Hay Que Compartir
Latin communities have become a huge part of American Culture; they’ve influenced others with their music, with food, close knit families, with their culture and with their strength. Latinos however, have also assimilated into mainstream American society and these influences have resulted in drastic changes within the Male-Female roles of Chicanos today. Since before the Mexican American war (1846-48), Mexicanos have been part of America. Often discriminated against, they’ve risen to high political status, and have been leaders of social revolutions. Since then the Chicanos have changed from a mostly male dominant society to a more egalitarian one.
Latin men are notoriously stereotyped as macho. Often the media paints a distorted picture of our men. They are portrayed as abusive wanderers, lazy, arrogant and more often than not, horribly drunk. While this may be an accurate depiction of some Chicano men it is dramatically exaggerated; this image hurts the men who do not fit the stereotype. As mentioned in The Meaning of Macho, “The ideology of the macho mexicano is very closed. He doesn’t think about what might happen later, but mainly focuses on the present, on satisfaction, on pleasure on desire.” (Gutmann 220) Or, as characterized here, “Because the Chicano has been unable to protect his people, (brothers, women, and children) from the violent conquest of his nation, he has developed a strong sense of masculinity as a compensation for his feelings of powerlessness” (Chicana Theory). Their women of course, are characterized as their antithesis: submissive, obedient housewives who never interfere or ask questions while allowing the Father to be the disciplinary figure and she the nurturer. Children then learn to fear their Father and although they love their Mothers they often grow to resent them for not stepping in on their defense.
Although this is still the ideology for some, it has become less and...