When Women Love Men by: Rosario Ferre Reflection

The story is about two , Isabel Luberza and Isabel la Negra. One is the wife of Ambrosio and the other a mistress who each inherit half of his estate. Ferré shows the fragility of upper class women, class and women’s exploitation and their response to it. The language used by the two women reflects respective realisations of the expectations of a woman. Sexually explicit language is used extensively in “When Women Love Men”. Isabel la Negra describes herself as “the Cunt of Chichamba, the sharpest-shooting whore in Barrio de la Cantera, the harlot of Cuatro Calles, the fuck of Singapur” . Ferré’s purpose is not just to be vulgar to entice readership, it serves the purpose of using stereotypes and insults against the men that employ them. Isabel de negra is sexually exploited by men, however, she converts the exploitation to independence by exploiting men’s carnal weakness. It is fear of loosing her that Ambrosio leaves her half his estate. With the estate she then moves up in the social ladder and owns a brothel, and now exploits men’s desires for the maintenance of her independence. The two women never faced each other but when Ambrosio dies it becomes inevitable to be in each others company. Isabel la Negra describes “this confusion between her and her, or between her and me, or between me and me, because as time passed, from loving her so much, it became more difficult for me to tell this story, it became harder to differentiate between the two”.
It seems that Ferré gives Isabel la Negra the initial realisation of the necessity of female solidarity and independence. This is due to the character being initially the stronger woman. Isabel la Negra, however, commits herself to the changing of men through her profession. Through her sexual encounters with them she seeks to show them the necessity of loving a woman not due solely to sex, and ornamental value but to love them as persons. She seeks to teach men “that the most macho man is not the one that allures the woman but who has the courage to let himself be allured” Ferre shows her strong feelings about a woman when she says

"A real woman is not a sack of flour that lets a man throw her on a bed, just as a real man is not a raping macho, but one that has the courage to let himself be raped.

This basically shows the importance of Women in society and love.

Through this story , Ferré develops a new personality of woman, one not bound by class and race but a mixture of all women and their respective struggle against a society that needs but does not appreciate them. I learned many woman virues and values, and also the strength of the inner woman to change the lives of individuals.