drug cartels] have adapted their surveillance methods and weapons to reflect the military, and Juarez is one with a long history of militarization,” she said.
Balli said that despite the number of murders, Ciudad Juarez can offer opportunities to women that other places in Mexico cannot.
“Although it is easy to vilify Juarez, we don’t want to discount it,” she said. “It is one of the few places women can go alone with their children to flee from domestic violence and support themselves.”
Nancy Ewert, program coordinator for the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, said Balli’s presentation gave insight to why the killings are taking place.
“Because she is an anthropologist, she gives you a human aspect and a different perspective than that of a law-enforcement officer,” Ewert said.
Men are increasingly the victims of violence in Juarez as the military presence increases and soldiers step up the use of torture on civilians to get information about the cartels, Balli said.
Rawan Arar, a women’s and gender studies graduate student, said that in order to find a solution in Mexico, it is necessary to look at what is going on with men as well as women.
“The point of her research was to look at who was really being affected and the pathologies of men,” Arar said. “The government placed thousands of soldiers [in Juarez], and it only proved that violence begets more violence.”
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