“We All Get Raped”: Sexual Violence Against Latin American Women in Migratory Transit in Mexico

Research Sample and Population

The sample consisted of 10 undocumented Latin American transmigrant women who were temporarily lodged in migrant shelters located in some principal migrant transit cities in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco in southern Mexico and in the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas in northern Mexico. The research team conducted parallel interviews in different Mexican states. The interviewed women were all at different stages of their migrant journey and belonged to the lower socioeconomic stratum. Two inclusion criteria were established for the selection of the sample: first, the demographic mandate that the respondents must be Latin American women older than 18 years traveling alone or with children in migratory transit in Mexico; and second, the stipulation that the women should be temporarily residing in a shelter designated for migrants. The criterion of coexistence was applied because the potential of constant and sudden mobility represented a primary characteristic of the target population. A simple theoretical saturation principle was employed, which was achieved when no new information could be obtained (Bowen, 2008).

Research Tools

Given the women’s mobility, a single semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted based on standards applied by Smith et al. (2009), focusing on the stages of the migration process: leaving the country of origin, the journey and experiences of violence, and expectations for the future. The interviews were conducted in Spanish and were recorded and transcribed for the analyses. Each interview took between 60 and 90 min.

Research Procedure and Ethical Considerations

First contact was established with the women through the migrant shelters located in the abovementioned states. The shelters assured the physical and psychological security of the interviewed women as well as the researchers. The research objectives were explained to the migrating women and only individuals interested in participating in the study underwent the interview. The participants were asked to sign a consent form that included their rights and outlined the fundamental principles of the study. The participants were informed of the voluntary nature of the interview and were apprised that they could abandon the interview or refrain from answering some of the questions. They were free to demand information on any aspect of the research at any moment and were assured of the security of the collected data.

The names and other identification data pertaining to the participating women were modified to conceal their real identities and the respondents were provided with the lead investigator’s contact information. In this context, it is pertinent to mention that the researchers were also women. It was thus easier both for the researchers to approach the women and for the women to agree to participate in the study.

The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the university to which the researchers are affiliated. The study was conducted in Spanish (first contact, interviews, and analyses), and an English translation of the original manuscript was conducted for publication purposes.

Data Analysis

The analysis of the testimonies followed the interpretative phenomenological method (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018; Smith et al., 2009) including an initial phase of personal reflection. A four-stage process was implemented to accomplish the examination of the transcribed interviews: (a) personal reflection by the researchers on the implications of the study themes to identify any weaknesses, potential limitations, and prejudices relating to the studied phenomena; (b) individual readings of the interview transcripts by the researchers; (c) the horizontal coding of the discursive fragments related to the studied phenomena according to the topics of the interview outlined in the guide; and (d) the topic-wise clustering of the obtained information as supported by the discursive fragments (Story, 2016, p. 30). These stages allowed researchers to avoid the a priori assumption of topics and to extract categories from the participants’ spoken words before interpretation (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

The study employed Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) criteria of trustworthiness, applying techniques for credibility (i.e., persistent observation, the triangulation of sources and researchers, peer debriefing, following set procedures for disconfirming data, and informal member checks), transferability (i.e., focusing on context and participants’ characteristics), dependability (i.e., using the “split-half” mode), and confirmability. The investigation also deployed reflexive journals and group sessions by researchers to continuously assess and affirm the reliability of the process.

The obtained information was validated internally as well as externally using the triangulation method (Carter et al., 2014; Patton, 2002). Internal triangulation involved comparisons of coincidences and divergences in the individual analyses performed by members of the research team. External triangulation was accomplished via two nonparticipating researchers being designated to read and validate the information gleaned from the speeches compiled during the study.

The Migration Dimension of “Being a Woman”: Differences in Vulnerability Between Men and Women

For the interviewed women, their encounters during their journeys are perceived to be different from the experiences of men. The differences noted between transmigrant women and men present primarily in two aspects: sexual violence and the assumption of physical weakness. The women alluded to sexual abuse perpetrated by discrete actors, highlighting the fact that migrant companions they considered extremely dangerous were willing to sexually violate them at any moment and under any conditions (among others, a kind gesture or unwittingly displaying a part of their body). For 27-year-old Graciela, who was interviewed in Nuevo León, the dangers implicit in the presence of men made her decide to hide from their sight and to avoid any attention:

You laugh and they say you are flirting; they don’t know what flirting means and what kindness means. That’s why in this, I say that in these cases is better to be just at ease, not to turn your head to see them or anything, neither being arrogant because if you are then . . . won’t say, just looking down like this.

And it is still worse, because of the men . . . if they see you as being good looking, they see you have nice legs, there they don’t even care what they do to you. (Mirna, 18 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

The danger migrant men represent for women is the risk of sexual assault. More specifically, some women like Victoria, a 26-year-old transmigrant woman who was in Nuevo León when the interview was conducted, articulated that being a woman means being sexually violated is certain. Such desecration must also be endured without self-defense because, in many instances, protesting would mean death:

They rape us all . . . most are raped, others are rarely found or killed too, because the majority lose their lives, and sometimes they try to rape us, but perhaps one doesn’t allow it, and when they feel rejected, they get mad and take away your life. Then . . . it’s very dangerous, for a woman it’s very dangerous.

When they come on that path, you always run the risk of men, because men are always bad . . . (Graciela, 27 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León).

Sometimes the women blame themselves and take responsibility for the violence perpetrated on them. Sometimes, they attempt to justify the sexual abuse they suffer at the hands of migrant men, perhaps as a way of dealing with the fact that they are unable to defend themselves from the acts of intrusion. Graciela detailed the violence as the actions of distraught men who are tempted and are unaware of the damage they caused:

There among all are men, go . . . and also we are as . . . as I say . . . as a temptation for them, because they walk in same pathways as well . . . at times because of tiredness they are upset and begin to think about other things, there are some men that even take drugs and don’t know what they do.

I start to feel that I am not worth as a woman, it made me feel guilt. (Kari, 40 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

Women are positioned by themselves as vulnerable, weak, and subjugated to the mercy of male desires. Most of the accounts highlight the element of physical weakness as being linked to sexual violence:

Well, a man is stronger than us women, eh . . . I do not know. . . . To them, I guess to rape a woman does not lose anything because perhaps one cannot be defended from nothing and one might get pregnant . . . I don’t know . . . or get beaten, I don’t know, things like that. (Mercedes, 49, interviewed in Tabasco)

Simply because I’m a woman, I have suffered verbally of course . . . and walking . . . there was a group of boys and I want to go with them, but they say: “no! Women always get behind, if we have to run, a woman can’t run.” (Andrea, 51 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

But I believe that there is a disadvantage by being a woman, sometimes you can take advantage because women are the “weaker sex.” (Rocío, 38 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

Victoria, a transsexual transmigrant, was forced to be dressed as a man to be able to continue with her journey. With great sadness, this decision did not reflect her desire because she wanted to go through the journey as a woman. However, the men assaulted her and cut her hair off. Such violence is doubly troubling since she abandoned her country because she received death threats for being transsexual. Victoria’s account was echoed in other interviews:

I’m going as a man, because well, since they cut my hair, very short . . . super short. They shaved my head completely, it was no longer the same, and I had to buy a wig and all that, then from that point on, it became easier to walk like a man.

An assumed physical weakness represents a disadvantage for migrating women, but being a woman also becomes an advantage at certain times. Being a woman becomes a condition for violence and/or survival. The disadvantage is the constant threat of sexual violence; the advantage is the decreased risk of death (in comparison to men). Some of the women interviewed also iterated the greater likelihood of receiving help such as food and temporary accommodations on varied occasions on account of their gender:

The narcos grabbed 4 young men and beat them and left them battered, and at that moment I was ignored for being woman because perhaps . . . I don’t know, I would have reminded them of their mom. (Andrea, 51 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

Yes, there’s more advantage for one as a woman, because they fear women less for being female, one is more fragile and men are not. (Paola, 38 years old, interviewed in Tamaulipas)

Despite the particularities of the experiences and subjective positions of the interviewed women, the fact that being a woman places them in a position of greater vulnerability and danger was evident in all their accounts. The secondary fact that this very condition of gender-related vulnerability became pivotal to their survival, if they could survive the sexual abuse, was also asserted by all the respondent women. In terms of this axis of analysis, sexual violence is not a matter of chance or a risk for the migrating women; it is a fact that they must each confront.

The Recognition of Contextual Factors Associated With the Migratory Process: “The Intermediaries, Road, Shelters . . . And Sisterhood”

This category includes factors enabling women to continue their journey and encompasses economic resources, a network of intermediaries and transport facilities they can access during their displacement, and accommodations open to them. In these respects, transmigrating women also encounter sexual violence and, in some instances, death.

In addition to the sexual violence that transmigrating women suffer during the time they spend in cities along their way, they face discrimination by the inhabitants of these places:

People tell me, “you should live in the street, you are used to live in the street” No! of course not. (Kari, 40 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

Because when you get on the train and occasionally runs fast, sometimes you just can’t get on it, so you have to walk, three days, two days without eating, you get all dirty, you don’t bathe, people discriminate you because they say “these drug addicts, people that don’t bath.” (Mirna, 18 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

The women obtained money in various ways, highlighting charolear (begging for money at traffic lights) as one of the most common means, along with selling items or engaging in the sex trade, a method that harks back to the topic of sexual violence. Becoming a stripper was one of Mirna’s ways of earning a subsistence, whereas Mercedes made a living from selling things, but her work was also associated with the suffering of sexual abuse:

I worked as a stripper, waitress, whatever job I could get, like some of my friends say. We got here by “charol,” the word “charolear” means asking people who have money to spare some, and it’s not like people want or like to “charolear,” we do it because we need to eat, buy clothes, rent a room, hotel, buy underwear, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush. Sometimes, people think we do “charol” because we want to, and that we are going to use that money for drugs . . . they always think the worst of us. (Mirna, 18 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

I started selling bottles of water, cookies and sweets in the market, but after two months, I was threatened! . . . and . . . five days later they broke into my house to abuse me. (Mercedes, 49 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

Several women stated that men introduced themselves as benefactors during their journey and took advantage of the transmigrating women’s need to find ways to survive. This affected them profoundly. Although women do not perceive the need to earn money as dangerous, it sometimes results in injury and sexual exploitation by the men who initially helped them, but later sexually abused them. Monica, a 24-year-old woman interviewed in Tabasco, recounted the following experience:

I went out with someone that I really trusted, even had some affection for him, he was a man, was 40 years old, is . . . He is older; he made me believe that he loved me as a daughter. I remember telling him, “Do you really care for me as a daughter? Because I want you to tell me the truth, and tell me if you love me because you look at me as if you wanted to fuck me, so be honest with me, you’re a grown man” . . . and he told me, “No, I only care for you as a daughter, and I love you as one, I want to help you because I know all you’ve done to come this far, like leaving your daughter behind, so I want to help your daughter and I will help you.” So, I came all the way up here, and when we got here, he became somebody else. He told me to pay him for all he had done for me, and all he had spent on me, so I told him, “You know I don’t have any money,” so he abused me, he grabbed me by force . . . I stopped a patrol car [. . .] I asked them for help [. . .], they followed him and caught him. He is right there [points out local prison].

Speaking of her experience of sexual violence with this man, Monica also narrated similar stories that she had heard from others. Thus, the presence of these men is a danger that is clearly becoming known among transmigrating women:

Some local men from T said that they were going to give them (the women) shelter in their house, and that they shouldn’t be scared to stay there. She told me they (the men) wanted to grab them, so they came into the bedroom and started chatting with them, telling them how pretty they were, and then they started touching them.

The paths and roads women take on their journey are also diverse. Women travel by rafts, buses, and vans; they also walk and take the train. It is important to highlight that their stories about the “coyotes” and their discrete warnings about preserving life are exclusive of the issue of sexual violence. It is also mention-worthy that most of the interviewed women did not perceive any fundamental differences between themselves and men. For them, the death risks were the same for both men and women throughout their journeys. Graciela narrated her journey to cross into the United States and asserted that, for her, death has no gender:

You are walking through the bushes. Then, you cross the river and later you have to walk. And someone must go behind, erasing the footsteps with a broom. We found some lifeless women there . . . dead, so the “coyote” left them lying there, there’s nothing left to do when that happens.

Shelters are crucial for transmigrating women and are strategically located along the way to help migrants by providing them with food and temporary accommodations. Some women see the transitory lodgings as sanctuaries where they can rest, attain some relief, and remain protected. However, women also narrated stories of sexual assaults in the shelters, which elicited in them a great fear of staying at these types of places. Victoria, one of the two transsexuals who were interviewed, was mistreated by the administrators of a shelter and was denied the right to sleep in the women’s room. Consequently, she faced sexual aggression from other male migrants:

Sometimes, in some shelters . . . I think they treat animals better than they treat people. They discriminate and don’t allow you to sleep in the women’s room, instead, they make you sleep with the men. . . . In the men’s room some of the men touched me almost all night long. I wasn’t able to sleep, they wanted to grab me by force. It would be good that the shelter helped us instead of discriminate us and judge us by our flaws.

Traveling with other women in this environment of insecurity, fear, and abuse was imperative for some of the interviewed women. As in Victoria’s case, sisterhood pacts were often made and became vital for the journey. Monica, for example, refers to her friend as her sister:

When we became friends, we promised to be nice to each other, for example, if she didn’t like something about me, she could tell me, and the other way around too. Now that we have been together on this journey, we have helped each other. She tells me, “If I get my visa first, I’ll wait for you to get yours too.” That other girl over there is also with me, we met in T. We have come all this way together.

I feel safer when we are together . . . we are very close, so if anyone messes with us, we stand up for each other, and we understand each other too. (Victoria, 26 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

In this context of the sisterhood, 51-year-old Andrea who was interviewed in Tabasco belonged to a worldwide group known as Las Patronas, an organization of women who take turns beside the tracks of La Bestia, waiting for the train to pass. They throw food, bottled water, and other goods to the migrants passing through on this train. The women of Las Patronas also offer medical assistance and refuge to migrants if they require such services:

I helped making plastic bags with food and water and we had to run . . . I cried, I cried because they are my people, from my country, and I saw how they asked for food and some didn’t grab it, they couldn’t; and I have lived the experience of seeing people falling off the train and us, the “Patronas,” received people without feet or hands . . .

The sisterhood is two-sided: On one hand are migrant women who take care and protect each other; on the other hand, groups of women such as Las Patronas help other migrants. However, migrant men, state authorities, and other actors in the migration journey are seen as dangerous for these women. Women can only receive secure support from other women. The expression of such sentiments underscores the overwhelming magnitude of the exposure of migrant women to sexual violence.

The Costs of Migration: Abuse, Discrimination, and Persecution: “Criminal Groups, Abuse of Police Authority, Physical Violence . . . And La Bestia”

This section describes the theme “The costs of migration.” All women stated during their interviews that before or during the journey, they faced certain situations such as abuse in its various forms, discrimination, and persecution by criminal groups as well as the police. A key element during the journey was their decision to take or not to take the train named La Bestia, which represented the high-risk union of all these negative elements.

To the respondent women, La Bestia denoted a symbol of danger and death because of the toll extracted from them to use this means of transportation, which was often their only option. It proved impossible to interview any transmigrant women in Veracruz because it was extremely difficult for them to board the train, which runs very fast according to the stories of migrant men. La Bestia also abundantly presents the dangers of abuse and violence from criminal groups and members of the police force. The abuse migrants face from these quarters is both economic and physical. For men, the train represents the risk of death; for women, it represents the guarantee of encounters with sexual violence. Gloria asserts that La Bestia was the most dangerous part of her journey:

The train goes into the jungle and I’m afraid. . . . Yes, because some men attack the train. People tell me, “Listen, on the train you cannot travel with your kids, because they do whatever they please with them.” They rape, kill, assault, and if you don’t give them money, they just throw you or whoever is with you off into the train tracks. The hardest thing, was getting on the train, I didn’t want to ride it, but I always did, you have to run and run, you fall and have to get up, that’s what they call the rollovers moment . . . all bloody, with our nails all shattered because we have to get up to defend and protect our children. Sometimes you tell other women on the train, “Mother, please, reach out for my children.” I grabbed my kid and lifted him up, “Protect him, don’t let him fall.” I grabbed my older son and I told him, “Hold on, son.” He could hold on by himself but I repeated, “Hold on carefully, don’t fall off.” Being with the children, that is the most difficult, yes . . . difficult, but you have to do it because it is the only walking route, it scares me, there are many thieves. They kill and attack people, because they ask them for money and they don’t carry any so they throw them off the train, females are raped and killed so they won’t talk, the place where they do that is in the . . . in the . . . in the jungle where there are animals. (Gloria, 52 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

The conversations with the transmigrating women revealed that along with La Bestia and sexual violence, the danger of criminal organizations (in particular, the Zetas cartel) was one of the most feared aspects of their journey. Organized crime represented the death, disappearance, and trafficking of persons. Graciela recounted that members of organized crime gangs kidnapped her aunt, also a migrant, and forced her into sexual slavery on the orders of a drug trafficker:

My aunt went to the United States, she was 19, 20 years ago, we haven’t heard from her since, nothing, nothing at all. Some say that she was taken by the “zetas,” my aunt, to be honest she was really pretty, some say that she is with a man, with a zeta, that a zeta kidnapped her and now she remains with him. and I believe that is true because we saw pictures of her, she had two children with him, but we don’t know if it’s true or not if she is alive or dead, but we never knew about her whereabouts.

Organized crime, of course, also rapes women. The transmigrating women are all certain that they will become victims of rape. The accounts of the women relating to agonizing sexual violence at the hands of organized crime were so numerous that they appeared in the conversations of all the interviewed women. Some representative fragments are reproduced below:

They rape us . . . most of us get raped, others are never found or killed, because the majority lose their life. Sometimes they try to rape us and the girls try to fight back, men get angry sometimes and take away their lives. I was beaten almost to death for trying to defend myself, I even had to be taken to forensic medicine. (Paola, 38 years old, interviewed in Tamaulipas)

We move up north and they abused me, they cut my hair, raped me, stole my phone . . . and they did this to my sister too. . . . They stole our earrings, clothes and left us only in bra and panties . . . and we had to get clothes . . . they cut my sister’s hair here in O, raped her and cut her hair, it was long and beautiful. She had it up to here [points out her lower back] and they left her bald, they raped her, she was bleeding, they broke everything . . . it was awful. (Mirna, 18 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

They tried to rape me, they beat me, they cut me twice here, ten stitches on one cut, I have a . . . they kicked me in the eye as you can see I have drooping eye, eyelid and I’m losing sight on this eye. (Andrea, 51 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

The sexual violence is extended to kidnapping and absolute disappearance, and women are often chosen by members of criminal organizations to remain with them. Such acts are appended to other violations such as touching and abuse from men, the absence of state authorities in which the women vest no trust. Women must deal time and again with the duality of the decision of being raped or dying.

Triggers and Supports of the Movement: “Escape and Future Expectations”

Varied circumstances trigger the displacement of women, which must be understood as imposed rather than voluntary. As mentioned by an interviewed woman, “We come after an objective, forced to leave our country, not because we want to, but because we are forced.” The women are confronted with extremely adverse situations in their home countries that encourage their decision to leave their nations, their cultures, and their families to undertake journeys that they believe they understand based on the experiences of third parties. In this manner, they generate a set of ideas and expectations about a future that they will build after they arrive at their destination. Their aspirations help them cope with their constant state of mobility.

When asked to elucidate their reasons for leaving their homes and families, the respondent women predominantly spoke of leaving to seek a better future. Secondarily, they wish to escape violence from criminal groups (mostly the MARAS), violent relationships, or political persecution. The quest for happier prospects and escape from violence were connected in most of the women’s discourses; thus, one desire could also stem from the other. However, during the journey, they became victims of other types of violence:

In the neighborhood where I lived with my mom, there are plenty of homophobic and gangs, there are . . . “Maras,” there the “MS” . . . well . . . I was threatened as well as my mother, that if I returned, they would kill me and my family and everything. (Victoria, 26 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

I’m here with my mother, my aunts, because the “Maras” members killed my dad. They confused him with another person, they killed him, they burned him, they cut off his parts, and placed them in his mouth . . . my mother was beaten but not killed, because it is forbidden to kill women, only to beat them. (Mirna, 18 years old, interviewed in Nuevo Leon)

About 7 or 6 years ago there was a massacre and my son and I were watching, that’s the reason why the Maras are now looking for us. (Paola, 38 years old, interviewed in Tamaulipas)

I started to struggle a lot until I stopped and thought about my childhood, I was abused as a child. I was raped, child abuse at age 6 and after I fell into a destructive relationship, he was mistreating me, he minimized me when he was drunk, in his blackouts for both alcohol and drugs [. . .] in order to achieve my goal, I said, “I will hold on and tolerate it for one more year,” but I couldn’t. . . . It was almost like . . . he wanted to hit me, he threatened me, oh no! . . . he threatened me. Oh, there was a lot of abuse, especially in his condition [. . .] It was abuse, a subtle abuse, a passive abuse [. . .] and I have gone through a lot of psychological abuse. (Kari, 40 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

Their expectations for the future persist despite the violence they experience, even though at the time of the interviews, many of the respondents no longer owned the resources they required to continue on their journeys. It must be noted that the desire to escape and the aspirations to create a better life for themselves are not always connected to sexual assault; rather, it involves a deeper yearning, their expectations of something better to come for them. It is also noteworthy that half the women interviewed expressed no desire to enter the United States; instead, they wished to travel to the states of northern Mexico because they had heard of job opportunities in those locations:

What I want is to get there, to Monterrey, find a job, where they can pay me for something, where I can see my earnings helping my girl, and what I want the most is to work and be able to save money and build a house in H, and save more money to start a business, return to H and live there with my baby girl, that’s what I would like most. (Monica, 24 years old, interviewed Tabasco)

Here in Mexico but a little further north where there is work, I think about it because here close to Central America there is no work, and in other places ahead we have been told that there are more job opportunities . . . but to move northern . . . to move north, to work. (Mercedes, 49 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

And I dreamed, “Wow!” I have never been in Mexico City, it is my second trip but I haven’t been lucky to pass by, and I say, “Wow, Mexico City!” (Andrea, 51 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

Plagued as the women are with terrible experiences of rape and sexual abuse, their migration highlights their expectations of a future in which they can escape from the abuse. Their hopes help them withstand the extreme levels of violence to which they are subjected because they believe their difficulties will end with their journey. Thus, they undertake the migratory transit despite the widespread recognition that they will have to face sexual assaults.

God as Support in the Face of Unbearable Violence

The interviews revealed that the migrating women shared a common belief that God would support them in achieving their expectations of a different and nonviolent future. Their unshakable belief in God allowed them to endure and survive their journeys, and they believed God would help them survive whatever they would have to encounter along the rest of their journey. God figured without exception in the discourses of the interviewed women: as a companion, protector, and sometimes also as an avenger. They placed their fears, their painful experiences, and especially, their trust in God:

I don’t think anything else will happen to me because I trust in God, and no, thanks God everything is alright. . . . He looks after us very nicely in the shelter. (Rocío, 38 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

I was unaware of all the suffering. I say that it is very difficult, one cries, one asks for clemency from God, it is very difficult. I said, “My God, cover my children with your powerful blood.” (Paola, 38 years old, interviewed in Tamaulipas)

God sees everything, because we are all human beings and we all feel it all, and one day this has to get better, one day he’ll punish all the men who have made this to me and my sister . . . (Mirna, 18 years old, interviewed in Nuevo León)

God will help me and I will find a job. After they raped me, I went out and the only thing I wanted was . . . to stay there, to stay there on the ground, all I wanted was to die at that time, I didn’t want to exist, I didn’t want to be alive anymore . . . and I don’t know how God gave me courage. (Monica, 24 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

First, God takes care of us, but I want to take care of my children from all the danger. I am here thanks to God, and I feel full of patience . . . and I don’t want to do things desperately. I always want to do things slowly, always asking God. (Mercedes, 49 years old, interviewed in Tabasco)

Thus, the women’s hopes for a brighter future and their trust in God as their protector and avenger were found to be their two sources of strength that helped them overcome their experiences of sexual violence. At the same time, the women’s encounters with sexual violence were so pervasively associated with every stage of their transmigration that this type of abuse must be acknowledged as a central, ubiquitous, and alarming issue.

Limitations of the Study

This retrospective study does not consider the current subjective positions of the transmigrant respondent women. Also, the analysis did not account for the perspective of other actors of the phenomenon. This study’s stated interest was vested in the significance of experiences of sexual violence; hence, the investigations were geared exclusively toward women. Prospective studies may incorporate other perspectives. In addition, only women in temporary shelters could be interviewed for the present study. Consequently, researchers could not obtain the many stories of other women. Notwithstanding these limitations, it is believed that the sample of this study was adequate for the purpose of addressing the major factors of sexual violence against transmigrant women in Mexico. A translation from Spanish to English was necessary for publication purposes. Every effort has been made to retain the sense and properties of the original discourses in Spanish as much as possible.

Perspectives for Future Studies

The outcomes of this study can contribute to the professional knowledge of the subjectivity of migrant women. They can also confirm the multiple forms of violence, including the pervasive presence of sexual aggression, that the women must contend with as they go about their daily lives. At a political and extra-academic level, this study assists in increasing the visibility of the plight of the transmigrant women. It emphasizes the urgency of the need to implement policies for safe migrations for women that are free of violence or sexual assaults. This study further serves as an attempt to position migrant women as an active and growing population with particular needs concerning their physical and mental health. In so doing, it directs future researchers to explorations of the psychological and integrity-based needs of such populations of women and urges prospective examinations of the functions discharged by migrant shelters.