Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative analysis content of a sample of Chilean cueca lyrics. Through the study of recordings produced between the 1920s and the 1990s, I examine the private and public roles assigned to women, the forms of physical and symbolic violence directed towards them, the ways in which women are expected to express their emotions, the construction of gender identities and the transmission of patriarchal values. The article notes the superlative importance given by the lyrics to marriage, the control of women’s bodies and the proscription of infidelity, prostitution and homosexuality.