O Brazilian women sculpting

violence, submission and resistance

Abstract

This article addresses the socialization processes of women who inhabited Brazil until the beginning of republican constitutionalism, in view of the relevance they have to the history of female (in)subordination. From the social structures and bodies that dictated the model of social life in the first centuries lived in Brazilian lands, the apparent female passivity facing institutionalized violence suffered by gender, is questioned. Although the majority of reports describe women as being hyposufficient, this subordination institutionalized by several social bodies did not occur in a peaceful and mild way: there was always female reluctance, including in Brazil. In line with cultural and racial diversity that has shaped Brazilian society, through a literature review, this article links history, sociology and legal study to give an understanding in time and space of social roles and the rights conferred on women in Brazil since the colonial period, demonstrating how social organizations shaped the image of women and how were the insurrection processes militated by them in order to remove male superiority. It became evident that, both in Colony Brazil and in Empire Brazil, patriarchal culture was consolidated as a result of long periods of non-socialization and restricted socialization of women. Today, images of subordinate women are still identified as historical results of these processes. The article contests the dimness of gender awareness almost erased in Brazilian history by the symbolic and political radiance of male power, demonstrating that it deserves considerable evidence.