Differences

In cultures and races there's always different beliefs and ways of doing things. Coming from a mexican background i have learned many things from culture practices, rituals and how individuals partners are chosen for them, including roles they will have in that relationship. What i mean by roles is for example the woman stay at home to take care of the household in which includes cleaning, cooking and taking care of the kids, on the other hand the men go to work to earn money to put a roof over the family's head and feed them. This idea has been passed down from one generation to another still in practice today. This idea is called machismo.

Machismo dictates certain behavioral expectations for members of a community, also there is a strong emphasis on family and community that interacts with the couple's expectations and decision-making while reinforcing the importance of cultural and societal norms. In Mexican culture places a high value on manliness. A salient feature of the society is a sharp delimitation between the roles played by males and females. In general, men are expected to be dominant and independent and females to be submissive and dependent. This can be thought as baskeball team, every individual plays their role in the team and is only in charge of that role. If the player doesn't play his role then there will be consequences, which in many cases aren't good. To furthermore machismo is as much about power relationships among men as it is about establishing the dominance of men over women. It is not exclusively or primarily a means of structuring power relations between men and women. It is a means of structuring power among men. Like drinking, gambling, risk taking, asserting one's opinions, and fighting. In other words machismo not only takes place in a man and woman relationship but with other men as well, by going out there and telling them you run things around here. This can happen with a guy friend or a man you just meet on the street. This machismo kinda describes a group of lions and their roles. In the group they know who's the main lion in charge, who not to mess with and what boundaries they should stay in.

I first came to learn about this “machismo” idea when i was about ten years old, my dad wasn't around as he left when i was just one, but my step dad still taught me things a father teaches his son. He taught me that i'm better than anyone and i should always set the rules in anything i do, also that when i grow up i will be the man of the house. My step dad is from guatemala and he would travel once a year to visit his family, but before he left he would give my brother and I a speech that while he was gone we were to take care of my mom and sister. So as you can see this seed was planted in our heads at a young age that since we were males we had certain roles the woman didn't have. In addition another way i found out what it meant is that my mom stays home to cook, clean and to take care of us while my dad went to work. When i would sit down to ask her “mom why don't you go to work like my tata (step dad)” and that’s when she told me “ the reason i don't go to work is because we are old school, we are doing what our parents did which was my dad would go to the campo to work and my mom would stay home and do what