Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Sexual Violence, Predatory Masculinity, and Medical Testimony in New Spain

2015; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/683023

1933-8287

Zeb Tortorici,

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

This essay examines the medical and legal construction of predatory masculinity in New Spain by contrasting criminal cases of rape [estupro] with those of violent or coercive sodomy [sodomía]. In the context of male-female rape, the rulings of most criminal and ecclesiastical courts imply that predatory masculinity was a "natural" manifestation of male sexual desire, whereas in cases of sodomy and nonconsensual sexual acts between men, courts viewed such desire as "against nature." The processes by which the colonial state prosecuted certain sexual crimes simultaneously criminalized and validated predatory masculinity. By analyzing the roles of the medics, surgeons, and midwives who examined the bodies of the male and female victims in these cases, this essay argues for a commonality in the authoritative judgments based on medical evidence, whether conclusive or inconclusive.