Voluntary Association Beyond Prescribed Roles

Sor Juana chose the convent partly as an escape from mandatory marriage and prescribed female roles. She sought community with other women intellectuals and with patrons who respected her mind. She demonstrates that libertarian justice includes freedom of association: the right to choose one's companions, mentors, and communities rather than having relationships imposed by family, state, or custom. When social systems enforce certain associations (like mandatory marriage or family obligation) while forbidding others (like women's intellectual community), they restrict freedom as fundamentally as property theft. This concept applies to economic and social life: people should be free to form households, work collectives, philosophical societies, and networks based on mutual consent and shared purpose. For Sor Juana, writing and receiving letters created a community of minds across distance and hierarchy—a voluntary association of equals in intellectual discourse. Building libertarian justice means removing barriers to chosen association, protecting people's right to exit prescribed roles and relationships, and allowing new forms of community to emerge. This includes defending women's right to education-based friendships, same-sex associations, and communities not centered on biological reproduction or family duty.