Objective/Context:

Sexual violence in Latin America is a topic that national historiographies have addressed with increased intensity since the late twentieth century. This article focuses on the study of sexual crimes (statutory rape, kidnapping, rape, among others) based on the lawsuits filed in Yucatan by the victims or their families in the post-independence period, between 1830 and 1875. The documentation shows that sexual violence had a high incidence in the rural population and affected Mayan girls and women to a greater extent. It also shows that the criminal proceedings resulted in absolution and conviction sentences.

Methodology:

The article reviews the general bibliography on the subject that has modulated this approach, the legislation on sexual crimes that was in force, and analyzes primary sources, especially judicial records held in the General Archive of the State of Yucatan.

Originality:

The article is a necessary contribution to elucidate a fundamental problem that has not been sufficiently studied by historiography. The gender perspective guided this text to unravel the characteristics of these sexual assaults and to examine how the criminal processes and the scope of the competent sentences were developed.

Conclusions:

Through the reviewed documentation, it is possible to draw a tight picture of the behavior of these crimes in Yucatan after independence, to have clues of their characteristics, fundamentally for rape and statutory rape, and the difficulty of discerning them. In this context, midwives’ work in the judicial processes as forensic experts on the physical damages inflicted on the victims is evidenced; likewise, the family consequences derived from these acts and the behavior of the authorities and judges when attending to and judging these crimes are observed.

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