Heroic journalism, moral and revolutionary virility: Youth and women in the magazine Por Qué?, 1968-1974

Abstract

This article uses a conceptual and empirical approach to analyze the transformation of opposition journalism in the 1960s and 1970s, through the magazine Por Qué?, one of era's most representative publications. A study of the moralistic discourse of opposition journalism reveals its paternalist and condescending tone, but also shows how, by encouraging youth and women to adopt critical positions towards the Mexican political regime, the left constructed an ideal of heroic journalism that was reinforced by the effects of the repression of its most notable leaders. This research proposes several lines of interpretation of the progressive creation of an alternative journalism to the "mainstream press" favored by the regime, and the role played by heroic journalism in idealizing the subjectivities contained in a revolutionary ideal, which kept women and youth in a marginal position in the Mexican political sphere.