Meet a member: Mexico y Caribe Jóvenes A.C.’s Luis Enrique Martin

What do you work on?

Today my work is mainly focused on young people from rural contexts like mine. I currently work in the organization Mexico y Caribe Jóvenes A.C. (Mexico and Caribbean Youth A.C.) as project coordinator. I also collaborate as a member of Cómplices Por La Igualdad (​​Partners For Equality), which is a national network in Mexico, formed by organizations, activists and academics.  It works mainly to promote the exercise of more equitable and responsible masculinities among young and adult men. 

My work focuses on:

• addressing human rights issues
• prevention of gender violence 
• sexual and reproductive rights 

I apply a perspective of non-hegemonic masculinities by using playful methodologies, as I firmly believe that the game can be a powerful tool for social change. During my internship with Puntos de Encuentro in Nicaragua, I attended a session with young farmers in Estelí. An older participant shared that the playful workshops inspired him to play with his children, breaking his belief that adults should only teach discipline. This change was clear as group members laughed, hugged, and played together during the workshops.

How did you get involved in this work?

I firmly believe that life takes you down the path where you belong. In my case, I can pinpoint an exact day that put me onto the path I am on today. One night when I was 12 years old, I was watching TV when I heard someone calling me from the street. It was my friend, Jorge, who asked me to go for a walk. On the way I asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,”– said Jorge. 

When we arrived, I could see that other boys from the village were there working with seeds. Suddenly someone comes up to me to give me some tweezers and says:  “Here, help us get seeds”. It was the coordinator of the collective I became a part of that night, ‘Colectivo Independiente Espacio Joven’, which is now called Colectivo J-Xiibal. That’s how one night, taking seeds from the “pich” tree (a tree from my community) to make necklaces, began one of the most beautiful stages of my adolescence.

In this space, I began to learn about sexual education and human rights. Every night we attended workshops, games, and every so often we would organize camps.

Thanks to this community space I was able to get to know myself, to strengthen my self-confidence and my leadership. I was also able to strengthen my relationship with my younger brother, to question certain dynamics of my family and to see the problems that were happening in my community that affected mainly young people.

The collective became a second home for me and those who were part of it, a second family where I could express myself, learn, have fun and even cry.

Undoubtedly this stage had a big impact on my life. Thanks to this experience, I decided to study Social Anthropology at the University of Quintana Roo and to get involved in civil organization.  That is why today I am an activist for human rights and I am working with young people in Quintana Roo.

These days, I still return to  Colectivo J-Xiibal to share and give back a little bit of what I have learned with the girls and boys of my community.

Is there an initiative you are proud of that you would like to share?

During the COVID19 pandemic, I had the opportunity to be part of a group of young people from Latin America to work on a digital campaign for young people called “I am more than a mold! – Sexualities without Machismo”. This campaign aimed to promote greater involvement of young people in the exercise of healthy masculinity and sexuality.  

One of my favorite materials we developed for the campaign is “Kamasutra without prejudices” because I think it can be a very useful tool that young people, and definitely men, should know to rethink the exercise of their sexuality from a more critical, empathetic and unprejudiced point of view.

What keeps you motivated in this work?

Throughout the time I have been involved in these processes of human rights and reflection, many times I have thought about giving up. Because when you are very close to—and even live first hand—the problems that people live with, especially young people, to some extent this can affect your mental health. 

Thanks to the support of the organizations in which I collaborate, these situations can be overcome. But also, I consider that one of the things that always keeps me motivated to continue on this path is the opportunity to return to the place where I am from to work with the youth of my community. This always leaves me with new perspectives and learnings from their ways of looking at the world. Supporting them in achieving their dreams and aspirations gives me strength. 

A book you recommend—relevant to gender transformative work?

I would like to share two books* that I believe every person who works on masculinities should know. I consider these two books to be references to strengthen the work on masculinities:

• For Beginners: “No nacemos machos. Cinco ensayos para re pensar ser hombre en el patriarcado”[We are not born macho. Five essays to rethink being a man in patriarchy.]
• For advanced readers: “Contra-pedagogias de la crueldad” by Rita Segato [Against pedagogies of cruelty]

*Both books are available in Spanish only

What do you hope we can achieve together as an Alliance that we cannot do as individual organizations?

I think that nowadays masculinities have been theorized and reflected upon a lot. And we can find many examples and successful experiences of working with individual men. However, we have not yet managed to translate all of the above into bigger social change, to make it tangible in our lives and in the lives of girls, adolescents and women. As an alliance, I think it is important that we take a second step through concrete actions for a greater involvement of men, especially young men. 

We can build a movement that questions violent and traditional masculinities, to promote healthier, more equitable and empathetic relationships. And we must do this together, with constant self-reflection of the people who are part of MenEngage Alliance.

A quote that you would like to share?

For every action I take, I think of the quote “think globally, act locally”. Sometimes as networks or large organizations, we lose sight of the fact that grassroots work done at a community level is INDISPENSABLE to be able to generate concrete change at the global level.

Is there a part of the Ubuntu Declaration and Call to Action that resonates with you?

The commitments in the Ubuntu Declaration about accountability and youth particularly resonate with me: 

In terms of accountability, as a person who works in organizations dedicated to human rights with a focus on masculinities and with feminist principles, I firmly believe that we have the responsibility to be coherent with our actions. Especially as men, since we live in a system that has been designed to give us privileges, we must be in constant reflection of our actions, as well as have a firm commitment to transform those privileges. 

I also believe that adolescents and youth have a strong conviction to transform our realities, since we are willing to rethink what we have been taught. Young people must always be heard, and we need to be allowed to guide public programs and public policies that are specifically aimed at us. Nothing for young people without young people.

 

You can find out more about Luis’s work on his social media: Facebook and Instagram.            

This interview was originally done in Spanish and has been translated into English.