Latino Men

discussing gender roles for men in Latino communities.

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

REFLECTION

As a Latina I experience machismo to some extent. Until now I realize that the way that gender is portrayed in Latin America can create an oppression for both sexes. Men are expected to not appear a certain way, the same women do. Men are forbidden to feel emotion, to be working, to be able to provide and to be able to stay strong thru many situations. This isn’t okay. It limits emotion and creativity and this blocks a bunch of opportunities and possibilities.

Looking for reasearch was really hard. Finding things that were actually informative was hard. Keeping my opinion to a lot of these topics was hard, but it was something I had to do for my project to be effective. I plan to further my research since it has enabled me to see things through my fiance’s eyes, my father’s eyes and to better understand my culture.   

-L.S

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

Annotated List of Sources

1) http://alexiabrooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/masculinity-and-latin-culture.htm

Blog post. 

post 3:

2)Mirandé, Alfredo. Hombres Y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997. Print.

Book on the progress with Latino men and machismo

3)“Changing Constructions of Machismo for Latino Men in Therapy: The Devil Never Sleeps,”

A book on masculinity and the characteristics of a Latino men

4)http://www.ipsnews.net/2008/02/latin-america-gender-stereotypes-still-firmly-entrenched-despite-progress/

Gives a good explanation of what the problem is in Latin America with hypermasculinity

5)https://www.carthage.edu/live/events/6894-diversity-institute-gender-roles-in-latin-america

Gives an explanation of how our stereotyped opinions on hypermasculinity in Latin countries come to be

6)http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata138.htm

insight to what a family in Latin American who still deal with machismo has to live like. A perspective of what is expected and of what is thought in that household.

7)http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/03/the-struggle-for-womens-equality-in-latin-america/

The Latina’s perspective on oppression due to machismo. 

-L.S

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

My Suggested Solution

My first suggestion is to know what machismo is. Knowing the signs of what the problems of machismo is will destroy the gender norms created. Realizing that there is something wrong with the way a “machista” thinks will be a huge step to acting less like a machista. My second suggestion is to practice it at home. Older people in Latino communities tend to be more likely to  have chauvinistic views. Making sure that the younger generation doesn’t hold the same opinion is very important. This will prevent the pass of hypermasculine ideas to be passed down and my last suggestion is to educate the women. For women to see that men acting like they are in charge isn’t okay. For a man to act like he is in charge and he is in full control he needs to marginalize the rest of the people in the household. Women should realize that it is not okay to let them stay with that mindset since it can end up in cases of domestic violence. If a women can do that the man will realize that there is something wrong. Both people should have a voice

-L.S

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

Summary

-L.S

My research shows two aspects of being a male in a Latino community. For starters, it talks about the importance of leaving away the stereotypes and how the stereotypes affect our communities. Knowing what machismo does and what it prevents us from doing, is the first step of moving forward and become more socially accepted along with accepting more people into our cultures. Machismo isn’t just a problem in the Latino community, but it is more likely seen in Latino men and women.

Anything that harms people from creating progress and bettering their community is something to be concerned about and that is what machismo does. That is why it matters and that is why we should study gender norms in Latino communities more.

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

How it is an Intersectional Issue:

This topic of gender in Latino communities is about gender,ethnicity, and religion. This focuses on Latin America as a race. The ideas of a whole race are being put into question. Is it okay to believe the way that they believe. More specifically, religion is part of the issue. How a person thinks, especially in Latin America, is based a lot on religion. As is explained by Alberto Mirande. 

-L.S

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

Discussion of an Institutional Example: Criminal Justice System

-L.S

Rios discussed the importance of realizing how hypermasculinity effects the Justice system overall by affecting how the police acts and how the “criminals” act. This is also true in Latino communities. Machismo is a problem that leads to men being arrested and at times for post of Latino background to use the techniques that they use. A big part of machismo is standing ones ground. Showing them that no one bosses you around. This affects the possible times someone might get into an altercation with a cop. 

The article Young Latino Males; an American Dilemma goes into depth about the pipeline of ending up in the criminal justice system and machismo. Latino men see as education as an unnecessary thing and so they drop out, they still feel the need to support their family, because that is the man’s job, so they end up looking for a job and a lot of them end up in criminal activities. 

source: http://cronkitezine.asu.edu/latinomales/machismo.html

[liszasantos-blog]

Discussion of an everyday example: Starting a Life Together

I have been extremely fortunate to find a man like my fiance. Unfortunately at the beginning of our relationship we had some clashes with the way that we lived our lives. I am a bisexual woman who is comfortable wearing a variety of clothing from both sections of the department stores. I am a college student and I have a job. He spent majority of his childhood in Mexico. The family he lived with is really religious and unfortunately doesn’t agree with a lot of things that affect who I am. 

For starters, I am bisexual. Homosexuality is frowned apon a lot. Not only within his family but a lot of the rural areas in Mexico. Mexico in general is very Homophobic. When I told my fiance, love interest at the time, that I was bisexual he seemed really uncomfortable by it. Mostly do to lack of understanding, but he told me how in mexico, where he lived, those types of things weren’t tolerated. Women were for men. He grew out of this believe. Secondly, me being in college with a job. He himself didn’t have a problem before, but his friend did. He would constantly be mocked of because he used to make as much as me. At some point he wanted me to quit my job. He said I wasn’t supposed to work. I explained to him how it didn’t matter. That the income of a man shouldn’t be more than a women. If it was supposed to be like that what was the point of me going to college. He grew out of this believe. The one thing that I really hated was the discomfort he felt when something emotionally hurt him. Around his family he was taught he wasn’t suppose to cry. “Los hombres no lloran”, men don’t cry. I explained to him how it wasn’t about him being a man, but about him being human. He grew out of this believe. 

One of the many problems with Machismo is the lack of space it gives a person to choose how a man should act. It’s like a mold that is premade for a child and with the lessons he learns and what he sees he is able to fit in that mold. In places like mexico, it is easier for ideas like this to become popular. Fortunately, as people learn more about ideas a concepts more, especially in places where this was less possible before, people push away from these ideas. Which is what the author from ‘Hombres y Machos’ was talking about.

-L.S

[liszasantos-blog]

Analysis of a Scholarly Source: Understanding Latino Families, Implications for Family Education

By: Linda Skogrand (Extension Family Life Specialist) & Daniel Hatch and Archana Singh (Graduate Students)

This extension focuses on the whole Latino Families specifically the “cultural themes that are evident within many Latino families”. I specifically focused on what the extension had to say about Latino men particularly the section labeled, ‘Gender Roles’. In this section they talk about the traditional roles within the Latino families specifically the idea of “machismo”. The man has to be strong, brave and is the head of the household. The women is expected to be giving and willing to cooperate with her husband to make important decisions. They explain how the men are expected to make the income while the women is expected to be the person taking care of the family. 

I agree with the majority of this, in terms of what is stereotypically believed of the Latino community and what is unfortunately the reality of the power structure of their homes. The thing that I don’t agree with is the lack of interest in the people who don’t follow this power structure. Most importantly, the lack of a thorough explanation that this is not how all Latino families are. 

A question someone might have is, The effects of Machismo in a home. What are the downfalls of Machismo?

This source is very different from the last two sources. The last two sources talked about noticing that not all of Latin America is stuck in this power structure and this source is focused on the part of Latin America who cant go forward from this power structure. 

In GWS 1O1 the Rios Article did a good job in explaining the importance of hypermasculinity to men, which correlates to what machismo is all about. It’s about the focus of the image of the man. 

-L.S

source:

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FR_Family_2005-02.pdf

[liszasantos-blog]

Analysis of a Scholarly Source: Hombres y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture

BY: Alfredo Mirande

This is a book written by author Alfredo Mirande. He talks about the need for change in the Latino community to be able to make progress. He talks about the stereotype of what is thought of the Latino man and how the ideas of what a Latino man is like, makes Latin countries look like they are in need of help. It makes them appear like they are staying behind with what appears to be a misconception. He interviews men to ask them about the topic of “Machismo” and what they think about it. He finds himself with a variety of answers, some supporting what is stereotypically believed, others who want to sway away from the stigma surrounding their culture. 

I agree with his method of asking men what they believe in. He goes in depth with the limitations that negative ideas like machismo can bring forth to a community. He does a good job explaining thoroughly how the idea of machismo can be shaped in different ways. 

The one question I have is, How do the women play a role to this patriarchal ideology in the Latino community. What should the women do? 

I feel that for a man to be able to act like he is the one in full control there has to be people allowing them to do it. Therefore, is the women, to some extent< guilty as well?

 -L.S

citation:

Mirandé, Alfredo. Hombres Y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997. Print.

[liszasantos-blog]

Analysis of a Web Source: Masculinity and the Latin Culture

By: Alexia

This blog post talks about the idea that majority of the images shown of what masculinity is in Latin countries are shaped by what white people believe. Majority of the stories and the history of Latin places were written by white people. She mentions a lot of authors who focus on the research behind men and their gender roles specifically for men of Latino backgrounds. These authors share the same idea that there are a lot of other aspects that affect how a man behaves in society. One of those aspects, for example, is religion. In Mexico majority of the population is Catholic. The catholic faith has a lot of stereotypical ideas of what a man is supposed to do and not to do. It is a mix of positive and negative attributes that are assigned to a group of people based on stereotypes.

I agree that a lot of the stereotypes that are assigned to the Latino community are not true all of the time. Like with every stereotype, there is always some stretch to the truth. No stereotype is going to fit a group of people who have very different cultures within themselves. What I don’t fully agree with is blaming it to the white community. Some people from Latino backgrounds choose to live with what is stereotypically thought of their community. Yes, someone might argue that if religion affects how a person might behave in a day to day basis and if majority of the people in Latin countries are of Catholic descent, which was the group who founded the Christian religion, it would make sense that it was, again, the white person’s fault. The reality is that no one can blame a behavior or the way to act fully on how their foundation was built. A person should never forget that they have a choice. The one question that I had when I was reading this was, how does a person define what a “macho”?

The reason why I was wondering the answer to this question was because their has to be a stereotyped answer to this word. Would definition would it be correct or incorrect? 

-L.S

http://alexiabrooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/masculinity-and-latin-culture.html

[lisz-santos-hypermasculinit-blog]

Introduction

My topic for this project is male gender roles in Latino community. As a women from a Hispanic background, I have always found myself having to follow gender norms. The lessons taught to me were different lessons learned by my brother. Our parents had different expectations from my brothers than from my sisters and me. The lessons taught to me were more flexible than the lessons my mom learned. Gender and how a person is treated, what they learn, what they don’t learn, is all tied up in a lot of Latino communities. This time I choose to focus on the males. In the struggle to get gender equality a lot of times women are the topic of interest and we don’t really hear a lot about the male. Therefore, I choose to focus on the men. To give them a voice and to show the advantages of being a Latino male and the disadvantages of being a Latino male.