Tokischa Grew Up Being "Too Much" — Now, She's a Dominican Feminist Icon

Soy Demasiado, a special issue for Juntos, celebrates Latinas who are reclaiming what it means to be "too much." Read the stories here.

As far as we have come when it comes to feminism and sexual empowerment, society still has a long way to go on purity culture and slut shaming. That's clear when it comes to music, especially: while most men music artists in genres like hip-hop and reggaetón often get away with having sexually explicit lyrics, women artists still find themselves having to defend owning their sexuality. That's true for Dominican dembow star Tokischa (born Tokischa Altagracia Peralta), who nonetheless speaks her truth.

Tokischa, who has been making a name for herself in the male-dominated dembow and música urbano space since 2018, is known for her wildly sexually explicit lyrics, where she raps about everything from her literal carnal pleasures to her bisexuality to her years as a sex worker in the Dominican Republic. The 28-year-old has always drawn critics, and being told she's "too much" is something the rapper has been experiencing from a young age.

"I've heard that since I was a little kid: 'You're 'too much. Tu si jodes. Que tú quiere?' I think one of the first times I heard that was when I was a little girl and I didn't want to wear a bra," Tokischa says. "You know when you're growing up in the 'hood, you don't have access to stuff, to clothes that are well done. So, back in the day, the bras that people used to get for me were these bras that had that crazy underwiring underneath the boobs."

Even at 13 or 14, Tokischa couldn't understand why she had to put her comfort aside to be less sexually appealing to men. "When I used to walk outside of the house, the grown men standing in the corners used to be like, 'Oh look at them little titties — you're going to poke my eyes.' To a little girl, that's oppression right there." And those memories stuck with her: "Those little things started to create a rebellious energy in me," she says.

So began Tokischa's frustration with machismo, misogyny, and the double standards women face regarding their bodies and sexuality — especially in the Dominican Republic. It also sparked her journey in finding the courage to speak her truth and unapologetically present herself and her body on her own terms, regardless of what anyone had to say about it.

"That's why my mom used to tell me always to learn English. Learn the language so you can get a good job when you get to be 18, so you can work and be independent," she says. "That's a word my mother and one of my aunts taught me. They used to tell me, 'Be independent so you don't have to depend on your dad. You don't have to depend on the man so you can be and have your own space and live in your own world.'"

But even after learning English and earning her own money, Tokischa found that people would still find her to be "too much" anywhere she'd go. "I was still too much because [now] I was having these big dreams. Even in relationships, I was too much because I was loving so deeply, so dramatically, so emotionally," she says. "Of course, I'm a Pisces. I'm always going to be too much."

Even before she started dabbling in music, Tokischa knew deep down that she was different and that she was meant to live life her way — rather than following the rules. It's something that her mom — who lived in New York City working as a home attendant in search of a better life for most of Tokischa's childhood — would constantly remind her of. Tokischa's mom moved to the United States when the artist was only 3. But they remained close, constantly communicating over the phone. Her mother would mail her fashion magazines along with English-language books, letting her know how different and more freeing life was in the states compared to life on the small island of the Dominican Republic.

"She used to tell me all the time, 'I gave you this name Tokischa. Nobody has this name . . . I gave you this name because you're unique. You're not like anybody else — you're very special.' My mother telling me that made me really believe it," she says.

Years later, Tokischa has become a feminist icon particularly for Latinas and Dominican women. She has collaborated with numerous artists, including J Balvin, Rosalía, Young Miko, Villano Antillano, and Marshmellow, and she recently collaborated with Venezuelan singer and superstar Arca on the track "Chama," along with a music video which features both artists appearing pregnant.

Songs like "Tukuntazo" and her anthem "Yo No Me Voy Acostar" highlight her bisexuality, while tracks like the popular "Delinquente" and her viral remix track with Madonna "Hung Up On Tokischa" have stirred backlash and controversy: Dominican conservatives on the one hand have criticized her for her sexual explicitness, while young progressives have accused her of perpetuating misogyny and exploiting herself. In 2022, Tokischa was required by a court in the Dominican Republic to issue a public apology as well as pay a municipal fine for posting risqué photos of herself posing in front of a religious mural of the Virgin of Altagracia in the La Vega providence.

"It was meant to be a message — a spiritual message. The message behind it was that even though I'm a hoe — I'm from the streets, I'm ghetto, I'm nasty — I still pray. I still have faith," she says. "That was the message. That was the intent. That was the message behind it and it became this offensive thing in the whole country and that was not even the point. Y'all made it offensive, but that's what they usually do. They twist positive things into a negative thing . . . they had to close the Virgin after that. Every time I drive past that path, I'm like, 'Yeah, I did that.'"

That same fall, Tokischa attended the Billboard Latin Music Awards dressed in a full-size vagina costume, referring to herself as La Santa Popola (Saint Vagina). Popola, a Dominican slang word for vagina and regarded by many as vulgar, is a word that Tokischa has reclaimed and made part of her brand. Her 2022-2023 tour was referred to as the Popola US tour, and at one point, she was rocking a little popola in the center of her grillz. It's a word she wants Dominican women to feel less shame around.

"It's a feminine energy. It's like perra. It's feminine energy, an empowered woman . . . we all come from a popola, you know? If you see it from a first-person point of view, you will sexualize it. It's pussy. You'll be like, 'Oh it's pussy,'" she says. "But if you step back and actually look at the context behind it and deep inside of it, it's an energy. It's a statement. It's a feeling."

The word perra literally translates to a female dog, but is used in slang as the English word "bitch." Tokischa faced a lot of backlash back in 2021 for her controversial "Perra" music video with J Balvin, which was eventually taken down from YouTube.

"Popola and perra are two words that I use a lot in my music and in my branding because they're related," she says. "It's the feminine strength. It's feminine energy. It's the mother energy."

When she was 18, Tokischa started doing sex work to make a living. She's been open about engaging in "sugar daddy" relationships with older men to make ends meet before working with photographer and director Raymi Paulus, who helped her pave a path for her music career (which eventually allowed her to leave sex work and drugs behind). She's also been unapologetic about how she managed to survive the coronavirus pandemic with income she was generating from her OnlyFans page, where she posts sexually explicit content of herself.

"I will be forever grateful with OnlyFans. Before I had OnlyFans, I had a sugar daddy and I had to be with this man that I did not like, that I did not want to touch. But I still needed bread so that I could invest in my career," she says. "And when I started doing OnlyFans, I didn't have to touch no man. I didn't have to see who was watching my videos. I did not care about that. I was just getting my money and investing my money in becoming my dreams or reality."

That's why Tokischa wants to support other women who might find themselves in similar situations, "when you're just trying to figure out life and you need money," as she puts it. "I want to help women that have been in jail. I want to support that community that's left out and forgotten."

Among a few other projects, she's launching a new foundation called Sol, the same name of her new record label. Tokischa was inspired to start it after meeting a Dominican woman who she learned went to jail by mistake. Even though the woman says she was innocent of the crime she was convicted of, she still had to serve two years in jail. The artist found her on Instagram and recently took her as her plus one to a fashion show in the Dominican Republic. She's also been supporting a nonprofit organization called Hogar Crea in the DR, which is dedicated to preventing and treating people who struggle with substance abuse.

"I want to reach and help these communities because these are forgotten communities. Nobody cares about these communities and these people and it's the people that need the most help," she says. "Me coming from prostitution, coming from drug addiction, coming from the streets — back in the day, if I had knowledge about it and support and care, maybe I would have went in a different way."

In addition, Tokischa has also been supporting Fundación Diversidad Dominicana, a nonprofit organization that supports Dominican LGBTQ+ communities, along with Casas de Acogida Faces, a nonprofit that provides support for women who have recently undergone breast cancer surgery.

As she works to release her first full-length album, Tokischa wants folks to see her as more than just her lyrics and fearless persona. As she says, "There's so much more about me that people don't know . . . I'm a very empathic person, you know? I care a lot about different communities. I care about my environment."

"I'm growing into this mindful woman, and the way that I've worked my career in the last couple of years has made me to be this wild girl — this crazy badass," Tokischa continues. "And I feel like that's the image that the world has of me right now. . . . My first album is going to show [another] side of me, but in-depth with much more feeling and much more emotion. Because when people talk about Tokischa, they talk about this wild rebel — but there's so much more emotion."

Johanna Ferreira is the content director for PS Juntos. With more than 10 years of experience, Johanna focuses on how intersectional identities are a central part of Latine culture. Previously, she spent close to three years as the deputy editor at HipLatina, and she has freelanced for numerous outlets including Refinery29, Oprah magazine, Allure, InStyle, and Well+Good. She has also moderated and spoken on numerous panels on Latine identity.