Mexican Machismo: Politics and Value Orientations
| Author | Evelyn P. Stevens |
| Published date | 01 December 1965 |
| Date | 01 December 1965 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296501800409 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
848
MEXICAN
MACHISMO:
POLITICS
AND
VALUE
ORIENTATIONS
EVELYN
P. STEVENS
University
of
California,
Berkeley
&dquo;What
is
the
strongest
and
most
intimate
wish
of
the
Mexican?
He
would
like
to be
a
man
who
predominates
over
all
others
in
courage
and
~ozx~er ...
he
tries
to
fill
a
vacuum
with
the
only
value
within
his
reach:
that
of
his
maleness.&dquo;
1
HIS
IS
ONE
of
the
most
explicit
statements
to
be
found
concerning
a
wide-
~
spread
phenomenon
which
appears
under
many
guises
in
the
personality
sys-
tems
and
social
systems
of
Latin
American
countries.
To
the
Latin
Americans
themselves,
this
phenomenon
is
known
as
machismo;
it
is
all
about
them
and
is
as
familiar
as
the
air
they
breathe.
Foreign
observers
call
it
&dquo;the
cult
of
virility,&dquo;
and
almost
anyone
who
has
lived
for
some
time
in
Latin
America
includes
its
many
manifestations
in
a
list
of
distinguishing
characteristics
of
the
region.
Passing
mention
has
been
made
of
the
subject
by
some
investigators,2
but
a
search
of
social
science
literature
fails
to
reveal
a
full-scale
treatment
of
it.
One
of
the
most
recently
published
books
in
English
has
this
to
say:
&dquo;...
considerable
emphasis
is
placed
by
most
observers
on
the
role
of
machismo
in
the
Mexican
culture.
Described
in
different
ways
by
different
writers,
the
concept
almost
invariably
projects
the
picture
of
the
aggressive
male
protagonist,
alone
and
withdrawn -
constantly
preoccupied
with
the
image
he
is
conveying,
constantly
concerned
to
create
the
impression
of
masculinity
and
courage,
invulnerability
and
indifference
to
the
attacks
of
others.&dquo;
3
Ramos
notes
that
Mexicans
equate
virility
with
exaggerated
aggressiveness
and
with
intransigence.
Faced
with
a
threat,
a
Mexican
male
will
often
react
by
shout-
ing,
&dquo;I
am
a
macho&dquo;
(gesticulating
toward
his
external
genitalia),
and
will
impute
feminine
characteristics
to
his
adversary.
Mexican
novels
and
films
abound
in
refer-
ences
to
machismo;
most
notably
in
the
latter
category,
El
Sietemachos
and
Animas
Trujano
come
to
mind.
Octavio
Paz’s
The
Labyrinth
of
f Solitude
(New
York:
Grove
Press,
1962)
is
a
powerful
literary
treatment
of
the
same
theme.
In
an
attempt
to
get
&dquo;some
feeling
for
the
Mexican
ethos,&dquo;
one
investigator
recently
undertook
a
small-scale
survey
and
concluded
that
the
salient
&dquo;hero
type&dquo;
is
&dquo;a
man
who
is
muy
macho
(strong,
virile,
valiente,
stubborn,
fuerte)
...
described
NOTE:
I
am
indebted
to
Drs.
David
Apter
(Political
Science),
May
N.
Díaz
(Anthropology)
and
Carlos
Fernández
(Psychiatry)
for
fruitful
discussions
which
clarified
many
points
in
this
article.
1
Samuel
Ramos,
El
perfil
del
hombre
y
la
cultura
en
México
(Buenos
Aires,
1951),
pp.
55-61.
2
See,
for
example,
Oscar
Lewis,
Five
Families
(New
York:
Basic
Books,
1959,
and
J.
Mayone
Stycos,
Family
and
Fertility
in
Puerto
Rico:
A
Study
of
the
Lower
Income
Group
(New
York:
Columbia
U.
Press,
1955),
pp. 19,
34-35,
42-44,
and
105.
3
Raymond
Vernon,
The
Dilemma
of
Mexico’s
Development
(Cambridge:
Harvard
U.
Press,
1963), p. 159.
To continue reading
Request your trial