Sexual and gender repression within the confession: confessors' manuals of the Modern Age (XVI-XVII centuries)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22355/exaequo.2018.37.06Keywords:
Catholic Church, gender, confessors’ manuals, penance, Modern Age, Catholic Church, Gender, Confessors' manuals, Penance, Modern AgeAbstract
Sexual and gender repression within the confession: confessors’ manuals of the
Modern Age (XVI-XVII centuries)
The confession of the sins within the catholic sphere represented an efficient tool in order to discipline the individual and social conducts of the faithful, especially after the Council of Trent. The aim of this article is to analyse the ecclesiastical discourses regarding women and sexuality through sources directly connected with the Sacrament of Penance: Confessors’ manuals. My hypothesis is that confessional literature, for its didactic value of indoctrination of the priests, represented an instrument to harden the subordinated condition of women during the Modern Age.









