Cajón de Sastre de Josefa Alfaro: disciplined female bodies.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the theme of the disciplining of female bodies present in the book "Cajón de Sastre" (1953) by Josefa Alfaro de Ocampo, through the collection of aphorisms and quotes from Catholic authors, philosophers, and moralists, as well as some brief texts by the author. Our writer, through a network of fragments, proposes Catholic behavioral norms based on two models: that of Eve, the sinner, identified with the Femme Fatale, the modern emancipated woman, beautiful and seductive, who thrives in the worldly public and social life, and that of Mary, who is identified with the angel of the home, a conservative woman who cultivates her spirit rather than her physical appearance and represents the epitome of desirable virtues in a woman who is above all a mother and wife, whose morality is the foundation of the family and society.