How could the history of homosexuality in Mexico be told differently if we understand the Bautizo de la Chilaquil, as having “invented” women’s homosexuality and masculinities in Mexico? (Vargas Cervantes, 2024b).

On November 23, 1901, in the town of Santa Maria, a private party of “only women” was raided by police, who were looking for “scandals” similar to the Raid of the 41. Newspapers reported that no men had been invited to this gathering because the women in attendance wanted “to avoid unpleasantness” (El Universal, 1901). There were more than fifteen women ready “to celebrate the baptism of a doll that would be baptised with the name ‘la Chilaquil’” (idem). Chilaquil, the name of a traditional Mexican dish made with fried tortillas, suggests women’s same-sex desire as the term tortilla colloquially describes women’s same sex-desires and practices.