Archives par mot-clé : Catholicism

From Natural Law to Ecology : Changing Conceptions of “Nature” in Catholic Sexual Morality (20th-21st C.)

Romain Carnac, Magali Sudda. “De la loi naturelle à l’écologie : évolution des conceptions de la « nature » mobilisées dans la morale sexuelle catholique (20e-21e siècle)”, Cahiers d’histoire. Revue d’histoire critique, Association Paul Langevin, 2020, Dossier : « Le sexe dans l’Église (Moyen Âge – 21e siècle) », pp.53-68.

En Français ici ⟨10.4000/chrhc.15222⟩.

Abstract : Sexuality has always been subject to normative and practical regulation by the Catholic Church. During the contemporary period the deployment of discourse and technics designed to control, contain and repress sexual practices seems to be evolving. In a secular society, the effectiveness of these normative devices is challenged and has to be renewed. The valorization of “responsible” and ethical sexuality tends to take precedence over the enumeration of sins which, although still very present, are no longer at the centre of the Church discourse on sexuality. Today, facing climate change and environmental crisis, the emancipatory power of technology raises more scepticism. From a Catholic perspective, “human ecology” – or even an “integral ecology” – should be followed in sexual conduct; the condemnation of sexuality outside marriage, “artificial” contraception and medically assisted procreation technologies is no longer directly justified by “moral” considerations but by biological and environmental considerations.

 

 

“Gender, Fascism and the Right-Wing in France between the Wars”

The Catholic Matrix

Della Sudda, Magali, « Gender, Fascism and the Right-Wing in France between the Wars: The Catholic Matrix » Julie V. Gottlieb (Ed.) “Gender and Fascism”, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religion, 2012, vol.13, issue 2, pp.179-195.

Marie-Thérèse Moreau (1883-1969)

Summary: This article seeks to take the discussion of French fascism in a different direction by offering an analysis from a gendered perspective. Based on original archive material and literature, it provides an interpretation in terms of continuity between prewar conservative movements, Catholic women’s leagues and far right organizations in terms of gender representations and the sexual division of political labour. The first part of the article focuses on the contrast between a vivid and flourishing scholarship on gender and fascism led by English-speaking scholars, and the relative paucity of research conducted from within the French academy on the same. The debate over the existence and the peculiarity of French fascism has represented an obstacle for the emergence of innovative research on subjects such as women, masculinity and more generally gender in France. Nevertheless, an empirical survey based on archival material of the Catholic Church and Catholic women’s leagues, as well as the more usual material from the National Archives, provides new evidences of continuity from an organisational and ideological perspective to the Catholic Action league, the Croix de Feu/Parti social français and the Jeunesses patriotes.

https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2012.675706