Virgen Mary Summary

Marianism as the veneration of the Virgen Mary supports the White Patriarchal colonial order of dominium instituted through early colonialism by constructing gender archetypes that are now embedded in the hegemonic society of Latin America. According to Michael Hardin, who analyzes the evolution of machismo in Latin America through the Spanish Conquest states that, “The figures of the Virgin of Guadalupe and la Malinche become de facto archetypes of women within patriarchal society, reducing a woman’s model to venerated virgin-mother and reviled whore-mother” (Hardin, 1-2). In other words, these patriarchal ideals restricted women to a specific role that is acceptable in society and marginalize those women who do not fit or follow these religious social constructs.

It labeled women either as saints or whores. As a result, Patriarchal colonial order indoctrinates women to believe that the Virgen Mary symbolizes true femininity of submissiveness and saintliness that women should aspire to. Thus, these gender roles limit and create inequities toward indigenous women by stigmatizing them to the role of the Malinche. For instance, Hardin reveals the different treatment between indigenous and Spanish women, “Most Spaniards had officials wives back in Spain and ‘concubines’ in the Americas…Those who had indigenous wives did not treat them the same as Spanish wives. A culture of sexual oppression was begun” (Hardin, 5). To put differently, indigenous women are degraded and sexually oppressed by the conquistadors due to their “exotic” phenotype and culture. The fact that indigenous women are portrayed as concubines, reveals how conquistadors debase indigenous women due to Europeans patriarchal views toward other races. Moreover, indigenous women are not seen as humans, but perceived as property to be sold and bought which parallels to their “whore-mother”— the