The rhetoric of femininity in the face of the Holy Office: female denunciation as a defense strategy in response to the sexual deviations reported during the First Visitation (1591-1595).

Authors

Abstract

The present work is the outcome of research conducted during a scientific initiation program between 2020 and 2021. The project, titled "Gender Relations, Body Norms, and Deviant Sexualities during the First Inquisitorial Visitation in Portuguese America (1591-1595)", aimed to analyze and investigate the reports detailing female sexual transgressions during the Visitation. These transgressions included practices such as bigamy, homoerotic relationships, witchcraft related to sexuality, concubinage, sodomy, infanticide, and fornication. The following text intends to explore, through the lens of gender theories, how certain women defended themselves against accusations that sought to link them to the aforementioned sexual deviations. We speculate that these defense strategies were employed by these women to distance themselves from any allegations that could expose them to the inquisitorial proceedings of the time.

Keywords:

Court of the Holy Office, Gender, Sexuality, Women

Author Biography

Izanne Carvalho Barbosa, Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará

Graduada em História pela Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (Unifesspa). Integrante do Núcleo de Estudos Inquisitoriais na Amazônia (NEIAM) – financiado pela FAPESPA (016/2022).