Arguments, criticisms, and strategies in the judicial discourse. An approach to gender representations on sexual crimes in the Porfirian Aguascalientes

Abstract

This paper discusses the gender representations in the prosecution of sexual offences such as statutory rape, kidnapping and rape in the City of Aguascalientes during the Porfiriato (the presidential period of Porfirio Díaz). The analysis of several historical documents renders a space of conflict and dispute where judicial authorities expressed ideas, assessments, critics, and argumentative strategies around men and women allegedly responsible for sexual or moral transgressions. Public officials, such as defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges exercised power beyond the law. They also exercised an implicit power by jumping into conclusions and opinions about the conduct of a particular segment of the population from a gender discourse.