La Llorona; A Demonstration of Men Controlling Women

Throughout history, men have had power over women. Female leaders in history are few and far between, and men have always sought to make women lower than them. The Salem Witch Trials condemned women for stepping out of line, and the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade took away women’s bodily autonomy. Men create stories to make women out to be weak and dangerous. They villainize women’s mental health and take away their ability to do things that were once a luxury. If men could not control women, they would not be in the positions they are in now. Men gain power from the control of women.

A notable example of a story initially created to control how women think and act is the folktale “La Llorona.” Translating to “The Weeping Woman,” this story is about a beautiful woman who marries a powerful man from Spain. They get married and have two sons; her husband neglects her and only focuses on his sons. He eventually abandons them for another woman marries her and runs off with her. Upon hearing this news, the woman is overcome with jealousy and lures her two children away from the house, where she kills them and then herself. Depending on the version, the woman either kills herself or is hung when she is found with her children’s bodies. This story originally came from the Chicano writers of Latin America but has been adapted to many different cultures and has spread worldwide. Everyone knows their version of this tale because it has been told in so many ways, and it has also become trendy in mainstream media. The story was featured in the first Conjuring movie and referenced in a popular song from the Disney movie Coco. These new retellings of the story have people talking about it increasingly, with people looking over the original story and realizing it is problematic.

La Llorona originally came from the Chicano writers of Latin America, but that did not stop other cultures from adapting the story. Many versions of “La Llorona” depict the woman as an Aztec goddess. Being a goddess in the stories is an omen telling of the arrival of the Spaniards and their killings (Lopez). The woman depicted as La Llorona is sometimes Dona Marina, also known as La Malinche, who is Herman Cortes’s wife. She is a traitor to Mexico and is speculated to have drowned her children after her husband cheated on her (Lopez). Many people claim to have seen La Llorona roaming waterways. People from all over the Americas claim to have seen her apparition and have heard her wails for her children. Some speculate that versions of this tale prove that La Llorona is true.

The original moral of “La Llorona” is meant to warn against jealousy’s dangerous and overwhelming power. It was told to keep women in line and faithful to their husbands, though her husband seems to be at fault in the original tale. The story expects women to forgive their husband’s unfaithfulness and move on from their discretions. Other versions of the story, like that of Yda H Addis, starkly contrast the original tale written by men. One main detail that separates her version from others is that she makes the husband out to be the real murderer of his children while his wife, who was just retaliating against his actions, stands trial (Trevino 123). This story seeks to absolve La Llorona and is meant to be a lesson to men being unfaithful to their wives.

Addis’s version of La Llorona does a lot to make her seem much more human than the male-written versions of the tale. First, she gives her first and last name, Lusia Haro. She also describes Luisa as “white as the lily,” which follows the focus Addis seems to have on white people being “reasoning people,” as she states in another one of her works (Trevino 124). This refers to how the Anglo-Americans of the times saw Mexicans of European descent to be more like them than Indigenous Mexicans. Original versions of the story also say that her husband left her for a fairer-skinned woman than her. Her fair skin made people hail Luisa as the most beautiful woman in all of Mexico and made it even more unreasonable for her husband to have left her. When she one day marries the powerful Montes-Carlos, he takes her away from her town, where she lives alone, and isolates her in a large house. She becomes the sole caregiver for their children since Montes-Carlos is never home. When he marries another woman, she walks to her old home and takes a dagger from the chest Montes-Carlos brought her from Spain. She returns to her children and stabs them with the dagger. Upon realizing her crimes, she runs out and wails for her children with the dagger still in her hands. She was imprisoned and later hanged while her husband, the natural killer, only rose in popularity (Addis 135). This tale does a lot to absolve La Llorona and make her husband out to be the villain. Men gaining popularity for the crimes of a woman sounds a lot like what men are trying to twist abortion into. While it is a much different situation, lawmakers want to criminalize abortion, allowing women to be tried for murder if they receive an abortion. Lawmakers gain traction for this, while women are villainized for trying to protect themselves.

Though I appreciate this change in a harmful lesson, I can understand why, at the time, this moral was seen as acceptable. Women did not have as many rights as they did when this story was written. Men probably felt the need to put women in their place and keep them loyal to their husbands. The story shows what happens to women when they act out against their husbands. It may not be as extreme as death, but it is still a lesson imparted to women to stay loyal. While I don’t agree with this sentiment, I understand why, at the time, this moral was acceptable.

This image was carved into a tree by Gabriel Perez Salazar. This carving shows a woman who has her mouth open wide in a scream above a text describing her as “La Llorona.” Underneath the woman lies three children in the fetal position, wrapped up in themselves. This depiction of La Llorona is a particularly dark one. The terrible expression on her face is heartbreaking, and the way her children look so small and scared, hiding their faces in their hands. Making her children so young makes her seem even more evil, considering that she kills them at the end of the story. You can feel her grief when looking at this carving, which makes it especially powerful. Though most depictions have her children as toddlers, this carving depicts them as babies. Either way, their fate is terrible, but this is just another way men can twist stories to make women seem more dangerous.

 

You cannot talk about men seeking power without addressing the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. This law was put in place to protect a woman’s right to privacy. The court ruled that the ban Texas had on abortion was unconstitutional, and eventually, the ban was lifted, legalizing abortion nationwide. This new law would allow for women to have abortions during the first trimester and second trimester with stricter rules in the second. Third-trimester abortions remained illegal since the baby could survive outside of the womb but would be permitted if the woman were in danger and could not safely give birth to the baby. Roe v. Wade was overturned when the nation’s most potent court ruled the Mississippi law banning abortion past 15 weeks was constitutional. Many smaller courts disagreed with this sentiment since Roe v. Wade proved this was unconstitutional, so the court overturned the law.

Overturning Roe v. Wade is a slippery slope regarding women’s rights (Conrad). Abortion was a protective right in the Constitution, allowing women to have a choice over whether they wanted to keep a baby that they would carry inside of them for nine months and then care for eighteen years. It is not fair for men to oppose this law when they have a tiny part in making a baby. Men put in seconds of work for women to spend years forming, birthing, and caring for a baby. Men should not have a say in what a woman does with her body. This case is a matter of privacy and is protected under the Constitution; politicians are quick to condemn women for exercising their right to privacy but do nothing when the kids they are “protecting” are being killed in schools because they believe in the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Why did lawmakers feel the need to overturn this law so important to women’s reproductive rights? This case has been in jeopardy since 2018 when Brett Kavanaugh was appointed Supreme Court Justice, and when Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed in 2020, the case was in even more trouble. Conservatives try to jeopardize this case by appointing justices who may agree that Roe v. Wade is harmful and will fight to overturn it. Eighty percent of Americans believe that abortion is justified in some circumstances (Temme). At the end of the day, no matter who thinks this law is constitutional or unconstitutional, it is up to the Supreme Court to make that ruling. In the end, Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act led to Roe v. Wade being overturned, and abortion was banned for the past 15 weeks. One argument for overturning this law is that the Constitution does not mention abortion and that a fetus can be classified as a person who is protected by the 14th amendment(Temme). The Constitution does not provide a proper definition of a “person.” Maybe lawmakers should investigate defining what a person is so arguments like this can be cut and dry.

Without Roe v. Wade, plenty of states have already totally banned Roe v. Wade or have put much stricter boundaries regarding abortion. Thirteen states banned abortion entirely right when Roe was overturned, eighteen have more restrictions, and in six states, abortion has remained fully legal in all stages of pregnancy. A few states have jumped into passing other laws that they could not pass while Roe was in place. It is almost as if they were waiting to pass them, considering Roe v. Wade was already on shaky ground leading up to its overturning.

The way men villainize and demean women is not specific to just men. Women hear what men say about them and take it to heart. They start siding with men and putting other women down, fighting to pass laws that take away their rights and the rights of the children they seek to protect. Women fighting to ban abortion come from the men around them convincing them they should give up their bodily autonomy. They listen to the men telling them they are killing their children and fighting women who are trying to protect themselves. When you walk drive past a Planned Parenthood, what do you see? I see people crowded around the door, standing on the street, harassing women trying to enter to receive abortions, birth control, and help regarding STDs and just sexual health in general. Defunding Planned Parenthood in the wake of abortion bans has led to a rise in STDs, considering Planned Parenthood is a significant resource for people with them. Men influencing the way women think and act is not new. The tale of La Llorona has continued to influence society. She is the face of many horror movies, and her story is still told in Hispanic culture. The men who wrote her story painted her as an evil woman who should be feared. People pass this story down to younger generations, leading them to fear a woman going through a crisis. People can overlook and demean women in crisis in real life due to this story. It is easy to twist the meaning and message of something to fit your views.

La Llorona and the overturning of Roe v. Wade both have clear goals: control how women think, act, and what they are allowed to do. Both the message of La Llorona and the overturning of Roe v. Wade are harmful to women in the past and present. No matter what time they live in, women will be controlled by men who seek power. Men create harmful stories and teach women to think and be like them. Men so easily influence women because men surround them. Our lawmakers are men, men report the news, and police officers and doctors are men. Women in male-dominated fields learn from men and begin to act like them. With the way things are going, women are not safe in our current society. Though it feels like we have spent history fighting, we must fight for our rights to our bodies and minds. Men will not have control over women forever.

 

Addis, Y. H. “THE WAILING WOMAN. “La Llorona,” a Legend of Mexico.” Legacy 36.1 (2019): 131-6. ProQuest. Web. 14 Mar. 2024.

Conrad, James. “Joy Behar Calls on Women to Use ‘sex Strikes’ to Protest Potential Overturn of Roe v. Wade.” TheMix.Net, 5 May 2022, www.themix.net/2022/05/joy-behar-sex-strike/.

Lopez, Robert. “La Llorona: The Terrible Truth about Mexico’s Weeping Woman.” Ancient Origins Reconstructing the Story of Humanity’s Past, Ancient Origins, 25 May 2019, www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-americas/la-llorona-0011960#google_vignette.

“Roe v. Wade: Decision, Summary & Background.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Mar. 2018, www.history.com/topics/womens-history/roe-v-wade#supreme-court-ruling.

Temme, Laura. “Roe v. Wade Case Summary: What You Need to Know – FindLaw.” FindLaw, 17 Mar. 2022, supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/roe-v–wade-case-summary–what-you-need-to-know.html.

Temme, Laura. “Why Was Roe v. Wade Overturned? .” FindLaw, 2023, supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/could-roe-v–wade-be-overturned-.html.

Salazar, Gabirel Perez. La Llorona. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/files/2021/09/La_Llorona_arbol_tallado-scaled.jpg.

Treviño, Rene H. “Absolving La Llorona: Yda H. Addis’s ‘The Wailing Woman.’” Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, University of Nebraska Press, 11 June 2019, muse.jhu.edu/article/726498.