Moralização e a pedagogização do corpo na obra de Alexandre José de Mello Moraes (1854-1855): a representação da mulher na literatura médica oitocentista

Abstract

When we think about the term woman, we usually associate sociocultural issues with supposedly innate biological factors. The singularities contained within this term, from this perspective, often go unnoticed, unquestioned, and normalized in society. The association of women with notions such as delicacy, sensitivity, motherhood, madness, and hysteria reflects social constructions that were legitimized by medical discourse. How and when did this process of associating women with these conceptions occur? How did this understanding become established and penetrate society to the point of being regarded as innate characteristics? It is from these questions that the present thesis was developed. Its objective is to analyze the representation of women in nineteenth-century medical literature and how this literature functioned as an instrument for the pedagogization, moralization, and social control of the female body. This analysis focuses on the work of Dr. Alexandre José de Mello Moraes entitled Physiologia das Paixões e Affecções (1854–1855).The theoretical framework is grounded in the field of Science, Technology and Society (STS), with emphasis on discussions within Science, Technology and Gender (STG), Women’s History, and feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault’s concept of power, aiming to deconstruct the hegemonic discourse that sustains power relations intrinsically linked to androcentrism in the scientific field.The study concludes that the work of Alexandre José de Mello Moraes (1854–1855) represents a significant example of how medical knowledge operated as an instrument of power in the nineteenth century, producing a pedagogy of bodies and behaviors, especially female bodies.