Machismo

For many people today, developed countries are being strongly affected by certain behaviors within families and homes, attacks by new social movements , and environmental problems. The Machismo is a topic that has gradually taken relevance in this decade, and no wonder as each passing day increases the rate s of assaults and murders against women hand man.

Definition

The term refers to an ideology that comprises a compendium of attitudes, social practices and behaviors , which promotes the denial of women within society as a being who has the same rights and duties as men.

For some movement such as the feminist community, this word is defined as ” those sexist attitudes where it is simply sought to establish a social order dominated by men to have the total submission and discrimination of women .”

Etymology

The word machismo from the Castilian root ” macho ” which originates from the Latin ” musculus “, which is a diminutive given to the cubs of male animals ; If it is taken from vulgar Latin, it would be translated as ” machito ” or ” little macho ” into current Castilian Spanish.

Characteristics of machismo

The main characteristics of machismo are:

• It occurs mainly in Arab countries and some Latin American countries .
• Within companies it is usually seen above all in the working class.
• The countries where the majority of the murders are for reprisals against women, evidence a predominant sexist society .

History

For some people machismo was witnessed for the first time within the bible , however, it is witnessed for the first time in Rome and Greece . In these civilizations women had to stay at home doing housework or in the field ( for those who lived in it ), they were not allowed any work (except prostitutes) because they only served to attend to the man in all his needs.

Types

The types of machismo are classified mainly into two: personal and institutional . Both in turn are degraded into three sub-branches:

• Physical confrontational machismo : it is one that is made up of a pattern of aggressive attitudes towards women only to be born of that sex.
• Machismo with legitimation of violence: when government systems provide “permissiveness” to certain attacks against women.
• Paternalistic machismo : it is the least known type of machismo, since it refers to overprotection, considering that women are the weaker sex.

Causes

Among the different causes of machismo we mention:

• For religious beliefs: seen especially in countries that are clinging to their religious beliefs such as the Arabs, where sacred texts establish a series of submissions that women must comply with.
• By family traditions: these are the traditional customs that are imposed on the sons and daughters from an early age to teach them hierarchy within the home.
• By misogynist behavior: the misogyny is a disorder in which the individual has an irremediable rejection of women due to various causes of their past.

Consequences

• The creation of social movements that seek to abolish these social structures.
• The disproportionate increase in crimes committed against women
• Increase in the rate of ” feminisides ” in a nation.
• Decrease in the rate of jobs seeking female personnel.
• Helplessness in the laws regarding the oppression of women.

Symptoms

The main symptoms of machismo are the following:

• They begin to deny rights to women in the various areas.
• They are denied certain jobs because they are considered the weaker sex.
• Women are placed as a sexual object within society.
• There is no kind of respect for the female sex.

Arguments from machismo

• It is displaced because it does not have certain physical attributes.
• All household chores are attributed to him .
• You are not allowed to look for work because that is the man’s job within the home.

Machismo in the bible

For theologians and experts in the field, they have determined that everything that appears in the Bible should be analyzed and not taken literally. For example, when you read in the bible ” every wife must submit to her husband ” it can be understood in many ways, but what it means in summary is that all actions within the concubinage must be taken in agreement with both and not from the rebel opposition.

On the other hand, when it is read that ” man will sustain the home ” it refers to the fact that he is the main person in charge of working to bring food to the home, but that  does not inhibit the woman from being able to work, even if we combine it with the phrase Previously, it could be said that it calls the woman to support the man in the workplace .

Family machismo

Within the families that have brought a patriarchal model for generations, they always end up seeking to cultivate that model of home in their children, since they consider that it is how life should be lived within the house. They teach their children that women have to cover all the needs of men in the home (Cooking, washing and ironing, cleaning) and they must do so on a mandatory basis.

It should be noted that not because it is a patriarchal model within the house, the man is a macho , because there are families that manage to achieve a warm family atmosphere, since this model only establishes the man as the backbone of the house, that is, who has the obligation to get the money for the house, but does not prevent the woman from working hours.

Machismo at work

It is in the workplace where sexist attacks are most seen, since men denigrate women because they do not have the physical attributes that men have, which is why they are denied positions within various companies and businesses.

Women are standardized in the role of secretary, assistant, office worker or any other role that does not perform any larger cognitive or physical activity .

Machismo by country

Currently in Latin America different social movements are being seen that seek to remove or eliminate various situations such as machismo in their country, as is the case in Argentina with the ” LGTBI ” movements and feminist movements nicknamed ” the feminazis ” by the virtual community . Despite the fact that Argentina is considered a country already almost at the point of complete development, it is affected in the social sphere by a cause that is fully reasoned by surveys and evaluations that show it.

On the other hand, countries like Venezuela , despite being underdeveloped, have laws and protection systems in favor of women which have had a high impact within their society since their rate of aggression against women has decreased. since the Venezuelan system provides real support to affected women.

How it differs from feminism

The feminism is the opposite of machismo because it seeks to establish the woman as someone important in society, which is a human being who has the same rights of man and can also perform the same work tasks performed by the opposite sex. It also tries to show that men can do household chores while women are the breadwinner.

Phrases

Here are some phrases related to machismo:

• “You can’t do it because you are a woman”
• “You were created to be cleaning and serving inside the home”
• “If you were a man you could do things better”
• “If you do not understand by words you will understand by force”

Examples

Some examples of machismo are the following:

• The establishment of women as a sex symbol within musical elements (both songs and videos)
• The conceptualization of man in jobs such as carpentry, mechanics and business executives.
• The standardization of women in advertisements for household cleaning products .
• The little presence of women in the political sphere of the nation.