The Gendered Conscience and Spiritual Authority

Sor Juana's conflict with her confessor, Archbishop Aguiar y Seijas, centered on the question of spiritual authority: who has the right to determine what she should think, study, and believe? She asserted her own conscience and spiritual understanding against male institutional authority, claiming that her relationship with God and her own moral judgment weren't subject to male mediation. This concept applies to cisgender identity by recognizing that authenticity requires claiming authority over one's own ethical and spiritual life. Many cisgender individuals, particularly women, have been socialized to accept male interpretations of morality, spirituality, and what their gender requires in these domains. Sor Juana's resistance models reclaiming that authority—recognizing that one's conscience, spiritual understanding, and moral judgment belong to oneself, not to patriarchal institutions or gatekeepers. For those examining cisgender identity, this concept points toward examining which aspects of one's spiritual and ethical life have been delegated to others, and which choices around values, belief, and conscience represent genuine personal conviction. It encourages claiming full moral authority over one's own gendered existence.