A revista O Cruzeiro: os discursos sobre educação do corpo feminino e as memórias das leitoras pelotenses nas décadas de 1950 e 1960

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the representations of femininity (behavior, education, body shaping) found in the textual and visual discourses of the magazine O Cruzeiro. The objective is to understand how these representations were appropriated by the readers of the magazine in the 1950s and 1960s in the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. For the investigation, 28 editions from the 1950s and 1960s were researched, available in the Brazilian Digital Hemeroteca. Fifteen interviews were conducted using the Oral History methodology (AMADO, FERREIRA, 2006; MEIHY, HOLANDA, 2015; PORTELLI, 2016), eight with women who were readers of the magazine, and the others with individuals who worked at the magazine or were close relatives of those who were part of its history. The analysis defined the following categories: body control and standardization (FOUCAULT, 2020), construction of the female body (VIGARELLO, 2006), beauty and behavioral standards (DEL PRIORE, 2014), rules of civility (ELIAS, 2011), fashion, costumes, and accessories (DEL PRIORE, 2000, 2017). The thesis argues that the editorial line of O Cruzeiro in the 1950s and 1960s employed a discursive system of representations of the ideal woman, which mobilized recommendations, resulting in effects on the readers in Pelotas, leading to the appropriation of such representations and practices that converged towards an exemplary model of female subject at the time. It is understood that the standard of young women depicted in O Cruzeiro was of white women from more affluent families in society. They were portrayed in two roles in advertisements: depicted as good wives, responsible mothers, dedicated to the home, and at the same time, they were expected to be beautiful and concerned with body care. Both representations of femininity appeared simultaneously, establishing a composition of independent and modern women, muses, and stars, while also not neglecting their roles as mothers, wives, and homemakers. The research found that the women interviewed in this study appropriated the representations promoted by the magazine, guiding their behavioral and consumption practices based on its recommendations and advertised products. However, the research indicated that the Pelotas readers only partially adhered to the displayed discourses. Their practices resulted from the appropriation of such representations, but they did not completely follow all the suggestions, employing adaptive strategies (CERTEAU, 1998). These tactics represented modes of resistance to the dominant discourses of the magazine, thus, the readers did not follow everything and occasionally needed to break certain paradigms, going against the orientations offered by the periodical.