Women Readers in Nineteenth-Century Mexico: A Study of the Periodicals Las Hijas del Anáhuac, El Álbum de la Mujer, and Violetas del Anáhuac

This chapter brings to light three periodicals published in Mexico in the last decades of the nineteenth century, Las Hijas del Anáhuac, Violetas del Anáhuac, and El Álbum de la Mujer. With the advent of “modernity” or at least the discourse of modernity, women’s role in society starts to change. All three journals showcase the tensions, conflicts, and fears of women intellectuals in Mexico toward the end of the nineteenth century, comprising a genre of periodical writing and publication by women that is distinct from the feminist press that was evolving in parallel fashion. In order to survive, this new press finds itself obligated to legitimize its discourse and control its editorials; in doing so, it designs its own readership and determines their practices.