“Lar doce lar” na revista O Cruzeiro (1944 a 1956) e as prescrições de Helena Sangirardi para as donas de casa

Abstract

This research aims to understand the prescriptions intended for the formation of the "ideal housewife," conveyed by Helena Sangirardi in the column Lar Doce Lar (Home Sweet Home), published in the magazine O Cruzeiro between 1944 and 1956. It is based on the understanding that printed media not only reflect social practices but actively participate in their production. The timeframe corresponds to the circulation period of the selected materials. The study is grounded in the concept that printed media educate (Galvão; Moreira, 2021; 2024), viewing them as cultural artifacts that produce and disseminate symbolic goods, organizing social practices, values, and expectations within a specific historical order. Helena Sangirardi was an author, journalist, and radio host active from the 1940s onwards, writing columns for female audiences in national magazines. In Lar Doce Lar, she responded to readers and offered guidance on home economics, nutrition, household organization, and marital life. Primarily aimed at urban middle-class women, the column participated in the construction of a normative model of femininity. The investigation is based on a discursive analysis of the prescriptions, articulated with the materiality and circulation of the media. Methodologically, it engages with Michel de Certeau regarding the historiographical operation and everyday practices; Jacques Le Goff on the problematization of the document as monument; Roger Chartier concerning representations and written culture; and Pierre Bourdieu (2014) to understand how specific dispositions regarding the sexual division of labor and gender relations are naturalized within prescribed practices. The results highlight the recurrence of guidelines associating women with household management, economic administration, emotional regulation, and the maintenance of marital harmony, shaping an idealized model of the housewife. The analyzed prescriptions reiterate traditional gender dispositions, even as signs of transformation are identified during the period. It concludes that Helena Sangirardi's column contributed to the production and circulation of a normative ideal of femininity in 1940s and 1950s Brazil, considering the magazine’s reach among both direct and indirect readers.