[2] Born in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila,[1] Cárdenas earned a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters at the National Autonomous University of Mexico,[1] studied staging, film and theater at Yale University in the United States and took courses in Polish language and culture in Łódź.
In the 1950s she participated in the reading program, Poesía en Voz Alta ("Poetry Out Loud"), directed by Héctor Mendoza.
She published her first one-act play, El cántaro seco (The Empty Pitcher),[3] and began a career as a journalist for various magazines and on the culture pages of various newspapers.
[5] At age 39, Cárdenas became the first publicly declared lesbian in Mexico[4] when she revealed her sexuality on the TV show 24 horas, hosted by Jacobo Zabludovsky, during an interview about the firing of a gay employee.
[6] As a feminist and sexology specialist she also held numerous conferences, seminars and national and international television interviews on the subject.