[ACC25108]

You might want to start off by realizing you have a faulty perception of your own culture based on white stereotypes and racist cliches. Try reading ‘The Meaning of Macho’ written by Matthew Gutman, who is himself a white anthropologist trying to make amends for the enormous damage his profession did to Latinos. ‘Machismo’ was a term invented by white anthropologists in the 1940s. The word and the images it conjures up did not even exist prior to white racists using it to justify their hatred and perceptions of us as inferior. So to say ‘machismo’ is an institution is a huge error which blames the victims, kind of like claiming lynching was ‘a black institution’. Is there sexism among Latin males? Sure, but first show me a culture where that is not also a huge problem. Sexism is not unique to Latin cultures, nor is it worse. In fact it is many ways it is far less, which is why feminists have always had a hard time finding Latina recruits. I’ve never met a submissive Latin woman in my whole life, but I’ve met plenty of Latinas who were POd that whites thought they were. Latin cultures have their own sets of gender constructions such as ‘calle y casa’ (the street and the home). Briefly, women are in charge in the home and men…we are allowed to PRETEND to be in charge in the street or in public. Hardly the picture the stereotype of machismo paints. Latin women have had property rights many decades, sometimes centuries before women in Anglo countries. They’ve also been elected to office, including as the leaders of nations, long before the US or much of Europe. In my opinion, a big problem facing Latinas is to not let the far worse sexism of other cultures worm its way in. For example, much of hip hop culture is encouraging a mindset where males refer to women as bitches, hoes, etc.

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Name : ACC25108, Gender : M, Race : Mexican and American Indian, Age : 37, City : Phoenix, State : AZ, Country : United States, Occupation : Teacher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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