Machismo--Jewelianna

How to eliminate machismo in your Latinx family?

First off, for all my feministas out there endure all the dirty looks your Tias give you no matter what continue being a strong opinionated Latina and continue to speak out.
Starting off, machismo is simply, strong or aggressive masculinity. In retrospect, it isn’t too bad to be around if you’re normalized to this treatment me, on the other hand, I have never dealt with this bull. 

A little background, into the Latinx community and the dynamics between men and women in a traditional Latinx home, is extremely gender-typical. Women take care of the household and children. While men are able to be more flexible in whatever they chose to endure. The difference is men get to choose their fate where women do not. A man can have the option of going out all night and come home to a home-cooked meal. Women, on the other hand, have to endure the pain of begging their mothers to go out, get told no (may I add aggressively), and have to wake up the next day and clean the house. For a Latinx woman, dealing with machismo is enduring subtle sexism your entire life. It can be as subtle as serving your boy cousins before you can eat or being lectured your entire life to be an angle and to maintain your “purity’’(I’m sure you can imagine what this means). Where your brothers, on the other hand, can turn around and party all night without having to even ask and when they come home hungover you have to wake up early to clean and you best believe there will be breakfast ready when they wake up. My entire life I have gotten in trouble for never putting up with this treatment, I always felt out of place and could never understand why my Tias can deal with this treatment. Was I the only one who was seeing these things? I started to think there was something wrong with me, I wondered why my primos never understood my ideas, or why my Tias gave me dirty looks when I said I never wanted to get married, then after a long deliberation with myself I realized I’m perfectly fine they’re the ones who are numb to this subtle sexism. How was I going to teach Latinas like my Tias who are normalized to this treatment that is was wrong and belittling? Latina’s deserves to be treated so much better, so I decided to make a step by step plan to end this toxicity.

Step 1:​ Every once in a while he can cook for himself ​DO NOT ​allow men to enable themselves because you want to accommodate to their every need or feel you have to. I’m sure he can heat up a tortilla as well as you can and make himself a quesadilla every once in a while.

Step 2:​ Teach men what a mop and fabuloso can do, us woman do not have the special power of making the floor sparkly clean with our minds we have to do a little thing called mopping. I know it sounds a little scary at first, but after a bit of practice, you will learn the proper technique of mopping the floors. ​DO NOT​ forget to clean the mop and change out the water periodically.

Step 3:​ Your chonies do not magically just appear folded and clean we wash them and if we can do it so can you! Make sure you separate your clothes by color than wash them on warm or cold with soap and BOOM your underwear and clothes are sparkly clean with a subtle hint of a floral fragrance. Once you open the dryer and feel the warmth of freshly dried clothes you will never feel more complete in your life.

Step 4:​ When you wake up with a sniffly nose and a bit of a headache, breath, ​DO NOT ​panic everything will be okay. You have a little thing called a cold, not a deadly disease, I repeat you ARE NOT ​going to die. There is this magical thing called Vicks and boy let me tell you that this does wonders. I assure you after five minutes of putting Vicks on your chest, feet, and behind your ears, you will be a whole new person and be prepared to take on the day.

Step 5:​ Next time we woman offer to help around the house just remember we do know what a Philip Screw Driver is. Do not look at us as if we don’t speak the man language that is tools let us help, you don’t have to everything by yourself. This might sound a little funny, but maybe teach us how to do things around the house instead of belittling us with your slow explanations.

Step 6: M​ en do not be afraid to feel. What I mean by that is you’re allowed to have emotions and express them do not keep them inside and deem them as unimportant. You are allowed to cry, you’re allowed to be depressed, sad, anxious, and every other emotion that makes us human you are allowed to feel ​DO NOT​ be afraid to express your emotions because you will seam “soft’’.

For my Latinas out there do not allow yourself to endure subtle sexism know your worth and how you should be treated and when you want to discuss these issues do it calmly and subtly. Please do not forget that progressive little change will add up to a monumental difference. To my Latinos respect us woman as an equal even if you do not mean to be a machismo. Make sure you respect yourself as much as you respect woman, remember to love yourself and take some time for yourself do not care if others think you’re “less’’ than a man, only you can determine your worth.