YOUNG WOMAN, BODY AND CONFIGURATION OF POLITICAL SUBJECTIVITIES

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a reflection on how young women^[1] experience their feminine gender condition and their right to political participation. This article was built on findings of the research “Subjectivities of schooled young women surrounding their gender condition and political participation”, carried out in order to obtain the masters degree in Education and Social Development. The approach of this research is mainly qualitative and hermeneutic. The techniques employed to collect data were the discussion groups and a projective technique. Study of this data was performed through an analysis of content technique, which gives the necessary tools to approach the understanding of narratives provide by young women. Among the main findings we could establish that young women feel that they are living in a conformist society that turns them into submissive and accommodated people without any self-respect. Also, in the subjectivities of young women we could perceive an initial appropriation of a gender discourse, although they cannot explain it conceptually, they state how society is moving towards a different social perception. Similarly, the topic of the body appears as a territory for debate and contradictions that set a new being.

[1] In this case when we refer to young women, we are taking an age range between 14 and 16 years old, stage where complex physical, psychological and emotional changes take place.