ABSTRACT
Is the Virgin Mary a Feminist’s nightmare as many gender scholars and feminists have claimed? Is this also the case in Latin America? This chapter presents the essentials of this critique, both secular and theological. At the same time, constructive perspectives have also been growingly presented by feminist theologians. A specific Latin American version of the Mary-as-a-feminist’s-nightmare thinking is the marianismo thesis, reproduced in the social scientific gender research of the region. The chapter presents a critique of this feminist downplaying of Mary, which does not take into account the experiences and voices of ordinary women or the popular religiosity of the region.
