Sexual Conquest

by Angélica M. Yañez


Let me tell you a story. . .
I will untangle the cob webs of history and memory—of beauty and betrayal.
A wild excavation
of forgotten goddesses and earth-toned women that took their rightful places
in cultures and clans on this Native land.

Resurrect the memory of—Coatlicue—mother of all gods
who birthed the stars and the moon.

Xochiquetzal—remember her name.
Her body used to move like rhythm
and flow like water in clear running creeks,
with beauty and ease.

Her feet the color of mud—deep, creamy, and soft
the perfect mixture of feminine mystic and fertility. 
After all this time, I can still hear her songs upon the wind.
She carried birds and butterflies on her back
to set right the balance of the cosmos.

Reminiscent of the way mothers were respected,
call upon the essence of Tonantzin—the embodiment of earth,
a loving, nourishing mother.

She appeared to her children to warn:
the fall of Native women simultaneously the fall of the Americas
unearthing the bitter root of trauma.

Malintzin and Pocahontas—
both girls violated and traded like playing cards at the hands of white colonizers.
European men’s demented fantasies and
pedophilic ways make their way across bodies of oceans
and onto the bodies of brown girls.

John Smith’s obsession with 10-year-old Pocahontas; perverting her every move.
Hernán Cortés held captive a teenage Malintzin; considered only a tongue,
an object, a vessel for his conquest.

Pale face men popularized missionary style on the backs of Native women.
Policies of rape, war, and domination become normalized crime
and the hatred of womanhood so ordinary. 
Sexual conquest as a strategy to debase the Native blood line         
to confuse our legacy—they call us “Indian,” “savage,” “mestizo,” “Latino,” “Hispanic,” and insult anything feminine, anything divine.
Your biggest lie.
We are the backbone of everything.

You pretend you gave us civilization
rather than syphilis, pollution, confusion
and blankets full of smallpox.

500 years and counting. . .
Digging deep into the dirt
we find buried bones and broken teeth,
until bodies become bruised and lifeless.
Remember the women in Juárez, Guatemala, missing from the rez,
and our stolen sisters from Canada.

Today you can buy and beat—brown women like nothing.
Disregard them like little pieces of trash
muffled, murdered, and missing.

Before Jesus came, the corn mothers used to say:
 “A people can never be defeated until the hearts of the women are on the ground”
Violence against Native women is not traditional,
Violence against Native women is not our way.


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This piece was written to be performed in community and college spaces to bring awareness to the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) in the United States, Canada, México, and Latin America. Furthermore, it aims to inspire individuals to participate in the observance of May 5th as the National Day of Awareness and Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, while also encouraging them to get involved in activities during April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This poem can be read and shared.

Angélica M. Yañez is a professor and poet. She holds a PhD in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego. For years she has been the advisor to a spoken word activism group on her college campus. She is a traditional Aztec Dancer that honors the legacies of her Native ancestors. Also, the founder of The Ancestral Teachings Institute, a place for cultural learning and Indigenous wisdom. Angélica can be reached through info@ancestralteach.com.