Between knowledge and truth of incarcerated women in the Brazilian justice system

what is the subject's place?

Authors

  • Kátia Sento Sé Mello UFRJ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31683/stylus.v1i47.1074

Keywords:

Antigone, Ethics of desire, Imprisoned women, Knowledge, Truth

Abstract

Lacan teaches us that the subject's knowledge and truth are not complete, they are non-all, thus affirming the lack. What, then, would be the effects of the lack of a listening space in a prison context?

During field research in prisional context, I heard from several agents that I shouldn't listen to what women say, as they lie and make up stories to pretend to be innocent and gain their freedom. Constitutive mechanisms of this System disregard their justifications for acts interpreted as criminal – discursive exclusion – as well as taking away their right to exist in society – civil subjection. Incarcerated under the 2006 Drug Law, they are condemned based on what others say: military police officers, who carry out the arrest of crimes, witnesses rarely indicated by them or their legal representative, prosecutors and public defenders, as well as psychologists and social workers .

When listening to these women, however, I observed that they faced the dilemma of succumbing to the law of the polis or asserting their desire. Which choice? Is it possible to reconcile? Caused by the astonishment of the statement that these women are criminals, with the most cruel effect of making their lives infamous and the consequent extension of the sentence, I propose that, just like Antigone, when reporting the justification for their actions, they, in the crime, supported their desire in action, transgressing the model of what it means to be a woman.

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References

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Published

2024-10-25

How to Cite

Mello, K. S. S. (2024). Between knowledge and truth of incarcerated women in the Brazilian justice system: what is the subject’s place?. Revista De Psicanálise Stylus, 1(47), pp. 133–139. https://doi.org/10.31683/stylus.v1i47.1074

Issue

Section

CRITICAL PAPER WITH THE CONCEPTS