When women look at themselves in the mirror: representations of the ideal woman in the Servas do Senhor Magazine

Abstract

In this study, we analyze the representations of the 'ideal woman' projected by the Lutheran Church through the Servas do Senhor Magazine - official printed magazine of the League of the Lutheran Ladies from Brazil (LSLB). Through Servas do Senhor Magazine, we can notice that the Lutheran ladies reaffirmed their faith and religious practices against the threats of the feminist movement. Inserted in a context where the traditional roles attributed to the women were objected facing a movement that struggled for the feminine emancipation, the objective of the magazine was to dictate the norms that would lead the attitudes of the Lutheran ladies at that moment, reaffirming the Christian woman's representation linked to the private space. Starting from the column Quando mulheres se olham ao espelho, present in the magazine in the decade of 1980, we have observed that the magazine used women characters of the Bible, considered ideal models, in order to reinforce wife's, mother´s and housewife's values among the Lutheran ladies. We discuss fundamental concepts related to the thematic in focus, as gender, power, representations and religion. This study is methodologically anchored in authors such as Roger Chartier, Joan Scott, Michelle Perrot, Lucila Scavone and others.