2. A history of manhood “must…recount
two histories: the history of the
changing “ideal” version of masculinity
and the parallel and competing
versions that coexist with it.”
- Michael S. Kimmel, Manhood in America: A Cultural History
3. Meet Rafael L. Ramirez
• 1935-2009?
• Professor of Anthropology (Ret.)
• Senior Researcher at the HIV/AIDS Research
and Education Center of the University of
Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
4. How Would You Define Machismo?
• “Term popularized in the • Ramirez’s Definition:
social literature of the • Associated with beings
fifties and sixties and was categorized as “aggressive,
initially presented as a oppressive, narcissistic, insecure,
Latin American loudmouthed, womanizers,
phenomenon in its massive drinkers, persons who
crudest form in the have uncontrollable sexual
peasant and working prowess, and …(don’t-stop-‘til-
classes” (Ramirez 7) you-drop partiers)” (Ramirez 7)
• How would you define • “Some say a set of attitudes and
machismo based on our others a configuration of traits,
past readings, videos, and even a syndrome at times”
discussions in class? (Ramirez 8)
Machismo
5. Initial Approaches
• Bermudez “defines machismo as a typical case of
unconscious compensation against feminist
tendencies hidden in the Mexican man” (Ramirez 8)
• Judith Butler’s (1990) notion of performed gender
roles:
– “It is only by exaggerating the difference between…male
and female…that a semblance of order is created”
(Butler 167)
6. Discussion
• Why would it be such a bad thing to exhibit
feminine traits?
• Why do we see this “straying/distancing from
femininity” when dealing with Latin Culture
and machismo?
7. Initial Approaches (Cont.)
• Stycos and successors “*perceive+ machismo as an
intrapsychic phenomenon dissociate from its
sociohistoric roots” (Ramirez 8)
– 39.2% of asked men associated virility and sexuality with
being a complete man. (Ramirez 9)
• In later research, Puerto Rican men were found to
be associated more with being “authoritarian,
dominant, and distant” (Hill, Stycos, and Back 375)
8. Discussion
• Is there a psychological, or even biological,
basis for the development of masculinity, and
machismo in particular?
– Nature vs. Nurture, Freudian Theories, Genetics
9. Emphasis on Sexuality and Virility
• Return to emphasis on virility and sexuality,
highlighted within focuses on the individual and
“destructive aspects” of machismo in the context of
sociocultural perspectives focusing more on “social,
economic, and historical factors” (Ramirez 11f.)
• “*L]iterature on machismo is essentially descriptive,
uncritical, and repetitive” (Ramirez 11)
10. Later Studies
• Mejia Ricart’s 20 aspects of Machismo
• Sexual: sexual potency, Don Juanismo,
Parranderismo, Masculine exhibitionism, Coprolalia,
Cult of Virginity, sexual repression of women, taboo
on sexual subjects, fertility, and procreation of male
offspring
• Individual Vs. Society: stereotyping male superiority,
emotional rigidity, generational distancing,
independence, aggressiveness, power hunger,
physical strength, personal courage, honor, and
extravagance
11. Later Studies (Cont.)
• Isabel Pico asserts “‘machismo’ to be the set of
attitudes, beliefs, and behavior that results from
belief in the superiority of one sex over the other”
(v)
12. Discussion
• Is machismo inherently a sexist
idea/performance or connected to sexism?
• Are there any reversals of
stereotypical/hegemonic gender roles in
Down These Mean Streets? Would and how
does this dynamic work? Are their examples of
complicated language in the book that are
connected to sex/gender?
– Female masculinities or submissive men
13. Ramirez’s Counter Argument
• Pico “does not elaborate on the assertion that
machismo is a cultural phenomenon…does not
discuss the economic conditions that …give rise to
machismo…*and+ asserts that machismo is
equivalent to sexism” (19)
• Machismo is a gender classification/ideal whereas
sexism is an ideology linked to the biological fact of
sex.
14. Later Studies (Cont.)
• Victor De la Cancela attempts to “discover the
interactive, interconnected, and contradictory
aspects of machismo given a specific socio-historical
context” (De la Cancela 77)
• De la Cancela recorded 4 trends:
– Positive and negative aspects of being a man
– Paternity and familial figure
– Contrast with Anglo values
– Contrast between Puerto Rican understanding of
machismo and the conventional social understanding
(Ramirez 21f.)
15. Discussion
• Which of these four traits are demonstrated
amongst the male characters of Down These
Mean Streets, particularly Piri and his father?
• Which of these approaches and studies to
understanding masculinities do you agree with
most or see as the most useful?
16. Machismo and Masculinities
• Machismo is a reductive and insufficient blanket
term for Latino masculinity.
• Machismo is both too descriptive as well as not
complex enough to incorporate all the complexities
of various masculinities.
17. Complex Masculinity
• “To understand that which we call ‘masculinity,’ we
should approach this study from the perspective of
the human species’ cultural diversity” (Ramirez 27)
• Many complexities of studying masculinities arise
from the different manner in which cultures ascribe
gendered meanings and understandings to relative
norms
18. Concluding Discussion
• How does this complexity of understanding relative
masculinities apply to machismo?
– In Down These Mean Streets is there a misunderstanding
by non-Latinos of machismo?
• Do we see examples of this in our own or other
cultures?
19. Works Cited
• Butler, Judith. Gender Troubles: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity. New York:Routledge, 1990.
Web. 19Febuary 2013.
• Kimmel, Michael S. Manhood in America: A
Cultural History. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP.
2012. Print.
• Ramirez, Rafael L. What It Means to Be a Man:
Reflections on Puerto Rican Masculinity. Trans.
Rosa E. Casper. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP,
1999. Print
