1940s Puchaca Movement - History

Throughout World War II, the United States had gone through a multitude of experiences that fluctuated and changed social and cultural dynamics. During the 1940s the United States had seen its own society and culture shift. 

Women were allowed to enter the workforce in order to help the war effort, with one caveat: it was temporary. The United States government had ironically and offensively stated in a pamphlet attempting to encourage women to work: "A woman is a substitute like plastic instead of metal." 

Racially, the United States had experienced discrimination - socially and politically. Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans were forced to settle into internment camps under Executive Order 9066, and African Americans were allowed to join the war effort under certain restrictions. 

In the midst of worldwide turmoil and simultaneous national unity and division, the United States had experienced a subculture of many second-generation Mexican-American women that rejected both mainstream American culture and traditional Mexican culture. They were labeled as "Puchaco" girls, or "Puchacas", suggesting gang affiliation. 

Historian Elizabeth Escobedo, who had personally joined this subculture, writes in her report, "The Pachuca Panic: Sexual and Cultural Battlegrounds in World War II Los Angeles", that the "Puchaca" movement had defied social conventions and feminine stereotypes, and soon became an avenue young Mexican-American girl and women would take to bring attention to the discrimination the Mexican-American community faced on a daily basis. 

A prominent argument that can be made with the historical context that Escobedo provides is that the wartime environment and family pressure encouraged Pachucas to reject the social pressure of what was deemed "appropriate" female behavior, in both American and Mexican culture.

World War II created a wartime environment that encouraged women, in general, to reject the stereotypical feminine social norms and instead contribute to the wartime effort by being a "Rosie the Riveter". 

This wartime environment affected Puchacas in a somewhat similar manner, encouraging them to reject the social pressure to conform to a definition of appropriate female behavior. Escobedo explains that "during World War II [...], expanded labor and leisure opportunities lured greater numbers of second-generation daughters away from the home and into the public sphere." She goes on to explain that the "greater job mobility and better wages" from this wartime environment "provided numerous opportunities for second-generation men and women of Mexican descent to experiment with American consumer and leisure culture." 

World War II required the government to expand opportunities for women - this, in turn, exposed women to the social and public sphere that men had been originally exposed to, and these young Mexican-American women were enticed by this newly discovered "wartime leisure culture". 

As these women gained financial and social means to experience more liberation, they began to experiment with American consumer cultures, such as American fashion and cosmetics. This contributed to the Pachuca look - Escobedo explains that legal records indicate that a Pachuca could be described as "neat appearing, but. . . with high pompadour, plucked eyebrows, short skirts, black socks. She likes to decorate herself with jewelry and trinkets." 

As wage-earners, these young girls and women were able to socialize outside of their traditional communities. Thus, not only had this environment give way to more financial and social freedom for the women in society, but it contributed to a lack of accountability amongst them. Escobedo described this, stating that "with the recruitment of parents and older siblings into war work and the armed services, it became increasingly difficult to monitor the behavior of young women." 

These young females had just been exposed to a new culture, had just experienced getting their first pay-check, and had begun to experiment with American culture, buying the "latest fads in cosmetics and zoot-suit styles." 

The environment of liberation only grew when those who were supposed to be the watchful eyes in the community - parents, older siblings, and prominent community leaders - had been recruited for the wartime effort, and now had to concentrate on serving the United States of America instead of holding their younger community accountable. 

Consequently, World War II had produced a liberating environment for second-generation Mexican-American women, in which social norms were rejected and females now had the financial means and liberation in which they could choose how they spent their time and who they associated with. With the additional lack of accountability this environment possessed, Pachucas were encouraged and capable of rejecting social pressure to conform to a definition of appropriate female behavior.

In addition to the wartime environment produced, second-generation Mexican-American females experienced social pressure closer to home - the familial pressure they faced to conform to the vision that their parents had for them had ultimately pushed the Puchacas to reject the norms placed before them from their traditional Mexican community. 

First, there was a double standard that existed within this community, as eloquently explained by Escobedo, who writes that, "Mexican parents typically subscribed to a double standard in sexual relations, closely cloistering daughters until marriage, while allowing sons the freedom to do as they pleased. Such strict rules traced back to the Catholic Church and social customs in Mexico, where virginity was highly valued and a family's reputation usually depended on the chastity of its women." 

The Mexican community would tolerate the Puchacos, the defiant Mexican-American men, but to have females act in this way was viewed as disruptive, corruptive, and selfish. Parents in these Mexican communities wanted to continue their traditions, worrying that because of the wartime environment, such as the "wartime work and leisure conditions", that the "increased bodily contacts" between Puchacas and Puchacos "could potentially compromise Mexican culture and traditions." 

In fact, Mexican parents viewed Puchacas as "the corrupting influence of American sexual patterns on Mexican culture." One Mexican mother recalls her daughter's behavior as a Puchaca in the 1940s, saying that she told her daughter that there would be "none of this running around all night with one boy, the way those American girls up on Tenth do. There is a lot to be said for the Mexican way of keeping an eye on your girls." 

Escobedo explains that Mexican parents connected Puchaca behavior with American sexual attitudes, thinking that this movement "might persuade daughters to leave their traditional values, and their cultural community, behind." 

This familial pressure that these young women faced ultimately led to rebellion - Cecelia, one of these young second-generation Mexican-Americans, had found herself in a position of needing to respond to the legal authorities and excuse her Puchaca behavior. Her response had been that "her friends were not "bad" girls, but young women who simply desired a little liberty from parental restrictions." The parental restrictions placed on these young women during the liberating wartime environment led to the younger generation wanting to rebel against the traditional norms found in the Mexican community, encouraging them to reject the social pressure to conform to a definition of appropriate female behavior.

In conclusion, Historian Elizabeth Escobedo brought attention to the discrimination the Mexican-American community faced on a daily basis. The wartime environment and family pressure encouraged Pachucas to reject the social pressure of what was deemed "appropriate" female behavior, in both American and Mexican culture.