Week 10: Perón

I found Eva Perón to be incredibly compelling as a leader and historical figure. In my history of Mexico class, we talk a lot about how within Mexico women were either seen as prostitutes or angels and there was very little space for them to occupy in between. Evita existed in a complex space where she had tremendous political capital and agency yet was constantly demeaned by sexual insults. Culturally, where machismo is very prevalent, women's purity is of utmost importance. Sexually liberated women were seen as deviant and untrustworthy. Yet the distinction seems to be surrounding women in positions of political power. Carmen Miranda was celebrated for her sexuality yet had she tried to be in a position of power, I would find it likely that she would be berated for her loose image.
While I did find Eva Perón to be a compelling speaker, I was a little wary of her language use. She constantly frames herself as belonging to her husband. While I understand it was a tactic to delegate her power to him, I was a little taken back that such a strong female presence would position herself in this manner.

I thought that Dawson made a large flaw in his description of Eva Perón by waiting to mention that the people wanted her on the ticket at the very end. This seems to be hugely important in the history of Argentina, that citizens were eager and even angry to have her on the ballot. I also thought a lot about Necro Nationalism in relation to Evita. The constant transport of her body was at times disturbing, but also a reminder that she was symbolic. Her physical body and appearance were so integral to her identity that even after death they had to be preserved. The first time I actually heard of Eva Perón was when my mother showed me that an article recently published about her massive collection of shoes and clothes. It makes me question the standards women must upkeep in order to be symbols. Is physical beauty necessary? What about nice clothes and shoes? All of these aspects radically affect our perception of female leaders and figures.

Comments

  1. ElenaOctober 30, 2019 at 1:21 PM

    I agree that leaders are judged greatly by appearances and clothes, female leaders especially so. Physical beauty and nice clothes do make good impressions for all politicians, but I think that they were particularly significant to Eva because they were symbols of her rise in society. For someone who started out with so little, a stigmatized girl in a little village where people looked down on her for being abandoned by her father, to become the famous and beloved wife of the President, was very inspiring and important for her image. Her fancy wardrobe was material evidence of how far she'd come, which is why I think it was more even important to her than it would have been to other Fist Ladies.

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