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Throughout much of the twentieth century, an uneasy relationship existed between issues of sexuality and the working-class politics of the Mexican Communist Party and other left-wing organizations. Rather than attributing this tension solely to ideological conservatism, Revolution in the Sheets reinterprets the sexual politics of the Mexican Left by foregrounding toleration as its governing political strategy. Tracing debates in party archives, propaganda, oral histories, and correspondence, Robert Franco demonstrates how leftist parties dismissed issues of sexuality when politically necessary in order to negotiate authority, discipline dissent, or project a moral public image. However, militants also privately practiced interpersonal forms of toleration that, as the social and political winds changed, were later adopted by party leaders as a pragmatic compromise to expand the Left's electoral appeal without upsetting established norms. The embrace of toleration, Franco argues, functioned as a substitute for publicly addressing gender inequality and sexual repression, ultimately circumscribing the revolutionary potential of Mexican leftist politics.
Robert Franco is Assistant Professor of Latin American History at Kenyon College.
“Revolution in the Sheets is one of the most original analyses of twentieth-century Mexican politics to come out in years.”—Renata Keller, Associate Professor of History, University of Nevada, Reno
“Revolution in the Sheets provides us with a new framework for understanding sexual politics among the Mexican Left. Well-written and thoughtfully conceived, Robert Franco’s book makes a major contribution to the history of the Mexican Revolution as well as to the history of sexuality. I highly recommend it.”—Robert F. Alegre, President, New England Council of Latin American Studies
“A provocative exploration of the strategic uses of tolerance that have infused cultural and party politics, and of the price paid, both individually and organizationally, for same-sex desire and expressions of bodily autonomy.”—Susie S. Porter, Professor of History and Ethnic, Gender, and Disability Studies, University of Utah
“Revolution in the Sheets is nothing less than a critical history of the Mexican Left. The contemporary struggles against gender violence have a history in the stubborn belief, explored by Franco, that the promise of democracy long included sexual liberation and the rights of all bodies.”—Pablo Piccato, Professor of History, Columbia University