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"Rational Amusement and Sound Instruction": Constructing the True Catholic Woman in the Ave Maria, 1865-1889

1998; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 8; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1123914

1533-8568

Penny Edgell Becker,

Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

This article explores the relationship between gender ideology and popular culture in one particular time and place—a Catholic family magazine called the Ave Maria during the latter part of the nineteenth Century. This case study yields an interpretive sociological account of how women were portrayed in this magazine, an account that sheds light on our understanding of the construction and negotiation of religious ideologies. When I speak of “ideology,” I refer to highly articulated and explicit meaning Systems that construct and regulate patterns of conduct. “Official ideologies” are endorsed and promoted by organizational officials and/or community elites. A systematic examination of Ave Maria from 1865 to 1889 reveals that two-thirds of the articles reproduce some version of the official ideology of the True Catholic Woman. On the other hand, about one-third of the articles produce what I call “alternative interpretations”—“alternative” because they are critical of the limits that the official versions placed on women's character, activity, or autonomy.