Micro-abyecciones A project by Compañía CroMagnon CroMagnon is a group of performing artists using music, theatre and performance to question gender issues in Mexico. Inspired by the philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, they will create of a play based on research of masculinity in the Mexican songbook, as well as a musical concert based on research around the invisibility of women in academia and industry and a series urban interventions that will question the binary gender in the public space. Machismo is a well-recognized phenomenon in Mexican culture. The word machismo is derived from macho, which means male. The real macho possesses many traits of honor, dignity, and courage. He exemplifies masculine aggressiveness and sexual virility. The negative extremes of machismo center on absolute power in the form of violence and exploitation. Machismo is the underlying cause of family conflicts. Mexican Investigative journalist Lydia Cacho said that many men received a misogynistic education growing up, which conditions them to "kill their sensitivity," so as to avoid being ostracized from the so-called masculine world by being regarded as homosexuals.

CroMagnon is inspired by the American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminist, queer, and literary theory. Butler is best known for her books Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Bodies That Matter: She challenges conventional notions of gender and develops her theory of gender performativity. This theory has had a major influence on feminist and queer scholarship. Outputs

10 performances in an independent theatre of which 2 will be exclusively for students of a play derived from a six-month workshop where the construction of the male as a national stereotype from 1930 is studied through the Mexican songbook:

6 concerts derived from a research around the feminine sonar universe to be held in music conservatories and in "cultured" music forums

4 urban interventions based on a nine months research into feminine expression in public space questioning violent and visceral reactions towards non-binary gender.

Outcomes

Intensive research into gender based behavior questioning stereotypes, violence and intolerance will deepen the expertise on the subject of the performers involved. This will help them improve passing on their view of these issues on to the public in a convincing way.

Impact

Students and public are invited and seduced to question gender issues in Mexico. secondary, high school and university students. General public (male and female)