The Mexican Culture And Hegemonic Masculinity Essay

According to Dictonary.com masculinity is defined as having qualities traditionally ascribed to men, such as strength and boldness. Junot Diaz, a man from the Dominican Republic, frequently talks about how Dominican men act very intimidating and raunchy in his writing. Due to this strong stigma in Dominican culture, Diaz explains in his stories that homosexuality was uncommon. The unnamed narrator and his friend would steal, urinate on people’s steps, or the ways that he treated different women. Junot Diaz utilizes the masculinity of Dominican men to demonstrate that masculinity is a societal term, not a personal choice.

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

In our society today, culture is not what it used to be hundreds of years ago. There is no more “pure” culture. Our culture today is enriched with many different traditions and customs that are being shared and adopted. Due to emigration and immigration, a variety of diverse customs, beliefs, and knowledge moved with every exiting and entering human being. Thus, changing and shaping the culture of many. Throughout the world, the beliefs and religious views of culture are dissimilar around the world. By taking the time to read, listen and learn about certain people’s culture, there will be knowledge and understanding that will be gained.

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 marianismo, and how the rules around machismo

To understand the word Machismo, one must understand that in Mexico, being born a male is of high prestige and valued more than if one was born female. Women are raised that one day they will marry a man and he will oversee the family, the family must obey him, and get his approval before doing anything.

How many different types of cultures are there? Here’s the answer there are many cultures. My story starts like this; both of my parents are from Guadalajara well most of my family is from that part of México. Being part of the Mexican culture is very different from other cultures, but every culture is unique of its own way.

Machismo, or male chauvinism, is a concept that characterizes many Latin American male behaviors, most importantly those associated with masculinity and pride. This concept, most likely introduced to New Spain by Spanish conquistadors who embodied these traits, was then adopted and integrated as a part of Mexican culture going forward. Because of male masculinity prevailing over feminine traits during the 17th century, misogyny and the oppression of women became a norm in Mexican culture. Struggling to be valued in Mexico, women turned to literature and art to voice their opinions and expose the machismo in Mexican culture. Through literature and art, is where feminism in Mexico arose and is continually strengthen in. This paper will discuss the ways in which Mexican feminist literature and art over time have exposed and challenged machismo, misogyny, and the Mexican patriarchy since the Spanish Conquest.

During the 1980’s indulging in homosexual activity was considered in crime, people were imprisoned when caught doing so. But in 2003 some parts of the United States, suspended the law, and made homosexuality legal, soon European countries such as Canada, Belgium, and Netherlands passed an act which approved of homosexual weddings (Bonvillain 2006). If one digs deeper into this issue, where these debatable, one can find that it roots back from religions. Most religion disapprove of homosexuality but in religions such as Hindu, for sexuality, scriptures of homosexual activity only stated that it was normal and natural, to be attracted to the same sex (Bonvillain 2006). But in today’s society the main issue is regarding the issue of males being attracted to each other, an example of this issue is ‘Homophobia of men’. Homosexuality is considered to be a cultural construct, which apart from the ‘lesbian identities’ gave rise to the ‘gay identities’ (Herek 1986). It is common for normal men, to avoid influencing with homosexual men, as they fear what the public might think of them being judged as not ‘masculine’, where as its more normal for woman to associate with lesbians or homosexual women, as they are not being judged by the rest of the females (Herek 1986). Studies showed, that the social construction of gay identities meant that there was something psychologically wrong with that person,

I can also feel the rigid gender roles and norms in the Mexican American culture. In Movimientos de rebeldia y las culturas que traicionan, Anzaldua mentions that the Mexican culture barely accepts deviant behaviors. Their culture expects women to be commitment to men and if they are not, they are labeled as a selfish. Women are valued as a wife and mother, and “women are made to feel total failures if they don’t marry and have children.” Because of fear of being unaccepted and abandoned by their own culture, “some conform to the values of the culture, push the unacceptable parts into the shadows.” The Mexican women fight for women’s rights in their mother culture first, before they fight against the racism or sexism in white dominant culture.

In society men are told they must be the toughest, strongest, and bravest. Whether it be in sports, work, or even to their own families they pressured to prove their manliness. Various cultures around the world have their very own set of expectations when it comes to men and women. In some Latino cultures masculinity is a very important. Since the day males are born they are raised to be masculine and masculine only. Traits that some believe to be feminine are frown upon and if a boy exhibits them they are disciplined, bullied, and in some cases even ostracized for not following the macho norms. In Latino cultures there is a culturally constructed concept that has to do with male dominance and hypermasculinity. This concept is machismo. Machismo is a strong sense of masculine pride (“Machismo”). Machismo is the term that many people in Latino cultures use to describes the actions and beliefs, that hypermasculine men exhibit. Although this concept is used to described the sense of masculine pride, it is not really considered to be a positive term. When the term is used, it is used to point out the negative actions and effects that it causes or can cause. Machismo is not only exclusive to Latino cultures, machismo attitudes and behaviors are present in many cultures of Asia, Europe, and Africa, as well as the Americas (Perilla, 116). Many other cultures do have their own terms to describe men who are hyper masculine and believe in male dominance, but machismo is the term that

Mexico is a populous country with more than 120 million people ("Mexico Guide"). 60 percent of the population is mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish), 30 percent is Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, and 10 percent is white and other ("Mexico Guide"). According to the article, "Mexican Culture: Customs & Traditions," Spanish is spoken by the majority, with 92.7 percent of the Mexican population (Zimmermann). This is the result of Spain colonized Mexico during the 16th and 17th centuries. Before that, Mexicans used the Maya and Aztec languages, which explains why some small Mexican groups today still speak indigenous languages, such as Mayan, Nahuatl and other regional languages (Zimmermann).

When people think of the word machismo, they automatically associated with Hispanic men or of Hispanic origin. This could be because of the word it self-wich is of Latin origin, and macho means male in Spanish, but because of this all Hispanic men are wrongfully characterized with machismo. Most people think all Hispanics behave in this way, which is not true. This behavior is often seen in many Hispanic males, and like in most societies other men praise it, the main difference is that in Hispanic society this type of behavior has higher acceptance than in other societies. Even though this is true it is still wrong to

Masculinity is described as possession of attributes considered typical of a man. Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine character with cultural idealism and emphasis that connects masculinity to competitiveness, toughness, and women subordination. Masculinity hegemonic is the enforcement of male dominion over a society. Masculine ideology dates back to the time of agrarian and the industrial revolution in Europe when survival compelled men to leave their homesteads to work in industries to earn a living for their families while women remained at home to take care of family affairs (Good and Sherrod 210). Women did not work in industries then because industrial labor was considered too physical beyond their capacity. This led to

Masculinity and femininity are unescapeable. We are taught how to be masculine or feminine from birth but for men, the highest form of masculinity achievable is hegemonic masculinity. In this essay, I will define hegemonic masculinity, discuss how it perpetuates homophobia by restricting the way men interact with one another and by the use of the word fag, and how it perpetuates gender inequality through the expectations of violence, no emotions, and being breadwinners.

The realization of the homosexuality in the modern western world as a cultural, sexual and a social category has been a result of complex power relations that surround sexuality and gender. The acceptance of homosexuality in the society has met its fair share of resistance and skepticism. The view that homosexuality can be in the same league as heterosexual has led it to be viewed as a normal behavioral and moral standard (Gallagher & Baker, 2006). Inasmuch as the skeptics may not want to accept the existence of homosexuality studies show that the habit is rampant today with many gay people coming out in the open. Of interest is the political acceptance of homosexuality with passing gay rights so that it can be recognized by law. This move has given homosexuals the ability to engage in legal entities like marriage (Gallagher & Baker, 2006).