Cross-Leggèd Defiance

fyqueerlatinxs:

¡NO MANCHES!: PAST QUEER LATIN@ REPRESENTATIONS— “Me llamo Raquel” - Banda Machos (2000)

In 2000, Banda Machos (the Mexican band often credited for the popularity of a danceable form of Banda music known as la quebradita) released a cumbia single called “Me llamo Raquel”

In the song, the narrator describes a beautiful woman he tries to woo at a dance, only to “discover” that she is trans.

Throughout the song, the woman who introduces herself as Raquel is misgendered as the narrator questions whether the woman is “he or she.” The narrator continues to talk about how he is ridiculed for simply finding a trans woman attractive.

This song highlights the pervasiveness of transphobia and transmisogyny present in contemporary Mexican music, and is testament to the ways in which trans & queer identities are often used as punch lines in mainstream Mexican culture.