Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp

construction of femininity and masculinity remain similar. They are defined
by power relations, which legitimise inequalities by declaring the established
criteria of masculinity as universal and those of femininity as both partial
and simply inferior. To deconstruct these differences, to follow the discourse
through history and to reflect upon the meanings and differences in everyday
life, means to contribute to an overall response which is capable of eroding
the power of such universalism. However, this is only possible by intervening
in history, during which the differences were created. What is involved here is
simply a struggle or, to put it more accurately, a right to interpretation, which
is only possible by sustaining historical memory.
Bodily Practices in Slovenian History
The public debate about a woman’s nature and her position in both private and
public spheres in Slovenia stretches back to the 1830s, that is, to the time before
the Spring of Nations. At the time a small number of Slovenian female intellectuals
were acquiring and maintaining knowledge behind the walls of monasteries or
castles. Their efforts were often associated with the knowledge mediated by church
institutions, but they were not limited to this. 8 The discourse about women’s
nature goes back several centuries, its development roughly corresponding with
developments in the Catholic Church. When studying historical sources, one
notices that such debates intensified each time women entered the public sphere.
On such occasions, they were often accompanied by some form of cruel punishment,
the aim of which was mainly to intimidate and discipline.
Generally speaking, women’s bodies were exposed to various forms of
physical violence and torture throughout history. Domestic violence was part
of normality, and a certain amount of it was regarded as a matter of course
and even beneficial for both woman and children. 9 Instead of addressing
the problem of the violence itself, survival strategies were aimed largely at
searching for the ways of avoiding it. Moreover, the ability to inflict physical
punishment was considered as part of masculinity. If a man did not beat
his wife and children, he was considered to be a wretch and a weakling. 10
8
Lenard Leonard, Slovenska žena v dobi narodnega preporoda. (Slovene Women in Times of National Revival)
(Maribor: Družba sv. Cirila in Metoda, 1922).
9
Alenka Puhar, Prvotno besedilo življenja. (Primary Text of Life) (Zagreb: Globus, 1982), 156.
10
Ibid.
90