By Jakeline Plácido Marcon – OPINION
Woman. Created to be Adam's companion, made from his rib. Too bold, Eve influenced Adam to eat the apple and, lo and behold, left him frustrated with the consequences. Wow, Eve! Always wanting to conquer the world... In the end, she was the one who paid the price. It would have been better if she had kept to her duties as a wife, without giving her opinion on worldly affairs. But Eve was curious, and how bold! If it weren't for her, perhaps we would all still be in the paradise of ignorance.
Hypatia, an Egyptian, also dared to do much. In the 4th century, she defied her time by becoming a teacher in Alexandria. She received scholars from distant lands to talk about astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. Absurd! Such audacity could not have ended any other way: she was brutally murdered by Christians who, of course, needed to defend good customs. But history is capricious: her memory has crossed the centuries, and today women teach, research and occupy the place that they were told was not allowed. Hypatia lost her life, but gained eternity.
Tereza de Bengala, a black woman, did not know her “place”. She preferred to become queen and lead a quilombo of blacks and indigenous people. How so? Women should be submissive, not warriors. But, while the “owners” of the world made speeches about civility, she built freedom. Her quilombo was more than a refuge: it was a cry for existence. Today, black women continue to break barriers, occupy spaces and show that “a woman’s place” is wherever she wants it to be.
Chiquinha Gonzaga, ahead of her time, lived for music and love. At the age of 52, she fell in love with a 16-year-old student. How awful! How dare she follow her heart instead of social conventions? But just look, while they were talking about her personal life, she was conducting orchestras and writing scores that would span the centuries. The first woman to make a living from music in Brazil, she opened doors for so many others to follow their passions without fear. If they judged her, it was because her freedom sounded too loud.
Centuries of struggle, confrontation, defeats and glories. For what? So that, in the 21st century, the feminist battle is reduced to issues of the naturalization of armpit hair or the freedom to show one's breasts in public? The superficial and rebellious struggle, without foundations or concrete indicators, only generates exposure and feeds the discourses of conservatives who love to call us crazy and unbalanced.
Our fight does not need to be for the loss of the feminine essence – because it is plural and unique to each woman. Being feminine is a choice, not an imposition. But our fight must be against physical, psychological and patrimonial violence. For equity, for equality. According to UNESCO (2020), violence against women and girls is an invisible pandemic: a woman is killed every two hours as a victim of this brutal reality.
Eva, Teresa of Bengal, Hypatia, Chiquinha Gonzaga and so many other women who defied standards had something in common: they were all “imperfect” in their feminine duties. They couldn’t handle everything. They didn’t submit to other people’s expectations. And that’s why they made history. Whether as artists, warriors or scientists, they resisted.
Being imperfect is urgent. Being imperfect is resisting. And resisting is, always, existing.
“Who knows, maybe I’m still a little girl?” – Cássia Eller.
Jakeline Placido Marcon
This text is the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of H2FOZ.
Do you want to share your opinion? Send your article to the email portal@h2foz.com.br
Does this blog have an editor? My God, what a leftist text. It's only worse than being blind! The only resistance you face is when you have to call an oppressive white man to change the shower head!!!