Total and partial transgression in female defenders of the fatherland

This article seeks to conceptualise examples of female action with a view to symbolically reassessing the mobilisation achieved by Spanish women during the Peninsular War. The concept of transgression defines any action that in some way marks a break with the prevailing gender role. On that basis the article proposes a dual type classification to differentiate two tendencies within feminine practices: transgression was «partial» when women broke out of the pattern expected of them and acquired new forms of expression hitherto essentially the domain of males, by collaborating with and supporting the national side in ways which nonetheless fitted in with their role in the gender system. Transgression was «outright» where it constituted a double break: with the form, as in the previous case, and with the substance; this is when women achieved a more militant presence by adopting combative attitudes or positions in favour of the national side, or by taking an active part alongside the men in the defence and struggle against the French. © Casa de Velázquez.