Abstract
In this article I reconsider the ancient "women fights" of the western Toba women (Toba-Pilaga or Nachilamole#ek) as a form of female sexual politics, analysing their place in sex-gender Toba system which, according to my hypothesis, would have been mainly characterized by matrilocality, the circulation of men, and transactive sexuality. These forms of intra-female violence have been common in various indigenous groups in the Gran Chaco. In the villages of the western Tobas, they were witnessed and condemned by Anglican missionaries in the early decades of the 20th century. I then investigate the connections between these expressions of violence and the construction of gender in the past, the gender-oriented division of work, and the images concerning female gender. It is my general hypothesis that these fights were a female field of action where disputes connected with the competition for access and control of the men (husbands and sons in law) that were part of matrilocal domestic units were settled.
Key words:
Tobas-Chaco-Women-Gender-Sexual Politics