It was published in Miami, Florida and was founded by tatiana de la tierra, Vanessa Cruz, Patricia Pereira-Pujol and Margarita Castilla.
[1] It published works by Latina lesbians, from the United States and elsewhere, in English, Spanish and Spanglish, including poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, news, interviews, comics and artwork.
[3] Esto no tiene nombre began in large part as a result of the meetings and exchanges of a group of Latina lesbian women that called themselves “Las Salamandras de Ambiente.” De Ambiente meant “in the life” and Las Salamandras comes from some faulty research that suggested that salamanders’ reproduction was female-centered, meaning they could hatch eggs without the help of a male, making them “lesbians”.
tatiana de la tierra and some others from the group configured the means to create a newsletter/magazine, esto no tiene nombre, in order to get some of these Latina lesbians’ stories told.
The editors of Esto, including tatiana de la tierra, Margarita Castilla, Vanessa Cruz, and Patricia Pereira-Pujol, wanted to use the magazine as a forum for discussion within the community about the Latina lesbian culture, struggles, and representation and as a tool to increase their visibility.
Salamandras are the riff-raff of the race, Christian comemierda pets of the right-wing machine, pious pendejas who become skittish in the presence of potent sinvergüenzas.”[4] The four editors (tatiana de la tierra, Margarita Castilla, Vanessa Cruz, and Patricia Pereira-Pujol) continued to publish anyway.
—de la tierra, “Las Sinvergüenzas”[4] Conmoción was the revival of Esto, and it came back with even greater force because of its strong international reach and acquirement of up-and-coming Latina lesbian authors and academics.
[4] The editor's note in the first edition reads: “conmoción is an international Latina lesbian vision that uses the published word to empower and terrorize, to destroy and create.
We publish, support and develop any type of activity that leads to the betterment and greater visibility of Latina lesbians.”[4] The three issues of the magazine included work from 84 contributors from 38 cities around the world.
It featured writers like Achy Obejas, Cherríe Moraga, Carmen Vasquez, and Luzmaría Umpierre, writing about a variety of topics ranging from personal anecdotes to cultural activism.
[4] One such article, written by Loana dP Valencia and entitled “Wanna Be a Puta” explores the politics of sexual representation in a direct, upfront, confrontational style which is typical of the magazine and its editors.
De la tierra expressed that not finding herself in print felt equivalent to not existing at all, and that bibliographic invisibility dis-empowers the entire Latin@ community as a result.
[7] An example of this sentiment is seen in Mexican culture, where, Cherrie Moraga explains, Chicana lesbians are seen as Malinche figures – they are seen as being corrupted by foreign influences and traitors of the race because they contribute to the “genocide” of their people, regardless of whether or not they have children.
[11] The purpose of Esto no tiene nombre was to combat these patterns of stigmatization, exclusion, and invisibility by creating a safe space for the discussion of Latina lesbian culture.