This essay examines Frida Kahlo as a pioneering feminist and political activist decades before mainstream feminism took hold. Drawing on Hayden Herrera's biography, the paper traces Kahlo's transformation from accident survivor to celebrated artist, her bisexuality and unconventional marriage to Diego Rivera, and her deep involvement in Mexico's communist movement — including her support of exiled revolutionary Leon Trotsky. The essay connects Kahlo's lived experience to contemporary feminist issues such as reproductive rights, lesbianism, and minority women's concerns, arguing that Kahlo navigated and influenced male-dominated political circles long before modern feminists articulated those struggles.
Most activists for women today find themselves teaching feminism in a post-feminist era. In the early 1900s, Frida Kahlo lived the life that we now associate with women in the feminist movement. The purpose of this essay is to show how Frida Kahlo was ahead of her time in the women's movement, how she was politically active when most women had little to no voice in men's politics, and how her role as a woman helped shape the history of Mexican art while simultaneously exerting a strong influence on the communist movement of her struggling nation.
In our class texts — The Prostitution of Sexuality by Kathleen Barry and Women's Rights in the U.S.A.: Policy Debates and Gender Roles by Dorothy McBride Stetson — and in our class discussions, we have focused on discovering the current issues related to the reproductive rights of women, the controversy of lesbianism, and the unique concerns of minority women. I have been fascinated with women's roles in the political arena, as well as their civil liberties and potential in relation to the traditional family. Societal issues such as sexuality, abortion, equality in the workplace, and the many other concerns women face on a day-to-day basis have generated strong debates throughout our social organizations and legislatures. Frida Kahlo lived in these circles long before today's feminists.
We have also covered significant historical context on these key issues, including the fact that the sexual exploitation of women is fundamentally a political condition. Women have been — and continue to be — subordinate in a world largely shaped by men. The argument that discrimination against women is constructed upon a political barrier is one I find compelling. There is a pressing need to move the feminist struggle, which includes sexual exploitation in prostitution, to the forefront of the female agenda. Frida Kahlo did exactly that. She used her sexuality as a tool to advance her beliefs, and both men and women may have been powerless against her because of her intelligent use of sexuality to influence politics.
With that established, it becomes clear why a biography of a Mexican painter is a fitting choice for this assignment. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera is a comprehensive account of the life and times of one of Mexico's most formidable women activists. Born on July 6, 1907, in Mexico City, Kahlo was a true child of the Mexican Revolution and, in her later years, was extremely influential in the communist movement of her country.
When she was eighteen, Frida Kahlo was a victim of a serious bus accident that left her bedridden due to a series of broken bones, including her spinal column, collarbone, ribs, and pelvis, along with more than ten separate fractures throughout her right leg. Her right foot had been completely crushed and both shoulders were severely dislocated. For more than a month she was confined in a heavy plaster casing to aid her body's healing.
To stave off boredom, her family placed a large mirror at the top of her bed and provided her with her first paints. Family members later recounted how she would paint delicate pictures of flowers on the parts of her plaster cast she could reach. That horrendous period helped Frida forge a love affair with art. A friend and former fellow student commented on her dedication: "She told me once that without her handicaps, she would be dancing around like all the other young girls and maybe she wouldn't have become an artist." (Herrera)
Today, tourists and art lovers encounter a piece of living history, as Kahlo's former home and studio have been converted into a museum. "The cornflower blue Museo Frida Kahlo has been kept exactly the way it was when Kahlo lived there." (Herrera) The museum preserves her paints, brushes, books, and the wheelchair she required in her later years. Frida's work has made her studio a popular destination, and many Mexican schoolchildren visit it each year. Her popularity, however, extends far beyond Mexico's borders.
She has works displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Additionally, Kahlo's painting Self Portrait with Monkey was loaned to London's Tate Modern by the pop star Madonna for the traveling exhibition Surrealism: Desire Unbound. (Herrera)
Even with today's medical technology, many people might not have made the recovery that Kahlo achieved. Yet that recovery was never complete; she was plagued by pain and forced to undergo numerous surgeries throughout the remainder of her life. She has been described as a temperamental genius. Her handicaps and her daily experience of pain must have profoundly shaped her personality — and, by extension, the passion visible in her artwork.
"Bisexuality, Rivera marriage, and disputed accounts"
"Kahlo's Marxism and Trotsky's Mexican exile"
Frida Kahlo lived the life that today we would consider that of an ardent feminist. The aim of this essay has been to demonstrate how profoundly influential she was in the women's movement. She was a vocal communist at a time when women had virtually no say in politics. Through her art, she continues to reach both men and women today, and her works are prized possessions of great art institutions and museums throughout the world. Frida Kahlo helped shape Mexican history by being a strong, unapologetic woman. She clearly embodies the class themes of reproductive rights, lesbianism, and the unique concerns of minority women, and she set the tone for women's participation in both the political arena and the ongoing negotiation of family values and expectations.
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