“Todos/as somos 41”: The Dance of the Forty-One from Homosexual Reappropriation to Transgender Representation in Mexico, 1945–2001

Abstract

I n a s c e n e f r o m e d u a r d o a . c a s t r e j ó n ’ s 1906 Los cuarenta y uno: Novela crítico-social (The forty-one: A novel of social criticism), the character Mimí sashays around the chandeliered ballroom arm in arm with his escort, Ninón, while the magnificent lights from the candelabras accentuate his padded hips. He greets spectators with a coquettish grin; his hair and makeup are meticulously done. The enthusiastic applause his entrance receives soon fades as the orchestra plays a heartfelt ballad that mixes in the air with the perfume of the gardenias and daisies. Expensive wine and champagne flow as the roughly forty-one male guests dance through the night. Nineteen of them wear elegant European women’s clothing and fine jewelry, while the rest have donned expensive tuxedos and white gloves. Although the orchestra blares loudly enough to mask the shuffling of guns and batons outside the house, it cannot muffle an alarmed shriek: “The police!! The gendarmes are knocking at the door!!!” Chaos erupts as police burst into the ballroom of the house. Disgusted upon learning that almost half of the guests are men dressed as women, the armed guards proceed to arrest everyone in sight. Mimí sobs as he is taken to the precinct. Abandoned emotionally by Ninón upon their deportation to the Yucatán, melancholia becomes his escort. The Dance of the Forty-One, the actual event upon which Castrejón’s novel is based, remains one of the most scandalous episodes in Mexican