Amalia Mesa-Bains

Cihuatlampa

The Place of the Giant Women

am-à-zon, 1. n. aggressive lust, unbridled will, disobedience, women who refuse traditional submission to men.
2. n. beings with strong breasts or with one breast.
3. adj. breastless, not brought up by the breast...

To tame women is to insure the social order and to reproduce sexuality in the positions and terms set by patriarchy. Therefore an untamed woman is suspect, dangerous and unpredictable. Cihuatlampa is the place of the untamed spirit.