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Christina Cole “Defining Feminism”: ·
Masculinity: o
Renaissance Italy was a strongly patriarchal
society and the need to control women’s sexual conduct was very important. o
There were law against adultery, rape, and
other sex offences, but they were more strongly enforced with women than with
men. o
Men had greater sexual freedom than women
within society and often had large groups of slaves and/or prostitutes with
whom they could fulfill their ‘needs.’ o
Upper class men married at a much later age
than women of the same social standing: men typically married in their late
twenties or early thirties but women were still in their teens. o
Unmarried men were still subject to their fathers’
rule; because of the young bachelors’ lack of power, they were responsible
for much of the violence and sex crimes in Renaissance Italy. ·
Femininity: o
Medieval beliefs about female biology
contributed to the idea that women were the weaker sex that needed to be
guided by men. o
Chastity was believed to be the supreme virtue
of women—regardless of marital status! Sexual intercourse was to be done with
the intent of procreation only. ·
Marriage: o
Upper-class families arranged marriages for
their daughters at such an early age in order to protect their virginity.
Unmarriageable girls were made nuns and isolated in convents. o
The dowry was the money, property, and other
goods that the bride’s family gave to the groom in order to support the
couple once they were married. o
Without a dowry, there could be no marriage
and even the poorest families worked to provide for their daughters. The
larger the dowry, the higher the social status of the families giving and
receiving it. |
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