The Pros And Cons Of Machismo

In Drown, women are simply perceived as objects. The Dominican Republic culture lets gender norms dictate behavior of both men and women, encouraging the practices of machismo. Machismo is defined as a strong sense of masculine pride. Diaz details Yunior’s journey in dealing with masculinity as well as the misogyny women face through the stories “Aurora” and “Edison, New Jersey”. Critics would argue Diaz should be assessed for the sexist portrayal of women in Drown. However, in Drown, Diaz acknowledges the deep misogyny within the Dominican Republic society; thus he cannot be criticized for the portrayal of women because he simply depicts a vivid reality.

In several cultures, women are seen as archetypes more than men. The proposition of women are instantly idealized and glorified and instantaneously ignore the true complexity of a woman. Countless of these superficial images can be seen across various cultures where the societies within these cultures define what it means to be a female and what type of behavior is and isn’t acceptable within those parameters. The persistent restatement of these stories throughout these generations reinforces the gender system. Women who step out of the norm in these societies are then held punishable for their actions. Alicia Gaspar de Alba pinpoints the three archetypal roles that are given to the women in the Mexican and Chicana cultures. These are,

An assumption that the authors make towards their audience is that cared about wealth and presentation. Overall, calling the audience highly judgemental. The living styles for “tortilleras” were very different from La China. The poor inhabitants of Mexico city lived in houses, divided into many rooms and shared with many people. The most impoverished lived on the floor, which I'm sure you could imagine was extremely uncomfortable. The woman would walk around barefoot covered in poor ugly clothing, they were not well kept whatsoever. They all slept together side by side on the floor along with their families. Their earnings were low and their lives very much depended on their workload. These were the real woman who held down Mexico. These were the real representations of women in latin America. Hard working woman who had to sacrifice for the well-being of themselves as well as their families.

Machismo is something seen in the domestic situations throughout Hispanic people. The violence, the subservience that is expected and the men believe the women are second and are second class citizens. There role is to be domestic housekeepers and to birth children. Alicia makes

During the Mexican Revolution, Mexico as a nation torn in many directions, people gave up simple farming lives to take up arms against causes that many of them did not fully understand. Gender roles during the period in Mexico were exceptionally degrading towards women. Having little more rights than slaves and treated as trophies or property more than human beings, women role in society was nothing near that of a man’s. In The Underdogs, Mariano Anzuela highlights the issue of gender roles by continuously illustrating the punitive role of women and their mistreatment. Augmenting Anzuelas work with citations from Oscar Lewis and Stephanie Smith will paint a picture of the degrading gender roles for women during the Mexican Revolution. Highlighted points brought up by Azuela are how men speak with and treat women, women’s place in society, and general disregard for women’s feelings.

According to Giger, “in 2000, 70% of Mexican-American families were married couple families” (Giger, 2008). Of that 70%, 21% were female-headed households (Giger, 2008). That is significant. For one thing, this shows how far they have come as a culture, to assert female dominance in a household.

Many studies on masculinity have often revealed how Machismo is embedded in the Latino culture within the United States. Machismo is defined as a strong sense of masculine pride as exhibited by Latino men. In the Latino culture, machismo is not only accepted, but always expected. In any study that investigates the Latino group, machismo is a subject that cannot be ignored.

I was born in Dallas, Texas but when I was 3 years old I was taken to my parents’ home country, Mexico. My mother took my younger sister and me to Mexico while my father stayed in the United States and worked to provide for us. I spend 6 years in Mexico and I went to school there. I had an amazing childhood in the place my parents were born and had the opportunity to grow up around my family and culture. I became a fond lover of the traditions and the peaceful life of what I consider my country. I have many amazing memories from living in Mexico. The way everything called for a celebration where everyone was invited. The dedication that every festival I attended showed. Simply all the traditions that even when I live miles away from Mexico have stuck with me, things I still celebrate with my family every year. I love to be able to call myself Mexican American and to be able to share my parents. My love for Mexican culture plays a role in my decision to want to go to Spain. I want to see where some of the customs I know originated from and see where my ancestors came from.

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.

While dealing with the hardships of being Mexican, a woman also had to face the burden of being a female. A social hierarchy was clearly in existence. While the men were inferior to the Spaniards and Anglos because they were

The story illustrates the overlapping influences of women’s status and roles in Mexican culture, and the social institutions of family, religion, economics, education, and politics. In addition, issues of physical and mental/emotional health, social deviance and crime, and social and personal identity are

The picture of pre-revolutionary Mexican women was of a woman who had to lived her life constantly in the male shadow. These women were consumed by family life, marriage, and the Catholic Church, and lived silently behind their dominant male counterparts (Soto 31-32). In 1884 (prior to the revolution) the government passed the Mexican Civil Code. It dramatically restricted women's rights at home and at work (Bush and Mumme 351). Soto states that the code "sustains an almost incredible inequality between the conditions of husband and wife, restricts in an exaggerated and arbitrary manner those rights due the woman, and…erases and nullifies her personality" (qtd. Bush and Mumme 351).

Women of Latin American culture have incessantly ensued the potent gender roles that have become a social construction of their society over innumerable decades. The profound author of Insurgent Mexico, John Reed, imparts his experiences with the revolutionary leaders of the Mexican Revolution, like Pancho Villa, and was able to witness their culture and more specifically the roles these Mexican women were forced to render by their chauvinistic counterparts. This period of revolution, started to grant women new mantles usually reserved only for men, like participating in fighting for the success of the revolution; any preeminent changes would soon approach, but in the meantime Mexican society run by men enjoyed the regulated traditional

In Mexico, men and women are equal in the eyes of the law. However, the man is head of the family. Mexicans use two types of cultural representations to separate the male and female gender roles. The male role is defined by machismo, which is described as violence, power, aggressiveness, and assertive behaviors in sexual situations. For the female role, Mexicans use the Virgin of Guadalupe as an icon. This virgin represents the suffering and sacrifice that women have to make daily for their families. She also represents the submissive, but virtuous woman that Mexican women strive to be. While some still follows these gender roles, the cultural is transforming with urbanization and the roles are shifting (“Mexico”, n.d.)

Another place I have loved visiting was Los Angeles during a delivery trip with my dads commercial truck which we saw lots of cool stuff during our way down to Los Angeles we saw new cool stuff out in the west new foods , new culture we tried out this weird food I have never tried fried squirrel which was amazing food I wish they served in New York it kinda tasted like fried chicken. While we were out on this trip we saw one of tournaments for my favorite video game which was awesome to watch. My favorite team won during the tournament. After the tourney we delivered our load to the destination and while we were coming back we got more of our favorite food fried squirrel. We loved go out to Los Angeles its our favorite place to deliver a load to because you find so much stuff out to west and instead of the south which is much interesting to look for.