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…they feared that the priest would exile them from their native ayllus (social kinship circles)- they as well as

their female companions- in order to compel them all to perform forced labor services. (Silverblatt, 2002)

Seeing the destruction of their culture and tired of living constantly in fear and suffering of conquistadors,

there is also documentation from chroniclers that there was a large increase in suicide and male infanticide

among Incan women post-conquest (Silverblatt, 2002). The indication given by Irene Marsha Silverblatt, is

that Andean women felt “deeply betrayed by the male colonial authority and changed men of their own

culture” (Silverblatt, 2002). The Spanish conquest was the true beginning of exile and oppression for Peruvian

women. Women were now taught chastity and fidelity and men were taught to live freely, the beginning of the

double-standard (Smith, 2008). Spanish law allowed husbands to beat their wives for being disobedient

(Smith, 2008). This is also when accusations of witchcraft began for practicing their native religion.

Especially, in the area of the Inca Empire, female priestesses were attacked with particularly cruel ferocity

(History.com). Hundreds of women were murdered in the name of the Holy Gospel (History.com). There is a

story written by Hernández Príncipe about an elderly ‘indian’ woman who hung herself, who was supposedly

deceived by the devil, who had her bag stolen by a prosecutor and found to have a bag full of offerings for the

huacas (Silverblatt, 2002). She hung herself with a belt the next morning out of fear. Another story, of three

indigenous women, were forcibly baptized Christians and then accused of worshipping Huacas, or reverent

Inca monuments (Silverblatt, 2002). They were forced to mount llamas while being beaten by colonizer

Francisco de Ávila.

These women, since they were Christians, declared that they knew nothing about huacas. In spite of having

said this, Ávila made them as well as other Indian women mount llamas where he beat them until they bled…

These women overcome by torture and pain were obliged to confess that they did adore huacas so that the

priest would stop torturing them. (Silverblatt, 2002)

This is just one of many experiences of systemized violence towards indigenous women by the Spanish. There

is a quote in which I feel sums up the complexity of frustration and despair that indigenous women felt during

the period of colonization, “Now, in this life, we Indian women, like those men, are Christians; perhaps then

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