The Machismo Effect

Post #11

Like I have stated before, starting this project, I thought I was going to find that most of my information would be about the effects machismo has on women; as it turn out, I actually found a lot more information on the effects it has on boys. I have two brothers myself; one is 19 and the other is 6. Learning about this topic, I see how certain aspects of machismo have affected the oldest, and way in which I can help prevent some in the youngest. I have become more aware of the effects and it has made me more conscious. As a future educator, I hope to use this information with future students so that I can try using some of the solutions I provided.

Through out the research process, I think I generally had a difficult time getting into the research, but it became easier as I got further in. One thing I did have difficulty with was finding personal stories because of the fact that I was focusing on such a young age group; I was better able to find stories about people who had a strong implementation on machismo growing up and their reflections on how it affected them.

Post #10

· http://www.huffingtonpost.com/albert-serna-jr/gay-latino-and-macho_b_7973892.html

This link is an article based on the experience of a young man’s life growing up in a machismo dominant household and his experience/struggles of accepting he is gay.

· http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/inside-the-world-of-being-machismo-and-gay-in-latino-culture_us_55e5ec03e4b0b7a9633a6de3

This link as well discusses the impacts of machismo on gay men as they are growing up and includes a video in which a few gay professionals talk about their experiences and knowledge about machismo.

Guerrero, DAV. "Hypermasculinity, Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Aggression, Social Support, And Child Maltreatment Risk In Urban, Heterosexual Fathers Taking Parenting Classes."Child Welfare 88.4 (2009): 135-155 21p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

This article is a scholarly source I found through the UIC databases. It is a study on how hypermasculinity can have an child maltreatment along with a couple other factors.

Neff, J.A., and S.K. Hoppe. "`Machismo,' Self-Esteem, Education And High Maximum Drinking Among Anglo, Black And Mexican-.."Journal Of Studies On Alcohol 52.5 (1991): 458. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

This is a scholarly source that I found through the UIC databases as well. In this study, levels of machismo are measured in Anglo, Black, and Mexican American male drinkers. It specifically examines the interaction machismo has with self-esteem and education.

Keddie, Amanda. "Little Boys: Tomorrow's Macho Lads." Discourse: Studies In The Cultural Politics Of Education 24.3 (2003): 289-306. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

Post #9

·Acknowledge negative aspects of machismo when you see them

Like I stated in the 5th post, I think that it is important to acknowledge negative actions of machismo when we see them. Because it is so engrained in Latin culture, people become accustomed to it and see nothing wrong with their actions. One must put the issue in to perspective for them. It may help to make them think about how they would feel if someone did hat they were doing to their mother, daughter, etc. Although I think it should be a matter of general respect towards everyone no matter the identity.

·Spread awareness

When I first began this project, I personally only thought about the effects machismo has on women; as I continued my research I became aware of the many ways machismo can effect boys as well. I continuously think about my youngest brother who is 6 and the negative effects machismo can have on him. I believe that if we spread awareness about the many outcomes negative aspects of machismo can have on boys and girls, people would try to change some aspects in their parenting for their child’s sake; at the end of the day, a parent only wants the best for their child.

·Set a new status quo

Post #8

Through previous posts, I think it is clear to see why the issue of machismo and its effects on children are such an extensive issue. Machismo not only has an effect on children as they are growing up, but on their future adult lives as well. It seems as though it is a snowball effect because if machismo affects their adult lives, it can ultimately have an impact on many institutions. Machismo affects the discipline children receive at home and the gender roles they take on. It affects their education for a variety of reasons, which then causes them to have this untapped source of knowledge. Also, because these machismo ideals and expectations are forced upon them, it can have a negative effect on their ability to come out if they are anything other than heterosexual.

Like many things in life, a cause has its effects. If machismo is causing these issues in a child’s early life, it can have negative effects on their adult life and institutions as well. These missed educational opportunities diminish their chances and desire to obtain a higher education. It continues what seems to be a never-ending cycle in Latin hypermasculinity.

Post #7

I believe the effects machismo has on children can be seen as an intersectional issue because it concerns issues of sexuality, gender, and age. I think the gender issue is easiest to identify. Young boys and girls are being affected in their development because of whatever sex they are identified as. Young boys are expected to be this tough independent individual; there is also this negative aspect in which they treat others around them, especially women. Because of machismo and the beliefs that go along with them, young girls can as well miss educational opportunities and be forced to fit certain gender roles. As we learned in one of the articles as well, these young girls will be forced to become accustomed to the disrespectful attitudes men have towards them.

In one of the links provided in my 10th post, we can see how machismo also affects a Latin person’s sexuality. The articles I provide focus on Hispanic men. Growing up, these men had machismo forced upon them. They feel forced to live up to this masculine expectation and not have any feminine attributes. Because of this, many people like the men in these articles struggle to come out and become the person they know they are. In the links as well the issue of class is incorporated. Being of a lower/higher class can have an effect on whether or not you come out and just how much support you are likely to get. Also, if a person is of a lower class, it is more likely they will not have educational knowledge and open-mindedness to accept a person’s sexuality.

Post #6

The first institutional category I think is affected by machismo is the educational systems in general. Like I stated in my second post, machismo becomes a barrier for learning. Latin boys do not ask question in class because of the way in which they are social trained to act. They are supposed to be strong and independent; education is also generally seen as a woman’s goal for machistas. When the children do not ask question, they fall behind. Parents also have a lack of involvement in the child’s education because of the fact that they think he should be independent and learn to deal with his problems on his own. Also, from personal experience, young girls may miss out on the opportunity to go to school because they are seen as the caretaker of the house. For many Hispanic homes I have visited in Mexico, many girls do not go to school because their parents and they themselves know they will not be able to pay for their education. They also don’t think they will become anything more than a house wife, so they see no point in having them advance educationally. Both genders become this untapped source of knowledge. Public education institutions should be concerned because this obviously affects the very people they are caring and have jobs for. Higher education institutions should be concerned because when these children miss out on opportunities in the primary education, it affects the probability of them even thinking about going to their higher educational institutions.

Post #5

Machismo effects are something not only by Latinx communities who live with it, but other ethnic observers as well. A blog pot on Happiness Plunge called Machismo- A Cultural Incompatibility I Cant Accept is the story of a volunteer in Arequipa, Peru. And one of the negative aspects of machismo he observed. This male volunteer was selling bread with two fellow female volunteers. H e states that while selling bread, women would usually come up to him and men would go up to the female volunteers. Although he didn’t like it, he heard a lot of whistling and catcall towards the female volunteers. What he especially found disturbing though was instances in which it seemed the men found some type of enjoyment in being disrespectful towards the women. In a specific case, he states that two men walked up to the girls. One man bought a pastry and asked his friend if he wanted one as well. The friend blatantly “No, I just want to look” (Pervez). It was obvious even to the foreign volunteer that the customer was not talk about looking at the bread.

Later on, the volunteer asked the female volunteer how she felt about this. She said that she had grown accustomed by it because it happens all the time. The author then states he saw this as a “survival technique” for the women because constantly getting mad over a behavior like this would only cause them more anger in their lives. The author know that although there is a Latin term for this behavior, it isn’t only limited to Latin countries.

This is related to my topic because it shows why the negative factors of machismo continue to spread among the culture. I understand that the author was a volunteer and should respect the culture of the country he is volunteering in, but I think that in a case of respect towards other human beings, he should have said something to the customer. It may have just angered the customer, but at least it would have been obvious to him that what he was doing was disrespectful. Personally from what I have seen, men do not find this disrespectful until they hear or see it happen to a woman they care for, whether it is family or friend. This negative aspect of machismo continues to be reinforced in families because people do not acknowledge how disrespectful it is to others. It is taught to the sons that it is okay to do so and girls are taught to not respond/fight against it. I think that if men and women fought back against this disrespectful attitude, children would be taught otherwise; therefore, we probably wouldn’t have this problem.

Post #4

The scholarly article The Impact of Culture Upon Child Rearing Practices and Definitions of Maltreatment by Anne M. Ferrari is a study that investigated the hypothesis that a parent’s cultural values like familism, machismo, and valuing children contribute to parental behavior like maltreatment. According to the 1996 National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, about 1,553,800 children in the United Sates were abused or neglected in 1993. It was also found that minority children have an increased likelihood for physical abuse. Because of statistics like this, the study also investigated whether or not families who encouraged the beliefs of familism are less likely to use physical or verbal punishment or more likely to use reasoning and nurturing. The study also investigated how a parent’s tolerance for a child’s misbehavior and the value they put on the children affected these forms of discipline as well. What is especially interesting about this study is that it does not only focus on males. It states that although machismo is something that is usually associated with Latin men, it can also be seen in women (Ferrari 795).

The study had 75 fathers and 75 mothers participate. The parents completed a questionnaire, which measured the answered based on seven scales including machismo, familism, the value of children, and childhood trauma. The machismo question included true or false questions, which measured gender role attitudes. Questions on the value of children and familism were measure don how strongly the parents agreed or disagreed with certain statements related to the subject. For example, the questionnaire might state, “One should consider what is better for the family rather than yourself personally”, and the parent would a strong agree/disagreement based on a 5-point scale.

What they found in the study was that fathers who held a low regard for familism were more likely to use physical punishment on their children. This does not mean that father show highly value familism would not physically discipline their children though, they are just less likely to do so. For machismo, the study found that there was a strong correlation between a strong sense of machismo and more physical punishment, but not as much of a correlation between a low regard of familism. It also concluded that machismo is responsible for the lack of affection many Latin fathers have fro their sons.

Personally I think that many of the findings in the study seem to be obvious outcomes, but it is important to have scientific evidence proving so. What I especially agreed with is the hypothesis though. Machismo is regularly associated with men, but I think it is a mind set established in women as well. Therefore, when young boys are growing up, many mothers may teach their sons to be a “macho” like their fathers and other men. The young boys learn to take on stereotypical gender roles. Because I personally thought that many of these results were obvious, I didn’t really disagree with anything. A person who cares about justice on the basis of gender might ask whether a majority of the parents’ children were male or female and how this may have an effect on the machismo/ familism. For example, how might a father’s machismo and punishment be different when he has all daughters compared to when he has all sons.

Post #3

The scholarly article Latino Fathers: The relationship Among Machismo, Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, and Paternal involvement by Jon Glass and Jesse Owens explains their study in which the focus was on how Latino fathers perceive their involvement with their children. The article makes the point that research has shown that parental involvement can have a direct effect on a child’s well-being; this includes academic performance, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. It is also an important ethnic focus because it Latinos are the fastest growing minority in the United States. The term Latino is used for people from North, Central, and South America; although it includes many cultures, they share similar values of “familiismo, respeto, and educacion” (AUTHOR, 252).  The authors also states that it is important to understand how gender norms can have an effect on parental involvement. Latino culture uses the term machismo for masculine norms, but for the most part, the word has a negative connotation to it; it includes negative aspects like sexism, aggressive behaviors, hypermasculinity, and interpersonal dogmatism. Just as the term has negative connotations, it has positive ones as well; the positive connotations are better known as caballerismo. This term “is defined by egalitarian beliefs, affiliation, positive family relationships, and empathy.

The study had four parts to their hypothesis. The first part included that Latino acculturation of Latino fathers would be positively associated with their parental involvement. It also included that ethnic identity and caballerismo attitudes would be positively associated with the father’s involvement. Lastly, machismo attitudes would have a negative association with the father’s involvement. In the study, 70 Latino fathers took a twenty item survey that were rated on a four point scale.

The results expressed no relationship between ethnic identity or caballerismo and parental involvement but it did show a negative association between machismo scores and parental involvement. Ultimately, the study concluded that machismo attitudes may be related to emotional, interpersonal, ands physical distance from children. Caballerismo is a relatively new dimension of machismo for researchers. This new relatively new term makes the study a little more difficult, but overall, the machismo term does not fully describe Latino men.

I thought this article was very interesting and it made me think outside of the negatives society has taught us to look at. As I think back to my own experience with my Hispanic culture, I forget that caballerismo is a dimension of machismo. Because of this,  think that I agree with everything stated in the article. Not all Latino fathers are the same, and although there are negatives to machismo, the complexities of it make it all the more difficult to really describe Latino men and the effects they have on their children. I think that a person who cares about justice on the basis of gender might bring up the question of this specifically can affect Latina young girls; would machismo affect them the same way it does to the boys?

Post #2

The article Mahismo: A cultural Barrier to Learning by Nick Newman, explains exactly what the title describes. But before it gets into the details, it gives the reader the Merriam Webster dictionary definition of the word machismo: “a strong sense of masculine pride; an exaggerated masculinity”. The author even goes on to say that a culture that values machismo has rigid gender roles (Newman). This cultural value is what is putting the Latino males behind educationally. In a data set of Hispanics in the U.S., 61percent of Latino college students were female and there is a difference of 60 percent among Latin male and female bachelor degree attainment. Through percentages like this, the author makes it clear that there is something impeding Latin male educational success. Machismo seems to be one of those impediments.

According to scholars Luis Ponjuan and Victor Saenz, machismo is a sociocultural problem that from a very early age will become a hindrance in the Latinos’ life. The behaviors and rules that are attached to the concept include boys “being strong, tough and independent, showing no emotion”(Newman). As a result, Latin boys do not ask questions in school and view education as a woman’s goal. Many boys also miss opportunities in their education because machismo affects their parents as well and do not become involved in their education. Machismo is so engraved in the Latin culture; it creates family expectations and cultural conflicts early in a Latino’s life.

Although it seems to be so deeply engraved in the culture, scholars Ponjuan and Seanz believe that if we change the status quo to successful Latino males and an awareness of the issue, we can change the future of future Latino male’s lives. By uncapping their intellect, we have a possibility of changing other aspects of life as well.

           I really enjoyed this article because it gave me a different perspective on the effects machismo has on Latin children. As a Latin female, I always noticed the effects machismo had on other Latinas and myself. As I read the article, I thought about my father, brothers, and cousins; I saw many correlations. I also agreed with the fact that the author emphasized that this is not the only barrier in Latin male’s learning and educational success. One thing I personally did not agree with was the author’s idea that education is seen as a female’s goal. From what I have seen in other Latin families, if the opportunity of education is presented, one takes it, no matter if you are male or female, and you go as long as you can. Usually though, if it comes down to sending a son or daughter to school, the son goes because the daughter must stay home and help the mother run the home. It may be my female bias, but this is the typical way I have seen machismo affect children’s education. For this article, I think that any person who cares about justice on the basis of gender may ask how machismo affects the Latin girls. They may also ask what options both girls and boys have if their opportunity for education is diminished; the difference in options may be interesting to see. 

Post #1