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Women and Society in Colonial Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

A. J. R. Russell-Wood
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Extract

No aspect of Brazilian history has received so stereotyped a treatment as the position of the female and her contribution to the society and economy of the colony. The white donzela and the lady of the ‘big house’ have been depicted as leading a secluded existence, be it in the innermost recesses of their homes or in conventual cells, immune to harsh realities and safe from brash overtures by pretenders. Of the white woman, it was said, during her lifetime she left her home on only three occasions: to be baptized, to be married, and to be buried. The role of the white woman was seen as essentially passive, victim of the demands of an over-bearing and frequently unfaithful older husband to whom she would bear children, or of a martinet of a father. As for the Amerindian woman, whose beauty led the discoverers to initial raptures of platonic appreciation and then sexual overindulgence, she has rarely been depicted in any role other than that of concubine or lover. The black and mulatto woman, slave or free, became a symbol of sensual arousal and sexual fulfillment.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 1977 , pp. 1 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

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6 ACDB, caixa 3, pasta U. Further details on this family and the daughters, one of whom became abbess in 1753, are in Russell-Wood, A. J. R., ‘Educaçāo universitária no impêrio portugês: Relato de um caso luso-brasileiro do século dezassete’, Studia, 36 (07 1973), pp. 7–38.Google Scholar

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