The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City

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University of California Press, Sep 16, 2006 - Social Science - 332 pages
In this compelling and readable study of machismo in one of Latin America's most populous cities, Matthew Gutmann overturns many stereotypes of male culture in Mexico. In their place he offers a sensitive, wide-ranging, often surprising look at how Mexican men see themselves, parent their children, relate to women, socialize among themselves, and talk about sex in their daily lives. Gutmann finds that men and women are responding to sweeping social forces in Mexico, just as they are in the United States, with women often initiating changes in male attitudes and behaviors. The Meanings of Macho takes the reader into Santo Domingo, Mexico City, the working-class neighborhood where Gutmann and his family lived. Exploring women's conceptions about men as well as men's ideas about themselves, Gutmann uncovers intriguing, complicated sexual politics among friends and informants. He discovers that, against stereotype, many men's nuanced, complicated sense of sexual identity encompasses considerable child care responsibilities and recognition of a newfound female autonomy. He also considers the kinds of homosocial space men are afforded in their culture, how violence against women plays itself out in this community, and the role of alcohol in male socializing.
 

Contents

Real Mexican Machos Are Born to Die
11
The Invasion of Santo Domingo
33
Imaginary Fathers Genuine Fathers
50
Motherly Presumptions and Presumptuous Mothers
89
Mens Sex
111
Diapers and Dishes Words and Deeds
146
Degendering Alcohol
173
Fear and Loathing in Male Violence
196
Machismo
221
Creative Contradictions
243
Notes
265
Glossary
291
Bibliography
295
Index
325
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About the author (2006)

Matthew Gutmann is Professor of Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, and Latin American Studies at Brown University and is the author of The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City (Tenth Anniversary edition, 2006) and The Romance of Democracy: Compliant Defiance in Contemporary Mexico (2002), both from UC Press.

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