Machismo In Latin America

Machismo is so much more than a word we use to describe the behavior of misogynists. Anglo communities often apply the word solely to male individuals of Latin heritage, and use the term to apply a racist stereotype of the hot-blooded Latino. “Machismo is hardly original or essential to Mexico and Latin America,” and as we see portrayed by the women of Mi Vida Loca, machismo is not necessarily exclusive to men (Gutman 479). That said, the machismo of these female characters is different to that of their male counterparts- as Sad Girl says in voiceover near the end of the movie, “Women don’t use weapons to prove a point. Women use weapons for love,” to keep the ones they care for safe

Based on a study of a thirty-person Latino classroom, sixty percent said their parents resorted to violence when disciplining them. The definition of masculine can have 2 different meanings. One, being the percentage of male characteristics someone has, and two, how tough someone is. Certain cultures have sets of rules on how to grow and be a man. In the story “Fiesta 1980”, Juniot Diaz writes about a boy named Yunior who has trouble growing up in his Dominican family with an aggressive father that he grows upon. While Yunior struggles with his father, “The mask you live in” directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, discusses the current world problems in adolescence with masculinity. Notably, the author Juniot Diaz reflects his personal life in

Despite all the societal changes that took place in the recent years concerning women’s rights, there is still some habits that goes against this progress in the Latino American culture. The idea of machismo is still a rampant problem that exist still to this day. Machismo can be defined as a strong sense of masculine pride. This form of alpha male mentality conveys a sense of gender bias that is transmitted generation to generation and that has a direct impact on the family relationships. Through the character of Rafael Toro in the book of Unknown Americans, Christina Henriquez showcases this macho attitude

“The common denominator all Latinos have is that we want some respect. That 's what we 're all fighting for” - Cristina Saralegui. Judith Ortiz Cofer published the article, “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” where she expresses her anger towards stereotypes, inequality, and degradation of Latin Americans. Cofer explains the origins of these perceived views and proceeds to empower Latin American women to champion over them. Cofer establishes her credibility as a Latin American woman with personal anecdotes that emphasize her frustration of the unfair depiction of Latinos in society. Cofer addresses the cultural barriers and challenges that Latinos experience through emotional appeal, anecdotal imagery, parallelism and the use of effective periodic sentences.

Aaron Devor discusses the patriarchally-expected gender roles of today’s society. He delves into the discussion of femininity versus masculinity. Society associates femininity with weakness, whilst associating masculinity with greatness.

Overall, gender shapes these individuals experience in United States. Many either assimilate to hegemonic ideals or resist it. Latinx migrants, youths, and queers all face the gender inequities that society implements on them due to their social location. Thus, gender is one of the many factors that affect the Latinx community and continue to affect it.

The pressures of disabling the patriarchy and accommodating it to fit everyone has been the basis of my childhood. From growing up in a Hispanic culture to exploring the American culture I have learned to love, it’s difficult not to notice the differences between each culture. I had always been a fan of media and the females I saw on television were one of the first perceptions of women I had. The way females were treated in the shows and movies I watched reflected the Hispanic culture I grew up in, so I never questioned the credibility. I am immensely proud of my hispanic culture and the traditions it brings along with it, but I started to notice the harsh gender restrictions that were present. My household was built on the fundamentals that

Being a woman in this world is hard, but being a Latina woman is even harder. Being a Latina women in the US and in Latin countries are just as equally difficult. People always talk about discrimination against African-American and their past but every one always forget about the fact that Latinas have and still face with the discrimination in their work life and in their daily life. They have studies “that show that about 3 in every 10 Hispanic worker feel that they have been discriminated against in their employment and some report being referred to with racial slurs at work while 1 in 4 feel they are paid less and have reduced career advancement prospects than their Caucasian counterparts.”(Discrimination

In The New Latino Studies Reader: A Twenty-First-Century Perspective by Ramon A. Gutierrez and Tomas Almaguer, chapters “Gender Strategies, Settlement, and Transnational Lives” and “She’s Old School Like That” talk about the gender issues first and second generation Latinas faced. In the first generation, Robert Smith articulates how gender structures impact the lives of men in women. Whereas in the second generation, Lorena Garcia communicates how mother and daughter relationships worked during that time period and how sexual behavior played a big role in their relationships.

It also has different ideas how machismo impacts gay Latinos in the U.S. According to Albert Serna,” Being a queer man, it was a very big struggle to balance my queer identity with this standard of masculinity that was placed on me since birth,” and he believes that a lot of other queer Latino men experience it as well. So he believes it is difficult to come out as gay when people think you are machismo. In the short story, “Only Daughter,” Cisneros is suppressing any signs of femininity when coming to finding a husband. He wanted her to be looked as a possession. Like a possession of their father, husband, and even her brothers. He felt that in order for her to benefit from social and economic advantages she would have to marry someone and that is considered

She then states her mother’s difficulty to “criticize the sexist behavior she sees there” (25). In a way, Diaz understands her mother’s conflict as her mother was raised with different ideologies where women are expected to subjugate to their spouse. She believes that overcoming“the oppression of women in any domestic sphere” will contribute to the Mujerista movement. However, she also recognizes that “those of us as mujeristas criticize sexism in the Hispanic culture are often belittled and accused of selling out to the Euro-American women, but Euro-American feminists call into question our integrity and praxis as mujerista feminist when we are not willing to criticize” (26). With this in mind, we can see the constant fight a Hispanic women must face in the feminist

The transition the girls made from Dominican Republic to the United States was imbued with struggles – cultural, linguistic, and gender-related. In the 1960s American women were limited in various ways, including family roles and equality in the workplace. The way gender roles were set retained them from expanding their abilities in their homes and jobs. Women had one path to follow: marriage at their early 20s, and subsequent servitude to their husbands and/or children. A feminist movement in the 1960s to 1970s focused on breaking down the gender inequality. How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent is divided into three sections

The children are taught to have strong bonds and frequent interactions among a wide range of kin. Generally speaking, Hispanic American children and adolescents learn to show respect for authority, the patriarchal family structure, and extended family members. Hispanic children learn early the importance of a deep sense of family responsibility, rigid definitions of sex roles, respectful and reverent treatment of the elderly, and the male's position of respect and authority in the family. Although some of the male's authority appears to be relaxing as the woman's role is redefined, women in the Hispanic culture continue to occupy a subordinate position. Stereotyped sex roles tend to exist among many Latinos: the male is perceived as dominant and strong, whereas the female is perceived as nurturing and

It is apparent that males have always been seen as the dominant and tough gender, while females are seen as the submissive and weak. Males would be the ones to do all the hard labor and work as professionals like business men bringing food to the table while women were expected to stay home, cook and clean for the husband after a long day of work. It was frowned upon if the women ever took the position of man, as it made the male look like the “weak” one. These are the gender roles that have set up the way of living for the longest time. It has never been challenged until recent years, mainly around the World War II era. Women started to take the roles of man, surpassing them in a variety of ways, education, rank in a workforce, etc. Men are now taking “feminine” profession such as nursing and teaching. This is now becoming the norm, showing that it doesn't matter who works and who brings food to the

Masculinity refers to the qualities, personality traits and roles that are associated with the male gender. In the 21st century, there has been a movement, a drive in the more socially aware sections of the world to equalize or balance out masculinity and femininity. Feminism or, at least the main stream feminism aims to find equality for the females in social, political and economical fields. Even today, as we work forward to find a middle ground for the two genders, masculinity is seen as the superior quality that only men are privileged to have. Hence, main stream feminism is so focused on emancipating women by encouraging them to let go of the ‘weaker’ feminine qualities and roles and fit themselves in a Man’s world by embracing masculinity