The Woman Put on A Pedestal: Femininity and Christianity Representations in Masculine Writing in Ouro-Preto’s Newspaper O Noticiador de Minas (1869-1873)

Abstract

This article aims to discuss how specific images associated to the Christian worldview are taken by some journalists while writing about women. In the 1860’s and 1870’s, great feminist demonstrations took place not just around the world but also in Brazil. However, particular sectors of society attempted to keep women out of public space. This seems to be the case of Ouro Preto’s newspaper O Noticiador de Minas journalists between 1869 and 1873. Countless European travelers who had visited Ouro-Preto region through the first half of the 19th century reported the masculine practice of keeping wives enclosed at home. This cultural charge, condensed through the decades, would not be abandoned so easily as many men of the region, seduced by their male privileges, seemed to have used journalism and Christian references in order to keep ancient cultural habits. Abusing woman representation of beauty and maternity, those men avoided their readers from alternative woman representation already available at the time, such as the woman as an intellectual or as a public servant.