Mulheres impressas: amor, honra e violência no cotidiano das mulheres em Manaus

Abstract

This study analyzes the histories of women who lived in Manaus from 1932 to 1962, who are present in judicial processes linked, above all, to a passive and defloration / seduction crime. Such stories revealed how love, honor, and violence intertwined not in the everyday feminine, revealing how much female wishes were in the background in the prevalence of a dominant male right that culminated in a sense of ownership and exclusivity, even in informal relationships, depriving women, for several occasions, the right to choose. With respect to honor, it has double status of feeling and social fact, dictating the value of a person. For man is based on his relation with work; for a woman, in her sexual purity. For unmarried ones, virginity was required; of the married, the extreme fidelity to the husband. But not only this: an honorable woman should refer to the private space, be under the surveillance of the family and cultivate submission and docility. By conforming to these standards, she would receive the title of honest, deserves all protection from society. The opposite of the honest woman was the public woman or prostitute, commonly marginalized, unworthy of respect and consideration. For the transgressors: infidels, prostitutes, stubborn, daring, hardworking, they used punishments that went through scorn, harassment and even physical aggressions. According to the prevailing mentality in the period, it was up to the men of the family (father, brothers, uncles, husband) to discipline and control women, and the use of force was legitimate. This premise justified domestic violence, seen as a matter of private order, in which the State should intervene only in extreme cases. Hence, patriarchal ideology trivialized violence against women occurring in the home space and sought justifications for some episodes in which it also occurred in the public space. To historicize the cases found was to base a dialogue with existing works on the topics covered, as well as other sources such as the newspapers and writings of renowned jurists of the time.