Wives, maids and mistresses: intersectionality and the urban space in Desterro/Florianópolis (1850-1930)

Abstract

Whether based on representations in history or the media, or yet, social constructions, gendered spaces suggest the existence of territorialities consistent with each specific gender. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that such spaces are not homogeneous nor unanimous and that they operate by adapting themselves to the bodies that experience them, particularizing themselves according to race, class, and sexuality. Based on this prerogative, and as an alternative to universalizing constructs, this paper discusses how different behavioral expectations of women contributed to the signification of the urban space, between public and private, of Desterro/Florianópolis, in the period from 1850 to 1930. To this end, newspapers of this time were consulted and discussed. From these, accounts that reached (i) women in elite positions, (ii) enslaved black women, and (iii) prostituted women, and that were able to hint at individualized female territorialities were extracted. Finally, through the intersectional perspective, we point out the possible conflicts resulting from the overlapping of territorialities that, armed with their respective oppressions, possibly influenced the urban dynamics of the time.