Imaginarios sociales sobre la feminidad en mujeres quiteñas producciones narrativas elaboradas entre marzo y junio del 2024

Abstract

Femininity is a social construction that is configured from the hegemonic discourses and practices of culture and society, thus defining the attitudes, behaviors and thoughts about being a woman. This process establishes a symbolic universe around it, which is deeply rooted in the individual and collective consciousness of people. The subjective effects they cause, mainly in women, can promote the reproduction of various forms of subordination, or they can also be a reason to subvert them and generate new ways of being and living. This research seeks to explore the subjective effects of social imaginaries around femininity in three generations of women, covering the stages of youth, middle adulthood and old age. This project has a qualitative, exploratory methodology. It is made through Narrative Productions (PN) and life stories with three Quito women. The main findings show that, at the beginning of their lives, hegemonic conceptions had a predominant influence on their feminine construction, which would later be questioned and would configure counterhegemonic conceptions in their daily lives. It is also seen that subjective effects are structuring political mechanisms of subjection that, contrasted with feminist political action, can promote agency and significantly change female subjectivity. Regarding generational differences, it is observed that the relationship with topics such as sexuality, motherhood, sexual division of labor and desired body have changed because women have done so; However, violence has not changed since men, who are the main perpetrators, continue to maintain androcentric practices and discourses.