Restraining Women

Gender, Sexuality and Modernity in Salvador da Bahia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20158083
AutoresCecilia Anne Mccallum (0000-0003-1927-7774, London School of Economics and Political Science, autor de correspondencia), Cecilia Mccallum
Año1999
Volumen18
Número3
Páginas275-293
Fecha de publicación1999-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBulletin of Latin American Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0261-3050 • E-ISSN: 1470-9856
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1470-9856.1999.tb00135.x
OpenAlexW1993233394
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas19

The paper explores constructions of masculinity and feminity in the speech and practice of residents of a low‐income settlement in Salvador, Bahia. In local talk about sexual mores and parenting, the dominant theme is the ‘liberal’ and ‘decadent’ character of the modern age. Modernity is equated with a loss of social control over female sexuality and reproduction. Embedded in this vision is a powerful gender ideology that conditions the construction of gender identities. Analysis reveals that the negotiation of identity is a complex and contested field. But against the postmodernist trend in contemporary gender studies, the paper argues that it is necessary to locate multiple and contested gender identities in the overarching gender system. This is rooted in gender ideology, in sexual practice and in the systematic features of social and economic life. Far from signalling transformation in the gender system, talk about women's loss of restraint and respectability functions as a brake upon pressure for change

Gender relations · Mores · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender, Sexuality, and Education · Sex work and related issues