http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21661800-latin-american-women-are-making-great-strides-culture-not-keeping-up-wonder-women-and

This week’s reading had me searching for articles or video clips that respond to this notion of how successful women are shaking up machismo in the Latin community. While, I came out successful in my search and found an article titled “Wonder women and macho men” in an Argentinian magazine titled The Economist. This magazine article discusses how, although women have been great making progress towards equality with men, social attitudes towards women are not changing for the better. As women rise to the top, society keeps trying to drag them down. For example, the article opens up with a description of a caricature of Argentina’s female president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is seen in a tabloid news magazine titled, Noticias, showing the president “in mid-orgasm, her head thrown back, her mouth open.“ This caricature highlights how women’s accomplishments and ambitions are often belittled by society, causing hostility towards them. The reason for this is because these thriving women are challenging machismo, masculinity, and patriarchy since having women in politics and positions of power emasculates men in many ways.

The Economist’s article relates to Pablo Martinez’s “Masculinity Reconfigured: Shaking up Gender in Latino/a Literature” article since Martinez delves on the fact that the women presented in the novels he discusses are able to defy machsimo when they find success in the U.S. Both articles highlights how Latina women are achieving the same or more than men, no matter thr backlash. Although I think it will be a while until the Latin culture fully appreciates the achievements of their women, at least women are putting up a fight against machismo.

http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/11/how-challenge-machismo/

I came across this wonderful article, and would love to share with you all. As I read this article it reminded me of this week’s reading by Pablo Martinez, “Masculinity Reconfigured: Shaking up Gender in Latino/a Literature.  This article is titled 5 Ways Latinas Can Challenge Machismo in our Families and Communities. Martinez wrote about how machismo was being challenges in the United States, because women seem to hold more power that back home. In this article Jennifer Loubriel teaches Latina women how to challenge machismo in five steps. Loubriel believes that machismo is dangerous, because it teaches that the only way you can be a leader is if you are a man, but not just any men. A leader is a strong, demanding, strict and dominant. So how do we challenge machismo? First we must start engaging with our families, stop expecting your mother to baby you, stop expecting everyone else to defer to you, start speaking up to other Latinas, and be willing to maintain conversations with the folks in your life- even when they don’t immediately get it.

I have attached an article for this weeks reading titled Shifting Identity: Process and Change in Identity of Aging Mexican-American Males. This article highlights issues among men and women and the changing dynamics of masculinity. It explains how the importance of machismo is fading because of the american culture and the role a wife plays in this new culture.

Click the word below to acces the article.

identity

Masculinity and patriarchy are known to be practiced by men. They use these ideologies to control women and remain ‘superior’ in our hierarchal society. The most dangerous part of these dominant beliefs is how women begin to internalize them towards themselves, their children, and other community members. When Latina/o women have been surrounded by controlling men for most of their lives, they carry the idea that their way of living is part of keeping their cultural values alive. They begin to teach their daughters that in order to be a considered a ‘good woman’ she has to watch over the men in the family and take care of their needs before she is able to acknowledge her own. In the dissertation “A Grounded Theory Approach to Exploring the Impact of Machismo on Second-Generation Latina Women’s Identity Formation,” author Marilyn Valenciano explores the way society and culture contribute to the mental development of Latina women. Valenciano goes on to quote Dr. Abalos: “Machismo is a sacred story that can and does possess us and takes us over even when we rebel against it, the rebellion still dominates our consciousness and thereby prevents us from creating an alternative transforming self that is both feminine and masculine”(9). In other words, Valenciano tries to explain how the lives of Latina women revolve around either surviving the machismo in their culture or trying to combat it. Latina women also tend to  be torn from being ‘respectful’ to their culture by obeying and being submissive to men and trying to be independent by breaking the detrimental cycle. The most difficult part of being around machismo is not letting it be internalized and in the novel The Rain God, it can be seen how Nina tries to express her spirituality to her family and both the men and women either ignore her or deem her as crazy. She tries her best to not let it get to her but the reader can sense the solitude she feels from time to time by being treated as an outcast by her family.

No matter how difficult it may be, women within the Latina/o culture need to come together and combat the patriarchy in their people together; as one united force, anything can be accomplished. Tearing each other down and perpetuating this idea of a submissive ‘good woman’ will only cause each other more harm…passing down this behavior only gives power to men and that needs to end. No healthy tradition or culture would allow someone to feel as though their existence is not enough for the world. Listen to your fellow mujeres without judgment. Watch over them. Defend them. Accept them. Hug them. Love them. We are all we’ve got. It may be difficult, but we are strong enough to fight off beliefs that are trying to control us.

http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=edissertations_sp2

This week we started to read another short fiction novel, The Rain God by Arturo Islas, which similar to So Far From God, is centered on relationships in “La Familia.” Some of the themes include masculinity and sexuality, something Rodriguez focused on in his work. In some ways, as Dr. Perez noted, the novel could be perceived as a medium used to, critique masculinity, the problem that many LBGTQ activist had with Chicano nationalism. Upon reading Padilla’s article, I chose an article called “Multicultriasm Inclusion of Lesbian and Gay literature in Elementary classrooms, which I believe Islas, would have appreciated if he was still alive. The purpose of the article is to raise awareness about establishing new methods to integrate LBGTQ literature in elementary classrooms. In doing so, authors Logan, et. el believe that schools will provide spaces for the queer community offering a multicultural and diverse learning experience which embraces all people no matter what gender and sexuality they are. In short, the authors similar to Islas want to provide spaces for Queer literature in schools. In the Padilla article, we see how she pays homage to Arturo Islas by revealing the painful discrimination he faced due to the themes he wrote about. Padilla, in her article, talks about how long it took for Islas work to get published. Since some of his work was centered on Queerness, sadly people wanted no part in publishing his literary work. This demonstrates how pervasive homophobia is in our society. It shows how Islas work, because it disrupted the hegemonic ideals associated with gender and sexuality, was not worthy enough of being recognized. With this being said, I like the article that I chose, as it talks about leveling the playing field when it comes to Queer literature-removing the stigma and homophobia, taking on multicultural policies in schools that contribute to leveling the playing field.

Logan, S. R., Watson, D. C., Hood, Y., & Lasswell, T. A. (2016). Multicultural Inclusion of Lesbian and Gay Literature Themes in Elementary Classrooms. Equity & Excellence in Education, 49(3), 380-393.doi:10.1080/10665684.2016.1194239

In the Chicana/o or Mexican culture patriarchy/machismo is represented among most Chicano males in the community. At a young age, men are told and taught that they must be strong and not be sensitive. As are result, most Chicanos develop machismo ideologies since they influence to be the dominant gender. Men are to represent masculinity, and when they don’t there sexuality is brought into question. Chicano families are gender structured that they set specific roles for males to follow. In the novel, “The Rain God” author Arturo Islas tells the story of a Mexican family living in the Mexican borders. Throughout the characters, they demonstrate the structure of a family that live in patriarchal home. For example, the character of Miguel Chico at a young age was taught about gender structures at a young age after his father did not allow him to play with dolls with Maria. His father Miguel Grande teaches Miguel Chico that men are not mean to be weak or emotional. Miguel Grande demonstrates the idea of what a macho male is suppose to be in a family by illustrates the roles how males are supposed to follow in the way they act or how they portray their masculinity to society.

Furthermore, in the article, “Hegemonic Masculinity in Boys Don’t Cry (1999)” writer Renee S. Grozelle discusses how at a young age boys are exposed to negative characteristic associated with masculinity. Teaching young men about how to be masculine can develop violence and aggression within men. Grozelle states, how “negative impacts that hegemonic masculinity has on constructions of gender and sexuality” that challenge male dominance (Grozell). I thought it was interesting to see how Grozelle the masculinity roles of men by giving an example of the film Boys Don’t Cry which describes the notion of masculinity in young males while trying to address issues with the main characters Brandon Teena gender and sexuality problem he encounters for not being “masculine” enough. The film demonstrates how the character has to deal with “dominant masculine ideologies “ for not fitting into the social norms of having to be a straight male. What stood out to me was when Grozell mentions, “ideologies of ‘masculinity’ held by the characters in the film are embedded in the social structure of society.” Males are expected to be masculine because they are set to be strong mentally and physically, if they do not show their masculinity men are often devalued and mistreated like Brandon’s character because they non-masculine individual challenge patriarchal social norms. Therefore, Islas character of Miguel Chico is taught to not be weak because it is not accepted within the Chicano culture. Males in Chicano culture are expected to be masculine and if they not show, they are challenging the dominant discourse.

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/869/hegemonic-masculinity-in-boys-dont-cry-1999

http://time.com/4339209/masculinity-crisis/

In the novel The Rain God by Arturo Islas there is a strong sense of masculinity. We are demonstrated how a man has certain things he should do. For example, Miguel Grande is the “macho”, and he portrays that men are guiltless womanizers. “Miguel Grande would scold Maria for allowing his son to play with dolls”(Pg. 15). In this quote we see how a man should not be doing things that are for “women” because if they do they are not seen as masculine anymore.In the article I have chosen to make the connection with the theme masculinity. To be a real man was to be strong, to be a provider, to be in authority, to be the ultimate decision maker, and to be economically, educationally, physically, and politically dominant. However, Jack Myers states that women today are escalating and changing that dynamic. Also to forget about what society has constructed of “men will be men”, and “boys will be boys”. Instead men should have no tolerance for what men have constructed which is sexism and misogyny. Jack Myers argues that patriarchy can be discarded if men become aware, and welcome gender-equality to society. As he states “The future of men is women”. He then lays out ways in which one can become more inclusive of women roles.

“The Rain God” by Arturo Islas brings up the notion of gender roles through the character of Miguel Chico. Miguel is seen as an outsider because he is not married. We see gender roles when they talk about how he was not allowed to play with dolls because his father wanted him to grow up to be a man. While searching online for topics relating to gender roles, I found the Article “JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT’S PORN ADDICTION FLICK “DON JON” CHALLENGES GENDER ROLES” by Kerensa Cadenas. This article discusses the film Don Jon and how it showcases gender roles. In the film Don is seen as a macho man who works out all day and picks up on girls all night. After falling in love, his girlfriend starts disapproving of his lifestyle, in one scene she gets angry with him when he tries to buy cleaning products for his home, stating that it was embarrassing for a man to be cleaning his own home. The article and film both gone on to discussing how gender roles prevent us from really connecting with others on an individual level.

https://bitchmedia.org/post/review-don-jon-directed-joseph-gordon-levitt-feminist-porn-addiction

http://www.latimes.com/brandpublishing/healthplus/la-ss-innovations-holistic-dto-story.html

There are many things that strike me as important to the understanding of the Chicana/o family structure within the book “So Far from God” by Ana Castillo. One important aspect is the use of non western medicine and the focus on holistic healing. The La Times article by Mikaela Conley touches on this idea of holistic healing. I think it is important to emphasize that for too long our Chicana/o history of healing has been viewed by the dominate culture as witchery and hokum. The truth is that our medicine is, in a lot of ways, more traditional than western medicine, as our healing cures are passed down from generation to generation. I think it is amazing a beautiful that I can step out into my yard and find easy remedies that works illnesses ranging from a cough, to migraines. Above I posted a collage of just a few plants that are around my house that are what I consider to be intelligent design. There is a lot of thought that gets put into our houses and one key component is what plants are available in our gardens as Chicana/os. My family has a wide range of beautiful yet purposeful plants. In my family we have truly mastered the art of gardening by focusing on plants that are sustainable, convenient, and improve our lives. In the book, we see how Caridad really hones in this desire to know about Dona Felicia’s traditional medicine and how they both approach healing as a need address the physical as well as the spiritual. In my life as a Chicana I cannot count the times that I turned to traditional cures to alleviate my illnesses.  It is empowering to name it for what it is, traditional medicine, and slowly undo the damage of eurocentric beliefs that Western medicine is superior.

Listening and reading Ana Castillo, So Far From God, I was in shock. The first page was about Sofi, and witnessing her baby pass away. I thought to myself where was Sofi’s husband? As I read along, readers knew that her husband had left. Reading that made me think, How many Latino families are divorced. It’s a “Latino custom” (if traditional) to get married and have kids, and divorce is no option. Which can lead many men and women, like Domingo to “step-out” of a family. According to National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, the rate of Latinos who are married with kids is 66%. Divorce rate for men was 6% and for women it is 9%. This data can be connected with the traditional values some Latinos carry in sticking with the person you marry, no matter what. So for Sofi, to be in a church with her baby in a coffin with no husband, it’s frowned upon. I admire Sofi for continuing her life, raising her kids without her husband. She many not be “traditional”, but was the bigger person for not leaving her marriage and kids, for a addiction.

http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/research-and-policy/marriage-facts/culture/hispanics-and-latinos/index.aspx