This thesis discusses how the hymen is described historically in Swedish sex manuals between 1889-1904, along with descriptions of defloration and chastity. The analysis is based on the assumption that science and gender are social and cultural constructions.  The purpose of this thesis is to examine late nineteenth-early twentieth century’s conceptions of women, sexuality and chastity by discussing this period's descriptions of the hymen in a historical context. This study is concluded by reading and contextualizing sex manuals published in Sweden around the turn of the century. The conclusion of this thesis is that the hymen is not necessarily viewed as a membrane, although every sex manual writer believe that there is some sort of fold, referred to as the hymen, in virgin females' genitals. However, the hymen is not seen as evidence of women's chastity by the authors because of the assumed occurrence of irregularities in this "fold". Under "normal" circumstances, the hymen is believed to break during a woman's first intercourse which is described as painful (and bloody) by the authors of the sex manuals.

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-10-10T16:27:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JOSEFA JOSIANA BEZERRA BRITO - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGH 2014..pdf: 1279324 bytes, checksum: 940afd7f4540c37d3bc965f8d3af787b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-10T16:27:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JOSEFA JOSIANA BEZERRA BRITO - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGH 2014..pdf: 1279324 bytes, checksum: 940afd7f4540c37d3bc965f8d3af787b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Este texto dissertativo tem como objetivo principal analisar os processos-crime de defloramento e sedução durante os anos de 1933 a 1954 analisando os discursos da justiça e da medicina como produtores de um modelo de norma a partir do corpo feminino. Ele também teve por foco avaliar como foi produzida uma ordem social disciplinar a partir dos discursos médicos sobre o corpo feminino no final do século XIX e seus efeitos no início do século XX; discutir o discurso jurídico sobre a honra e as relações de gênero nos discursos presentes nos processos-crime, problematizando as identidades femininas; registrar o embate entre o discurso jurídico e discurso cultural na construção da identidade cultural da mulher durante os processos crimes e analisar os discursos nos processos-crime sobre o corpo feminino, refletindo um modelo de normatização social. Para a construção desta dissertação foi utilizada como metodologia a perspectiva de análise do discurso sobre as narrativas presentes nos processos-crime. Para tanto, foram catalogados quatro processos nos quais foram selecionados por se apresentarem significativos para os questionamentos levantados e requererem, dessa forma, maior atenção. Nesse cenário, por meio dos relatos distintos de réus, vítimas, testemunhas e da justiça, elaboramos inferências que compõem o diálogo com as fontes bibliográficas. A análise trouxe importantes vestígios sobre a normatização social na vida das mulheres no período pesquisado e sobre as restrições a que estavam submetidas, evidenciando, nesses processos crime, que muitas não estavam dispostas a se submeter aos discursos moralizantes e disciplinadores. A dissertação está constituída de quatro capítulos nos quais está presente uma discussão com vários conceitos, dentre eles, o de gênero, corpo, sexualidade, norma e identidade. / This academic text aims to analyze the deflowering of criminal legal processes and seduction during the years 1933 to 1954 analyzing the discourses of justice and medicine as producers of a standard model from the female body. It also was to focus evaluate how a disciplinary social order was produced from the medical discourses on the female body in the late nineteenth century and its effects in the early twentieth century; discuss the legal discourse about honor and gender relations in the discourses present in criminal cases, questioning the female identities; register the clash between the legal discourse and cultural discourse in the construction of the cultural identity of the woman during the criminal legal processes, and analyze the discourses in criminal processes on the female body, reflecting a model of social regulation. For the construction of this dissertation it was used as methodology the discourse analysis perspective on these narratives in criminal processes. Thus, we cataloged four cases that were selected because they were considered meaningful to the questions raised and, for this reason, required more attention. In this scenario, through the different reports of defendants, victims, witnesses and justice, we made inferences that integrated the dialogue with the literature sources. The analysis provided important traces about the social norms on women's lives in the period surveyed and on the restrictions that they were submitted, showing, in these criminal cases, that many of them were not willing to submit to moralizing and disciplinary discourses. This dissertation is composed of four chapters in which it is present a discussion with several concepts, including gender, body, sexuality, identity and standard.