  During the Second Encuentro in 1982 (Lima, Perú) patriarchy was declared the foundational category from which Latin American feminists sought to understand their realities. It was deployed as an explanation for the subordination of women, but also extended as an explanation for the conditions of compulsory heterosexuality, repression, violence against women and children, the prohibition of abortion, and varying forms of social injustice (Gargallo 2004: 92). It was further linked into frameworks that sought to identify the role of militarization and capitalism in the oppression of women. Hence, it provided a methodological frame from which to articulate claims about power, oppression, and domination that united women on many fronts. Patriarchy was a conceptual stronghold of Latin American feminism akin to what imperialism was to national liberation struggles (Gargallo 2004: 92). It was explanatorily powerful because it could account for complex realities while also providing an explanation for the shared experiences of women. Unfortunately, the explanatory power of the term was so expansive that it rendered historical specificities opaque since nothing could exist at its margins (Gargallo 2004: 92).