Sexual Violence in History: A Bibliography

compiled by Stefan Blaschke

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Start: Alphabetical Index: Speaker Index: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

First published: June 1, 2025 - Last updated: June 1, 2025

TITLE INFORMATION

Speaker: Sonia Perez-Villanueva

Title: Perverse Agency in La fuerza de la sangre

Subtitle: Leocadia and the Third Space

Conference: 71st Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America (March 20-22, 2025) - Online Program

Session: Perverse Cervantes: Sexual Violence, Depravity, and Voyeurism (Organizer: Elizabeth L. Spragins)

Place: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Date: March 21, 2025

Language: English

Keywords: Modern History: 17th Century | European History: Spanish History | Cases: Fictional Offenders / Rodolfo; Cases: Fictional Victims / Leocadia; Types: Rape; Representations: Literary Texts / Miguel de Cervantes



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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Speaker: Sonia Perez-Villanueva, Liberal Arts & Business Programs, Lesley University - Academia.edu, ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »“La fuerza de la sangre” uncovers one of the most shocking and violent narratives of rape of early modern times. The novella reflects a dialectic of male violence that narrates sexual abuse as a titillating and justifiable act, with its “happy” ending in reparation. The text itself, only at the end, introduces a vague discomfort with this. This paper shows that Leocadia is trapped in a closed dyadic space, in the psychoanalyitic sense, where her agency becomes “mired in a trapped perverse state of two-ness” where “fusion-based dynamics, power relations, and brute force” (Jill Gentile) become the basis of the way the characters relate. The all-consuming appetite of Rodolfo for Leocadia, as well as the relationship she is forced to have with her own child and her pregnancy, are examples of a fusion-based dynamic. All this puts Leocadia in the position of someone with a perversion of agency: she is not narrated as a subject but portrayed as a body used for the readers’ pleasure. Leocadia, the rape victim in the text, is not allowed to develop in the third space as a survivor; rather, she remains trapped in the immorality of the sexual act, an endlessly consumed body.« (Source: Online Program)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Spain / Habsburg Spain | Fiction: Fictional victims of sexual assault | Literature: Spanish literature / Miguel de Cervantes, Novelas Ejemplares | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape