Presented By: Department of History
Aiton Lecture: Señorita Telefonista: Sexual Harassment, Pregnancy Discrimination, and Class Identities in Early Twentieth Century Mexico City
Susie S. Porter, University of Utah
At the height of worker mobilization in revolutionary Mexico City some of the most combative workers were telephone operators. In this talk, Susie S. Porter takes us from switchboards to union halls, and into the streets as working women fought for better wages and against marriage bans, pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment.
Telephone operators’ struggles to defend their bodily autonomy were historically contingent and constructed through the material and discursive conditions of class. Countervailing practices of class distinction shaped women’s capacity to speak and informed their activism. As languages of class circulated––by management, organized labor, working men, and working women themselves––working and middle- class identities were made and unmade. The success of organized labor hung in the balance.
Susie S. Porter, Professor of History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, is the author of two award-winning books: Workingwomen in Mexico City: Public Discourses and Material Conditions, 1879-1931 (University of Arizona Press, 2003); and, From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890-1950 (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). Spanish-language versions of both books were published by El Colegio de Michoacán Press.
Her forthcoming book is titled: Señorita Telefonista: Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination, and Class Identities in Early Twentieth-Century Mexico City (University of Nebraska, 2026)
Porter is also co-editor and contributor to 3 edited volumes and a documents reader in Mexican history. Susie is a Member of the Mexican Academy of History (as Corresponsal Internacional). She has held residential fellowships at the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (2022-23) and L’Institut d’Études Avancées de Nantes, France (2023-24).
She serves as a country conditions expertise for asylum cases, was a co-founder of the Westside Leadership Institute (Spanish language version) and works as an organizer with the Salt Lake City Latinx community. She served as chair of the Gender Studies Division (2010-2020) and, since 2021, as director of the Center for Latin American Studies. For her work in the community, Porter was designated Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Utah (2019).
This lecture is sponsored by the Aiton Lecture Committee.
Telephone operators’ struggles to defend their bodily autonomy were historically contingent and constructed through the material and discursive conditions of class. Countervailing practices of class distinction shaped women’s capacity to speak and informed their activism. As languages of class circulated––by management, organized labor, working men, and working women themselves––working and middle- class identities were made and unmade. The success of organized labor hung in the balance.
Susie S. Porter, Professor of History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, is the author of two award-winning books: Workingwomen in Mexico City: Public Discourses and Material Conditions, 1879-1931 (University of Arizona Press, 2003); and, From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890-1950 (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). Spanish-language versions of both books were published by El Colegio de Michoacán Press.
Her forthcoming book is titled: Señorita Telefonista: Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination, and Class Identities in Early Twentieth-Century Mexico City (University of Nebraska, 2026)
Porter is also co-editor and contributor to 3 edited volumes and a documents reader in Mexican history. Susie is a Member of the Mexican Academy of History (as Corresponsal Internacional). She has held residential fellowships at the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (2022-23) and L’Institut d’Études Avancées de Nantes, France (2023-24).
She serves as a country conditions expertise for asylum cases, was a co-founder of the Westside Leadership Institute (Spanish language version) and works as an organizer with the Salt Lake City Latinx community. She served as chair of the Gender Studies Division (2010-2020) and, since 2021, as director of the Center for Latin American Studies. For her work in the community, Porter was designated Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Utah (2019).
This lecture is sponsored by the Aiton Lecture Committee.
Co-Sponsored By
Explore Similar Events
-
Loading Similar Events...
