Cultural Constructions of Gender and Sexuality Week 9

Latin America Aztec and Inca civilizations were patriarchal, yet women played major role Women could become priestess or work under the royal family In some Pre-Columbian societies, they could be elected (Taínos)

Modernization Socialism Populism Liberalism Authoritarian Uruguay: 1927 Brazil: 1932 Chile: 1935 / 49 Argentina: 1946 Why does feminism expand only after the 1980s in Latin America?

1964: Military coups in Bolivia and Brazil. 1965: US forces, fearing a Communist takeover, occupy DR. 1967: Che Guevara is killed in Bolivia 1968: Medellín Conference 1973: Socialist Salvador Allende overthrow in Chile 1976: Videla, Massera and Agosti form military junta in Argentina. 1979: Sandinistas take power in Nicaragua 1980: Archbishop Oscar Romero assassinated in El Salvador

From Colonial era to early XX Century: age of inequality Native Americans, slaves, and people of mixed races continue to be victims of prejudice (formal or informal) Slavery continued into the 19th century Tension between homogeneity and diversity (Virgínia Vargas) “Unity among women is not a given, but rather something to be constructed on the basis of our differences. Feminism is not a question of building a politics for women for women, but should be something that men can also embrace.”

Latin America Machismo: sexist attitudes; masculine bravado Marianismo: the ideal of womanhood is self-abnegating motherhood (Catholic Church)

Feminism Women are subordinated (universally, in domestic and public spheres) What are the sources of subordination? Activism to end subordination Biological differences, but social construct

Opposition: Church – Inappropriate Media – Feminists are radical, privileged Marxists – Capitalism is gender neutral, class Systems of Oppression (gender, class, race, ethnicity). How to separate Social from biological?

Liberal Feminists: Equality through difference Equal treatment, but the right to differential treatment based on women’s uniqueness How do we reconcile all that? Is it possible?

Marxist Feminists: Liberal feminists are bourgeois, unconcerned with class struggle Subordination comes from capitalist system of production Gender inequality is subsumed under class inequalities Men’s wages tied to production Women’s with reproduction, (receive money from men in exchange for managing family life)

Radical Feminists: No differences between men & women Orthodox Marxism is reductionist, gender-blind Class & Gender issues intersect Subordination based on men’s control of women’s sexuality Gender inequality is subsumed under the system of patriarchy

Salvador Allende (1970-73) Augusto Pinochet (1974-90)

Arpilleras https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NofLFUxiKFc

Colonialism Women’s subordination: power relations and ideologies of colonial expansion Global capitalist expansion and patriarchal model of accumulation Exploitation of colonies and women (sexism) = development of world capitalism

Men and women = global North and global South Women as a Last Colony Both low wage producers Both share structural subordination & dependency Both overwhelmingly poor Capitalist patriarchy colonized women by devaluing their household labor

1990s – Challenge Canon and Post-Colonialism Expansion of feminist ethnology Question objectivity More reflexive approach Effort to liberate anthropology from its links to colonialism

it is a social construction, how does it relate to: If women’s identity it is a social construction, how does it relate to: Class Race Ethnicity Nation Locality Mexico’s Third Gender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bhp7i7WNcM