Feminism in Latin America Essays

Feminism in Latin America Essays Feminism in Latin America Essay Feminism in Latin America Essay Though seemed unfair, these are the standard to measure and govern the system of honor in the society with emphasis on womens reproductive side and authentication of paternity. This double standard was further used to prescribe what is right and wrong on the womens side which if broken might inflict terrible consequences which bring about family disgrace, communal contempt and even banishment from the society. If the women are from the elite or ruling class, their loss of honor as a result of loss of virginity or out-of-wedlock pregnancy have to be redeemed either by eventual marriage or by the concealment of sexual activity and pregnancy so that such activities never became public knowledge and therefore never threatened honor. During the colonial period, women were not only socially discriminated in their status and roles but they also underwent a more tangible means of intimidation. In one of the Spanish America colony of New Granada, women often suffered from verbal and physical abuse, even death in the hand of their spouse. Uribe-uran (2001:43) in his article Colonial Baracunatanas and Their Nasty Men: Spousal Homicides and the Law in Late Colonial New Granada wrote that such physical assault towards women was considered natural among the lower classes and state officials centuries ago. In some part of the world this practice was even considered as the husbands right as a punishment for the wifes misbehavior. : However, their movement still acknowledges the role of women as responsible for bearing the children and caring for the home as opposed to their more radical North American counterpart. References Nye, Robert A. Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 13 Johnson, Lyman L. and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera. The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame, and Violence in Colonial Latin America. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. , 1998), 4