Masculinity in the Philippines

The United States is made up of an astounding assortment of people of all different types, boasting one of the most diverse populations compared to anywhere around the world. Of these different peoples, toxic masculinity affects each group differently, with an especially profound effect to be found when studying those who identify as Latin- or Hispanic-American. While attempting to homogenize the many unique and beautiful facets of various Latin and Hispanic cultures is a disservice, they tend to share many traits which can be simplified, including their ideas on gender roles. In many Hispanic cultures, there are strong gender roles and ideas about gender that are traditionally built into every aspect of the culture, especially in the form of “machismo”, or the Hispanic ideas of masculinity. In some cultures, “…women are supposedly submissive… men are characterized by verbal and bodily aggression… and sexual dominance,” (Cantú 150). When combined with the gendered expectations and stereotypes that are increasingly prevalent in American culture, young Hispanic-American boys are growing up with an overwhelming volume of standards being impressed upon them from all sides. This same phenomenon can be seen again in African-American communities and cultures, with the already painfully present standards of white American masculinity being taken to another level by a culture which serves to pile on an even stricter set of standards on to its men. As with the Latin American ideas of

The primary source encompasses a chapter that reflects upon male degeneracy in a debate over Philippines. There are numerous incidents that had taken place surrounding Philippines as indicated in U.S. history. The primary source editor

In 1898, the United States of America was in the midst of a complete remolding of the nation's reputation. Just having recently ended the Civil War among the states in the United States and once again forging war with the Spanish-American War, the United States was after a more masculine image and reputation. Due to the nature of the country at that moment in time, the American government wanted to prove their superiority among other emerging nations and in doing so chose to colonize and annex nations such as the Philippines. Primary resources indicated that the annexation of the Philippines was indeed motivated by the lack of masculinity that was felt by the American government at the time (Hollitz, 2010). Gender roles in the United States were at a point where their stereotypical reputations were changing and women were gaining more social power. This was unlike any comparable country at the time, and the United States was taking this transition negatively as their reputation as the most powerful nation in the world was at stake. This allowed for gender to play a dominate role in the debate over the Philippines.

The acquisition of Philippines by the United States is the topic that is going to be focused upon throughout this paper. The historical context of this topic deserves to analyzed with reference to both the primary and secondary readings assigned. The highlighted issue takes place after the treaty of Paris was signed between the United States and Spain which liberated Spain’s remaining colonies. Towards the end of the 19th century, Americans were influenced by the ideology of imperialism. They believed that advanced industrialized nations like the United States, Great Britain and France needed to acquire colonies in order to provide raw materials to feed their industrial economies. Extensive markets were wanted in order to sell finished products to those colonial masses.

Women and men of many races opposed the Philippine American War and what it stood for. They believed that no one had the right to rule over or dehumanize another group of people. Some of these female activists included Susan B. Anthony and Jane Addams; they were different people that had different perspectives on anti-imperialism. However both women also supported women’s right movements. The intersection between women’s rights and anti-imperialism was a strengthening factor in these women’s beliefs. However, the women’s rights movement was not able to have the strongest possible effect of supporting the anti-imperialist movement because different perspectives on anti-imperialism did not always coexist with one another, the inferiority of women was still a prominent social construct during that time, and many of the white men in power leading the anti-imperialist movement did not embrace the intersection between these two movements.

This paper discusses Machismo among Latino Americans in the modern society and how it shapes the social constructs within which they live. It will discuss how machismo shapes gay men and how they build cultural capital in order to negotiate through life. The paper will also discuss the effects of machismo on

To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.

In this argument, I believe the failures of the initial Philippine colonial project not only retrogressed the islanders back into their primitive informal aristocracy but actually help unify and modernize a regime that was the complete reversal of American intentions. The result of the type of Filipino government after reconstruction were significantly constrained by Anti-Imperialists tensions from the metropole and continued to reshape itself by many additional constraints from the Filipino legislation. Only about fifty years later of political administration would enable the development of an autonomic government.

Given culture’s effect on masculinity, Beynon (2001) cautions against regarding “masculinity” as “implying uniformity”. Instead, he suggests considering masculinity as a “singular-plural” like “data”, comprising a range of masculinities (2001:1-2). Despite the multiple definitions and types of masculinity, hegemonic masculinity is ever-present in various settings (Stibbe 2004:33).

“In accounts grounded in sex-role theory, such as that by Harris, “masculinity” identifies cultural “norms” and “scripts” which set standards for and thus influence men’s behaviour.” (Flood 205) It is through the process of socialization and interaction that we learn what attitudes, behaviours, norms and scripts make a man ‘manly’ enough to be respected in society. Not every society and time period has the same standards on what it means to be masculine and what traits a man must possess in order to be ‘culturally honoured’ or be considered the ‘ideal’ man by society; therefore, “masculinity is historically contingent on so many factors.” (Spring) In the West, for example, an ‘ideal’ man in society must be able to supress his emotions, be financially/socially stable, be successful, and Caucasian. South Asian countries have other standards set by society of what it means to be masculine.

To justify the case for the annexation of the Philippines, we must first look at a snapshot of the Philippine archipelago to understand the advantages the islands provided the United States. The Philippines was a vast chain consisting of over 7,000 islands, with 74 provinces, 43 different ethnic groups, and 87 different spoken languages. The population around 1899

The cultural topic that our class looked at was the impact gender roles have in Latin American communities. Machismo was one specific gender role that was highly discussed in our interactive oral. The articles that we were provided with talked a lot about the idea of machismo, more specifically how it impacts the way men act and feel in Latin American societies. Machismo can be defined as the social expectations that men have in Latin American societies. Expectations for men are things such as being masculine and not showing weakness by going to the doctor. Men can also almost do whatever they want sexually in a machismo society and not receive any consequences. Last but not least, one of the most important expectations in a machismo society

In 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair there was an exhibit funded by the US Government to show Americans what life was like in the Philippine colonies. Unfortunate this exhibition was not accurate representation of people’s lives in the Philippines. They were portrayed as being uncivilized and practitioners of non-God fearing religions, even though many Philippine people converted Roman Catholicism under Spanish rule. The Government conveyed a distorted representation of the Philippines to convince Americans that the colonization of the Philippines was not just for the United States benefit but for the improvement and civilization of the population of the Philippines.

What is it to be a man? Masculinity is defined and characterized differently across cultures and time there is no “global” standard. In some cultures, being a man may mean being comfortable with both your masculine and feminine sides or it could suggest being “tough” and not letting your feelings show at all. Manliness can be demonstrated in some cultures by providing for a family through work, and in others, it might mean scoring the winning goal in a championship game. Trying to define one’s own masculinity and live up to its standards is a tough and grueling task that many men struggle with. Maintaining this masculinity is something that the male characters in both Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun are familiar with.

Showing your humanity through raw emotions used to be seen as proof of a person’s sincerity, honesty, and integrity. Something happened in the 20th century, women became the picture of teary-eyed fragility and the tearless, aggressive male became the ideal of masculinity. Media messages, commercials, and television shows stopped portraying men as responsible, competent, and compassionate husbands, sons, and fathers, instead they consist of idiotic or misogynistic archetypes. When men are portrayed as sensitive humans, it is largely under the caveat of being gay. As stated in A New Vision of Masculinity, there is still little worse than being mistaken for a homosexual (Cooper, 2016).