A shame to Honour‐a shame to suffer

Abstract

The following article, based on field work in a mestizo village in Mexico, argues that suffering is an essentially female virtue, reflecting the life experience of women. The experience of suffering is related to the concepts of virginity, chastity, honour and shame. These in turn are examined in relation to the prevailing ideologies of machismo and marianismo. It is suggested that for women the opposite of shame is not honour, but shamelessness. In order to grasp the internal logic of this cultural representation, the significance of the Virgin of Guadalupe as an overarching symbol is considered. Underpinning the whole argument is a suggestion that morality be viewed as essentially ambiguous and hence open for interpretation