Sexism

Machismo is an attitude or belief in which men believe they are superior to women, it also refers to a set of attitudes, behaviors, beliefs and social practices designed to promote the exaltation and prevalence of the man to the detriment of the woman.

The coronation of the virtuous hero of Peter Paul Rubens

Some critics also consider discrimination against other social groups, as in the case of homosexual men, as machismo, as not "masculine". of learned sexist attitudes and practices carried out in favor of maintaining social orders in which women are subjected or discriminated against".

Concept

This is a set of practices, behaviors and sayings that are offensive against the female sex or that try to mark a superiority of men over women in various areas of life.

According to the Feminist Ideological Dictionary, machismo is "the set of laws, norms, attitudes and sociocultural traits of man whose purpose, explicit and/or implicit, has been and is to produce, maintain and perpetuate the oppression and submission of women at all levels: sexual, procreative, labor and affective". The same text indicates that the concept is used as a synonym for "sexism", although that of "machismo" it lasts above all in colloquial language and in protests, graffiti, banners and stickers on the streets.

The etymology of the word macho in Spanish comes from the Latin "mascŭlus", which is applied to refer to the male specimen of various species. In the Nahuatl language, the expression 'macho' It can refer to exemplary, that is, worthy of being imitated.

Variants

Some variants of the macho ideology are family (patriarchal family structures, that is, male domination), sexual (promotion of the inferiority of female sexuality as a passive subject or denial of female desire), economic (underestimation of work activity, second-rate workers), legislative (non-representation of women in the laws and therefore, non-legitimization of their status as citizens, laws that do not promote the protection of women or their needs), intellectual (inferiority in intelligence, in mathematical capacity, objective capacity, logic, analysis and treated as cunning, evil, subjective, low IQ), anatomical (little importance of childbirth, little role in biological reproduction), linguistic (non-representation of women in the language), historical (concealment of important women in the history of humanity), cultural (representation of women in the media). nication as a body making herself an object instead of a human being, spectacle), academic (little importance to gender studies, non-recognition of the importance of the feminist headdress), etc.

Macho attitudes in different fields

Mural criticizing Machista violence

Discriminatory laws against women

• Difference of treatment in the case of adultery: in some laws and cultures, adultery or pre-marriage pregnancy are — or have been — punished with capital punishment, with imprisonment, pecuniary or infamous. In England at the end of the centuryXVII and the centuryXVIIIIt has been documented that the adulterous woman—never the male—was humiliated by a ram's loins in order to recover her inheritance rights, forced to recite in public formulas like "here I am, loins of a black ram, like the bitch I am."
• The need for the male ' s permission to carry out economic or administrative activities, or for the full exercise of civil rights.

Macho education

Carried out from the schools and the family itself, by which the enculturation process tries to justify and continue the existing social order. This includes considering submission to the husband, marriage, and procreation as a preferred form of self-realization as positive values. In macho societies, girls and young women have traditionally been indoctrinated to limit their sphere of action to domestic life, directing their education towards activities such as embroidering, cleaning, cooking or caring for children. Even the movements for women's emancipation XX century, universities and science academies did not admit women. It was not until the second half of the century that women were allowed to wear pants in public places.

Discrimination in Ancient Greece

The archaic poet Hesiod already narrates that Zeus, in revenge for having been deceived by the Titan Prometheus, punished the human race by creating the first woman, Pandora. It was precisely she, according to this myth, who was responsible for introducing all evil into the world, by opening an amphora or box.

An example of the conventional treatment given to women in classical Athens is given by Plato in his dialogue Meno, when he says: «If you want, instead, the virtue of women, it is not difficult to answer that it is necessary for her to manage the house well, preserving what is inside and being obedient to her husband". Faced with Socrates, prototype of the sensible man, who faces his last moments of life with joy and stoicism, Plato contrasts the figure of his wife Xantippe, of whom he speaks in the dialogue Phaedo saying that: «So, as soon as Xantippe saw us, she began to scream, as women usually do: & #34;Ah, Socrates, for the last time your friends will speak to you and you to them!" At that point Socrates, looking at Crito, said: "Crito, someone take her home."

Discrimination in the Jewish or Christian religious sphere

It has been pointed out that the Bible contains expressions considered sexist, some examples:

• Don't fuck your neighbor's wife. Do not eat the house of your neighbor or his land, either.
• Don't eat your neighbor's house. Do not eat the wife of your neighbor, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his donkey.

Another fact is naming the women as "Noah's wife", "Lot's daughters", < i>"Pedro's mother-in-law", accented not to mention their proper name; However, this is far from constituting a general rule since there are books of the Bible that have the name of a woman, such as Rut or Esther, and important characters from the Old and New Testaments whose names are recorded in the same Bible; as are Naomi in the old testament or Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, in the new testament.

We can find multiple quotes about machismo in the New Testament. Quotes like 1 Corinthians 11: 1-16, where it is mentioned that the woman had to cover her head when praying, unlike the man. We can also observe in 1 Timothy 2:11-12 where women are subdued by saying that "The woman must learn with serenity, with all submission. I do not allow the woman to teach the man and exercise authority over him; she must remain even-tempered. & # 34;.

Discrimination in the Catholic religion

Machismo has been influenced and supported by many different factors. Examples can be found in the Bible, when the serpent, the woman and the man are punished, which show how women must be submissive to their husbands: “Then he said to the woman: I will make the pain of your pregnancy more acute, and in pain you will give birth. And you will want to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:14-19). The man-is-stronger, money-maker, and protector ideologies support the mindset that wives should listen to their husbands.

Various authorities and Catholic theologians also stand out for favoring this discrimination, as Saint Thomas Aquinas writes: “The creation of women was necessary, as Scripture says, to help men, not in any work whatsoever, as some maintained, since for other works other men could help him better, except to help him in generation. Considered in relation to particular nature, woman is something imperfect and occasional."

But in general, in the Catholic Church the female body has been considered sinful; Only if the woman renounces her body is she recognized as a creature of the Lord and not as an instrument of evil. As a virgin, as a wife, as a mother, the woman loses her bodily and human characteristics, she is exalted not as a person with the same needs and dignity as the man, but as a symbol. As a virgin she is the neutral symbol of purity; as wife that of subordination; like mother the one of the abnegation and the sacrifice. In Christianity, only as a servant of God or of man can a woman aspire to sanctification.

It is told by Isabel Gómez-Acebo, theologian and feminist. Despite the fact that feminism and the role of women in the Church were on the table at the time of the Second Vatican Council, "it was very difficult to change mentalities." To begin with, only ten women religious and thirteen lay women were summoned, "without a voice or, of course, a vote" and only for the third conciliar session. Many cardinals had raised a cry to heaven by their mere presence. Gómez-Acebo gives this example: before the protests of many bishops, who refused to sit next to the women, the organization had to set up a cafeteria just for them.

Discrimination in the Islamic religion

The Islamic religion is usually associated as especially sexist, especially due to the laws and habits of peoples with an Islamic majority, in addition to the fact that in various sacred books reference is made to the behavior that a man should have with a woman in various situations. aspects of life, for example in Sura 4: Women. Although in many of these writings it is clearly specified that the woman is free to decide and the man should not be offended by it, Most of the texts speak of the duties and rights that a man has over women, as an example, the clear discrimination when it comes to receiving inheritances in the case of being a woman, in this case a woman being considered half of a man. or as the fact that a man is allowed to marry several women but not vice versa.

Discrimination in the Buddhist religion

Buddhism has been criticized for its treatment of women, especially female monks, as inferior to men. Most schools of Buddhism have more rules for bhikkhuni (nuns) than bhikkhu (monks). The Buddhists explain that at the time of the Buddha, the nuns had problems such as the security of whether they were going to be ordained in the same way as the monks who traveled through the forest and between the cities. Therefore, there are more rules to be a nun, for example: nuns are prohibited from traveling alone.

Discrimination in the Hindu religion

In Hinduism, machismo is evidenced in its sacred writings the disadvantaged position of women. In Hinduism, women are ritually inferior, this is added to the traditions of Hindu families in which daughters, when they marry, the father must pay a dowry, and many times this payment impoverishes the family, which makes women as unwanted. This type of tradition means that in some regions it is possible to "buy" to a woman to marry them and the price is in some cases less than that of a cow.

Sexist division of labor

Sexist division of labor, whereby other men are preferred in decision-making positions. Originally, the gender division was based on the different physical and muscular capacity, in which men had a comparative advantage. On the other hand, in today's society, physical strength lost importance, while intellectual abilities and social skills gained importance, which has contributed to the incorporation of many women into salaried work. The gender wage gap is part of the division sexist at work.

The media

The media and sexist advertising, when carrying out certain behaviors or models as being the most appropriate or typical of women.

Additional bibliography

• Castañeda, M. (2007). 'Invisible machismo returns.' Mexico: Taurus.
• Rodríguez Saavedra, D. (2010). 'Masculinity(s): modes of manifesting power.' Dialogue. University of Puerto Rico.