Consent and the Refusal of Forced Vows

Sor Juana entered the convent partly to access education denied to women outside it—a choice constrained by systemic injustice. She later questioned whether such choices, made under duress, constitute genuine consent. Libertarian justice demands that agreements be freely entered, not coerced by poverty, legal disability, or institutional monopoly. A woman choosing the convent over marriage or destitution is not truly consenting; she is choosing the lesser evil. Sor Juana's critique exposes how property systems and gender hierarchies collapse freedom of choice. Real liberty requires that alternatives exist—genuine options that do not force compliance with institutional demands. Her refusal to renew her vows modeled reclamation of autonomy: withdrawing consent when circumstances revealed the contract was never truly voluntary.