For my part, I'd agree that macho is a gender expression. I think that to criticize something as "macho" and then leave it at that, as if an offense were self-evident, is something a lot of people do without taking the criticism any further (which is where the real meat may be). I'm not sure what these people are called, but I sometimes think of them as liberals or time-sucks (they suck up too much of my time, anyway, but that's my fault).
I think that what they sometimes mean, but neglect to say, is that machismo can be used in a way that harms people, and can even be lethal (see, Puerto Rico). But sometimes a lot of things are used that way - not just machismo (though it provides a good example in many contexts, I note).
So the problem, I think, isn't the machismo, but the way that the machismo is sometimes used. It's not the gender expression, but the way that expression sometimes expresses.
Last year and last month, for example, there were spates of killings of ciswomen and transwomen in Puerto Rico. A group of women and supporters of women launched campaigns and protests to help people feel safe coming forward with gender and partner violence before it reached that point. It wasn't clear to me what the protests wanted, but it was still important, I think, that women there had something to say about the killings. One of the slogans used by the government PSA campaigns was "El amor no mata, el machismo si." The protesters used "Cuidado: el machismo mata."
This is a very good question.
ReplyDeleteFor my part, I'd agree that macho is a gender expression. I think that to criticize something as "macho" and then leave it at that, as if an offense were self-evident, is something a lot of people do without taking the criticism any further (which is where the real meat may be). I'm not sure what these people are called, but I sometimes think of them as liberals or time-sucks (they suck up too much of my time, anyway, but that's my fault).
I think that what they sometimes mean, but neglect to say, is that machismo can be used in a way that harms people, and can even be lethal (see, Puerto Rico). But sometimes a lot of things are used that way - not just machismo (though it provides a good example in many contexts, I note).
So the problem, I think, isn't the machismo, but the way that the machismo is sometimes used. It's not the gender expression, but the way that expression sometimes expresses.
Last year and last month, for example, there were spates of killings of ciswomen and transwomen in Puerto Rico. A group of women and supporters of women launched campaigns and protests to help people feel safe coming forward with gender and partner violence before it reached that point. It wasn't clear to me what the protests wanted, but it was still important, I think, that women there had something to say about the killings. One of the slogans used by the government PSA campaigns was "El amor no mata, el machismo si." The protesters used "Cuidado: el machismo mata."
P.S. I'm so sorry about the tree.
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