HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Las Horizontales
OR:
Las Horizontales on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Las Horizontales were a group of
sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is ...
s in
Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
during the late 19th century that produced a newspaper, ''La Cebolla'' (1888). Gender studies scholar and Cuba expert, Amalia Cabezas identified this as the first documented sex worker organization in the Americas.


Emergence

Las Horizontales emerged in response to new legislation that both taxed and required sex workers to submit to gynecological exams. In their newspaper ''La Cebolla'', they make reference to the fact that they were not eligible to vote and yet were still required to pay
tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
es. They complain about police extortion, being sent to the city's outskirts, and the government not recognizing their rights as women and workers who paid taxes.


''La Cebolla''

The women who wrote issues of ''La Cebolla'' used pseudonyms, like La Madrileña, and La Isleña. Therefore some scholars have expressed doubts about the identity of the actual authors of ''La Cebolla'' articles. Based on her archival research, Beatriz Calvo Pena argues it was Victorino Reineri Jimeno, an anarchist journalist, who wrote all ''La Cebolla'' articles. In the four issues of ''La Cebolla'' that Las Horizontales published, they make reference to issues of
colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
, slavery,
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
, and homosexuality.
"The time has come for us to not tolerate with our silence those unjust fines imposed on us, sometimes because we do not want to give in to the lustful whims of the police, other times because we do not loosen the money he asks us for. Already the ominous time of take it and shut up has passed, not to return." (quoted and translated in Rodriguez, 2023, p. 79)
One issue includes a poem that describes a lesbian relationship that threatens the mayor's throat if he messes with her girlfriend.
La gachí que yo camelo si el Arcalde la multara Le cortaba el tragadero Aunque a Ceuta me mandaran (no. 2, p. 4) (quoted in Calvo Peña 2005, 26) he girl that I desire If the Mayor fines her I will cut his throat Even if they send me to Ceuta(quoted and translated in Rodriguez, 2023, p. 79)


See also

*
Prostitution in Cuba Prostitution in Cuba is not officially illegal; however, there is legislation against pimps, sexual exploitation of minors, and pornography. Sex tourism has existed in the country, both before and after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Many Cubans do ...
* Sex worker movements


References


Further reading

* Sex worker organizations Sex industry in Cuba Sex positivism Prostitution in Cuba {{Prostitution