Machismo From the Perspective of a Women

By: Janessa Baza-Lazalde

I remember cooking a full meal for my mother's birthday and her telling me bc “Wow mira, ya te puedes casar”. This translates to “Wow look, you can get married now”. As I laughed to mask the comment, I remember feeling a pit in my stomach. Why should my ability to cook dictate my compatibility with my partner?  

The word “macho” in Latin America is when you're proud to show and have pride in your masculinity. Though what really is the idea of masculinity? Machismo culture can be described as a male behavior that shows a traditional way men and women should behave. In Latinx households, a male is perceived as the main provider for his family while a woman is a housewife, a  wife whose main worth relies on her ability to take care not only of her children and household but to always appeal to the needs of others first. By creating these power roles and cultural traditions like having to serve the man with the food on the table, it creates a standard where an ideal woman is one that doesn't aspire for other goals. Furthermore, women are often criticized and as a result, caused her to question her worth. While growing up and being held to this expectation it can be very draining. While males can experience the negative aspects of machismo, women have different experiences that are also represented in a degrading manner to make males' negative behavior be justified.

Latina women are also objectified by their body’s in many different films and in everyday life. For example,television shows and telenovelas such as Santa Diabla and Teresa show Latina women with a stereotypical body and personality loud,toxic, and spicy with perfect hourglass figures. This further contributes to internalized misogyny in women and false images of Latina women from a male perspective. In relationships the males are more dominant and make more of the decisions. These films can manifest people's behavior to reality and have men romanticize the toxicity in Latina women. 

In the “La Mala Education” episode of La Rosa De Guadalupe exemplifies how the ideologies and education of parents that follow this toxic mentality will transcend to the mentality of their children. By following this trope“,” our culture, the way we speak, and the representation in the media no change will occur. This episode shows an example of a possible solution of teaching both of your children equality and respect. For example in this episode the parents finally come to a realization that they haven't been treating both children equally and decide to set the same expectations. As a Latina, I personally wouldn’t mind taking care of my kids, providing meals for my family, and ensuring my house stays clean. The real problem starts when men start to demand too much from their significant other and don't provide an equal amount of effort. From observing other Latin American households, any relationship can become toxic when the male starts to respond negatively when he doesn’t get his way. My question is, “Should we keep the same roots of a tradition that can become toxic and turn into misogyny?”