El Ambiente According to Her: Gender, Class, Mexicanidad, and the Cosmopolitan in Queer Mexico City

El ambiente in Mexico City has been examined as a queer masculine space or subculture. In this article, I reflect on el ambiente analyzing the perspective of young women who take part in it. El ambiente is here understood as an affective network of individuals that congregate in temporary and more established spaces. I argue that el ambiente in Mexico City should not only be understood as a space where queer gender and sexualities are produced, but also as a space deeply marked by class and symbolic global hierarchies. Based on ethnographic work, I explore a differently situated "gendered" perspective of el ambiente and its intersections with age, class, and ethnicity in post–NAFTA Mexico City.