Author Archives: Dr. Rebecca Bender

About Dr. Rebecca Bender

Spanish professor

The Red Virgin: Motherhood and Power Dynamics

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

“I shall do as you request, and tell you everything about myself […] You may like me, but I am not alive.” –Hildegarte, played by Ivana Baquero in The Red Virgin “I will do as you ask and tell you … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, History, Pedagogy, Science and Medicine, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, Aurora Rodriguez, Birth Control, books, Eugenics, Family Planning, film, first-wave spanish feminism, Gregorio Marañon, Havelock Ellis, Hildegart Rodríguez, madrid, maternity, medical history, motherhood, pedagogy, Red Virgin, sexuality, Spain, teaching spanish, women | 7 Comments

Picasso on Maternity and Motherhood

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

A few weeks ago, students in my Hispanic Women’s Literature course turned in their first paper on Carmen de Burgos’ La rampa. Part of their assignment was to include an image with their essay. One student selected the following painting, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, art, art history, books, femininity, maternity, Mother and Child, mother-child relationship, motherhood, Pablo Picasso, picasso, Spain, spanish art, women | 9 Comments

Pretty Women Use Birth Control – my guest post at Nursing Clio

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I’m very excited to have written a guest post for one of my favorite blogs, Nursing Clio. For this piece, I re-visited my very first blog post in which I critiqued, with a sort of “literary analysis” approach, the function … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science and Medicine, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, Birth Control, Eugenics, Family Planning, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, Marañón, maternity, medical history, Nursing Clio, pseudoscience, Spain, spanish, women | 1 Comment

The Dalí Triangle: A Surrealist’s Take on the Catalonian Landscape

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Lately I’ve been writing recommendation letters and filling out language evaluation forms for many of my students who are planning to study abroad during the upcoming academic year. Costa Rica… Ecuador… Argentina… Spain… with each request I find myself wishing … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Spain | Tagged 1920s, art, books, Catalonia, Dalí, Dalí paintings, Figueras, Fundación Gala-Salvador Dalí, photography, Portlligat, Salvador Dali, Spain, spanish art, study abroad, surrealism, teaching spanish | 10 Comments

Exploring Female Identities in Carmen de Burgos’ “La rampa”

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

One of the first novels to spark my interest in early twentieth-century Spanish women’s literature was Carmen de Burgos’ La rampa (1917). As an urban novel, the narrative explores the effects of modernity not only on the residents of and … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, History, Literature, Modernity, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, art, books, Carmen de Burgos, city, culture, femininity, Feminism, first-wave spanish feminism, gender, La rampa, literature, madrid, maternity, modernity, motherhood, pedagogy, Spain, spanish, spanish literature, teaching, teaching spanish, urban studies, women | 16 Comments

Sunday Morning Medicine

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

If you’re interested in the history of gender and medicine, check out the Nursing Clio blog. Written by several historians, the excellent articles tie historical scholarship to present-day political, social, and cultural issues surrounding gender and medicine (per mission statement). … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science and Medicine, Women | Tagged culture, gender | 2 Comments

The Perfect Wife in the 21st century: “La perfecta casada” en el siglo XXI

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Now that February is suddenly here, the Spring 2014 semester is officially underway and I am finally organized (well, for the most part!). For me, the most exciting part about this new semester is that I’m teaching a course I … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, History, Literature, Pedagogy, Spain, Women | Tagged angel del hogar, catholicism, culture, femininity, Feminism, feminists, Fray Luis de León, gender, la perfecta casada, language, marriage, maternity, motherhood, pedagogy, perfect wife, Spain, spanish, spanish civil war, spanish literature, teaching, women | 10 Comments

Salvador Dalí’s Christmas Cards Are Better than Yours

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Over the weekend, while attempting to get into the holiday spirit by setting up my table-top fiber-optic Christmas tree, baking cookies, and watching the snow fall in sub-zero temperatures, I discovered that one of my favorite Spanish artists, Salvador Dalí, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Spain, Surrealism | Tagged 1950s, art, Barcelona, Christmas, Navidad, Salvador Dali, Spain, spanish, spanish art, surrealism, teaching spanish | 36 Comments

The Roaring Twenties, Metropolitan Citizens, and… LOUD NOISES!

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

As early twentieth-century cities were experiencing rapid modernization, many intellectuals dedicated space in their writing to praising or critiquing not only these urban landscapes, but also the new mentality and behavior that they required of inhabitants. These themes were especially … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Modernity | Tagged 1920s, aural history, blase, city, digital humanities, history, madrid, metropolis, modernity, new york city, simmel, sonic culture, urban studies | 2 Comments

What People Think about Women: A Bilingual Edition

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Translation update – Oct. 28, 2013 — Thanks to the careful attention and comment of one of my readers (Lu Cero), I learned about the “terrible mysoginic message” in the search results “Las mujeres necesitan soluciones, lo hombres también pero al … Continue reading →