Skirting the Law

Not to run the themes in Heartbreak to the ground, but it’s plausible to revisit the oversexed nature of the text from many angles. Instead of looking at what we’ve discusses before –deliberate physical attributes of characters or indisputable acts of sex - I’d like to focus more on how the character’s political stance shapes the reader’s perception of Palomar’s collective sexuality. Two stories in particular, Slug Fest and Boys Will be Boys, effectively use Chelo’s skirt law to differentiate between how a Palomarian woman perceives and presents herself with how a Palomarian man perceives her.

For instance, the last page in Slug Fest (168) depicts Diana and Tonantzin arguing over Chelo’s enforced skirt law for girls over eighteen. Diana reacts and declares she’s under eighteen, strips to her underwear, and runs through the streets. While Tonantzin chases after Diana in the last scene (168. 5), the reader gets closure with Tip’in, Tip’in, as he declares this a typical day in Palomar where the goddesses roam. While there’s already a lot of imagery in this story that sexualizes Tonantizin (164. 2-3, 165.1-3, 167.1), Diana’s rebellious act refocuses how Hernandez addresses the sexual tension. In an action that is fueled more by political statement than sexual desire, Diana portrays a reckless and limitless attitude towards her sexuality. Tip’in, Tip’in, in turn, becomes the male authority that brings this political act back into the scope of Palomar. The reader is left with a cyclic sense that Palomarian women’s sexual desire and desire for equality/respect will constantly negate one another.

Again, in Boys Will be Boys, a woman is disturbed about Chelo’s skirt law (197.6). The “Babosa Bimbo,” as she is called, thinks the law is “dumb,” and Anacleto agrees for obvious reasons (198. 2). The reader sees that both the woman and man in this situation are comfortable showing their sexual desire to the other. Hernandez undercuts the desire, however, using Luba to comment, in much of a political manner, that she “prefers it this way,” claiming that “if [men] ever used their brains we might have to start taking them seriously.” (198.5)

Further, beyond these two stories, Hernandez quite possibly undercuts every sexual desire/scene with a more poignantly-charged statement. Or vice versa, illustrated in the juxtaposition of the last scene in Boys Will be Boys (198.5) with the first page of Holidays in the Sun (199).