Controversial images of women during the last Argentinian military dictatorship (1976-83)

A reading of a range of materials relating to the most recent military dictatorship in Argentina has led me to consider a number of absences and concerns. In this text I analyse one of them that of the role played by certain women who exhibited a degree of complicity with the practices of the terrorist state. During discussions with colleagues with whom in many cases I share a critical vision in relation to the androcentrism and heterosexism dominant in our culture I have come up against opposition to the choice of this subject of study since giving these figures space in a historical account is considered to be somewhat unethical. It is thus worthwhile clarifying certain points. To start with I do not believe that it is immoral to study any aspect of history. Perhaps whether something is ethical or not depends more on theories and approaches than on the object of analysis. Furthermore a gender-based perspective should not lead us to either protect or punish anyone but rather to loosen the stranglehold of the old story according to which women and their agencies are understood only in terms of their subservience to male power. How can we make this meaningful? (authors

Aesthetics · Art · Complicity · Democracy · Dictatorship · Epistemology · Falsity · Heterosexism · Linguistics · Object (grammar · Opposition (politics · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Reading (process · Sociology · Terrorism · Visual arts · Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia · Gender Studies · Law · Memory, violence, and history · Philosophy · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America