Mariarosa Dalla Costa's Women And The Subversion Of The Community

The article entitled “Women and the Subversion of the Community”, written by Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James, goes in depth about women’s roles in society in the past and present and how to change for the better in the future. A few of the specific points discussed in this article include what women’s roles in society tend to be and why, how women have struggled to break this stereotype and how no matter what women do, men are always in charge on some if not all levels. Each of these major discussion points is also exemplified through the culture and life style of Las Cholitas shown in the documentary “The Fighting Cholitas”. Cholitas are simply put, women who wear long, layered skirts with elegant shawls and braids. Traditionally

She argues that this is due to the female perception that “to have a penis means to have power”. This is a result of the Freudian idea that every relationship is powered by the fear of castration and the Oedipus complex. A man’s fear of castration coupled with an Oedipus complex essentially gives the man a simultaneous fear and love for women leading to the need to control them. Men having power is still seen even in the lives of Las Cholitas, a culture focused on women. Las Cholitas’ wrestling helps them be independent in a predominantly male powered society but everything around the sport is still controlled by men. Their training is handled by men and each competition is organized and announced by men. In addition, at the specific gym featured in “The Fighting Cholitas”, it was a man’s idea to invite the Cholitas to train in his facility and more or less exploit them so he could make money off hosting each match. Furthermore many families of the Cholitas don’t approve of their wrestling because it is dangerous and what is the family to do if the mother gets hurt? The whole house would fall apart if the housewife can’t fulfill her daily chores. But there is some hope as not all families are like this. A specific wrestler interviewed for the documentary mentions that her husband doesn’t want her to wrestle but supports her anyway because he can’t stop her from doing something she