Machismo in a Working Class Mexican City in the US

Jason Y writes:

Not all Mexican guys are macho, and not all Mexican women are knockouts, these will go out with each other. I’ve seen no evidence these Latin nations are full of macho guys. Just as anywhere else, the majority are average, not gay but average.

I am wondering if the commenter lives with Mexicans. I live with Mexicans. All Mexican men are machos, 10 As far as the Chicanos, around here, the men are 10 With the White guys, not so much, but still a lot of them are pretty hard. We also have some Blacks around here, and they are all machos too, regular tough sort of ghetto or Blacks deep into “Black culture.” I think in ghetto or traditional Black culture, all the men have to be pretty macho. It seems like there’s no other way to be. Once you get outside the ghetto or traditional Black culture, Black men can start to vary more. There are some Arabs who run the local store and they are all badass, hard, macho guys too. The Arabs accept me, the Chicanos not so much, but some of them do. The Mexicans maybe, but you can’t really talk to them, as they don’t speak English, and they keep to themselves. Some of the Blacks accept me, but the ones around here are mostly lousy people who you don’t want to know anyway. With the rest of the Chicanos, I would say that most of them are machos but not all. Once you get to the 3rd generation, you do start seeing some variability that way, but you are never really sure if those men are full Chicanos or only part. Once you get to 3rd generation, you start to see a lot more assimilation, as the Chicanos also started getting mixed in with Whites, especially Med Whites like Italians. You also start seeing Filipino-Chicano mixes and other more exotic types. This area is poor, and the only way for a man to act around here is to be a macho. In poor and working class neighborhoods, all the men are rather tough and hard. There’s really no other way to be. I assume that most all the men around here have conformed to this behavior pattern because this is how you are supposed to act here. There are probably some unpleasant consequences around here if you do not act that way. I assume there are gay men who get raised in those environments, but I believe the gay men get out of here as soon as possible and move to some big cities. The gay men I know who came from this town seem like they all split to Fresno or even Frisco once they hit ~18. There are definitely some real faggoty guys in this town, but they all work at more upscale places like the ATT store, Starbucks, places like that. And few if any of them live here. They all live in Fresno instead. This is probably not a pleasant town to be gay in.

Please follow and like us:
error3
fb-share-icon20
Tweet 20
fb-share-icon20

0 thoughts on “Machismo in a Working Class Mexican City in the US”

  1. It’s really a cultural pressure. I live in Appalachia, and my High School graduating class was 6% Hispanic (of any race, but basically all Amerind Mexicans), and I knew Mexicans-good friends, typically very nice people.
    Many of them were Anti-Macho. They were just nerdy White kids.
    When a Mexican is isolated from other Mexicans they don’t really behave this way, it seems.

    1. There’s a sorta transitive relationship which can be used to expand upon your hypothesis (which I tend to agree with, btw) – a Mexican who is “anti-Macho” will find himself subsequently alienated/isolated from other Mexicans.
      *Mexicans, out of their element, might not foster the macho mentality
      *Mexicans who don’t foster the macho mentality might find themselves expunged from their element.
      There’s a subtlety to this machismo that doesn’t always manifest itself as the typical “macho” behavior we all think of. There is also a close-minded parochialism that self-perpetuates a cosmetic appearance of macho typified by abruptness, extroversion and artificial masculinity. IOW, many Mexican men act out a machismo that does not express their true nature…it’s an affectation some don’t wear well.

      1. Well, there was a noticeable divide between the Mexicans/Central Americans in their own respective groups- there were basically two classes- that never really associated with each other.
        It was sort of odd to see among co-ethnic (and it wasn’t even really among whether you were “Mexican” or “El Salvadoran” lines).

        1. Well, they’re more grateful to be here than anyone;
          i.e. Central America is like turn of the century Sicily with organized crime-
          except it’s much more high stakes, weapons are more sophisticated, and it’s shittier in general.
          Other than not really learning the language (partially because they don’t ask for help/keep to themselves) they do assimilate pretty well.
          Ann Navarro is Nicaraguan, an immigrant who is genuine expert on American politics (more than just a Hispandering hack, although she is that, too);
          http://www.cnn.com/profiles/ana-navarro#about
          John Nash, the Game Theory fellow, was married to an El Salvadorian
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Nash
          btw, what do you think (if anything) of Mann Coulter?

        2. I think she’s a gimmicky robot who truly does not like Hispanics. This is cool, whatever – she’s a modern day shock jock who has managed to evolve her shtick lucratively. Sometimes when listening to her, even when reading her, I get the sense that she’s grasping for the inflammatory which spell profit in her world.
          A moderate and understated Ann Coulter is an Ann Coulter who maybe is finally ready to enter politics (though this strategy has been disproved by The Donald). People like her adorn logic and common sense with ire and offense…but she is very entertaining, I’ll say that!

  2. What’s the point of being macho? You have to smoke 20 packs of cigarettes daily which destroys your lungs, drink like sailor which destroys your liver, plus who knows whatever drugs you take and all the ridiculous tattoos you cannot remove. Plus, as I was mentioning before, these people force thier kids to deal with their unhealthy environment.

    1. Respect from other machos, connections among machos to get things done and most importantly lower class pussy. That is the point in being macho.

  3. Well, there is no point in being sissy, so to speak? Well, it depends on who your opening yourself up to. For instance, if somebody acts tough in public it’s mostly a survival mechanism. They may not act that way among a close friend.
    Being macho can be idiotic at times as I knew someone, the college graduate WN sympathetic guy I mentioned, who had a friend killed by Russian Roullete. I mean stupid can you fucking get?
    Oh, BTW machisimo is not limited ot Mexicans by any means. Appalchian people cannot stand men who open up thier feelings unless it’s some really generic fake religious crap. For instance, they could say they love Jesus or something, but any opinon or deep feelings beyond that will lead to getting hated and made fun of.

    1. It must be tough for a lot of these kind of guys to go to unversity and take psychology, philosophy, human development and learning or English classes. They are all based on opening up feelings.

      1. just pick something,
        Like here,
        I pick a topic (the Alt-Right) and lambast, lambast, and lambast.
        non-stop.
        I could write a paper on this, and kind of already did on the ‘fall of the Iberian’.

      2. Why do you think they wake up at 30 and start screaming at liberals about how screwed their life is with the outsourced jobs, the police on their back for trying to get by selling dope, the harshness of 3 Strikes Laws, having kids to support and the fact that liberals in San Francisco and Manhattan studio lofts don’t give a shit about how miserable their life is.
        By the time all this sinks in they are already 30-40 years old.

  4. Being badass whoever generally leads to isolation, unless your around those of your own kind. Nobody likes to be around these fake, annoying loudmouths. I mean, that’s why so many people hate ghetto blacks.

    1. As a another thought, a lot of this fake stuff is to cover for the fact there isn’t anything there. No brain.

    2. JASON Y They mostly have a pack mentality and deep sense of territoriality that in fact is very, very acute:
      The Italian street soldier dares not try to intimidate Scots in Appalachia (Since Romans in Britain at Hadrian’s Wall centurions have backed off Celtic strongholds in the hills) the tough poor white redneck does not want to be in Brooklyn around street-fighting Jews, the Hispanic does not want to be in the Atlanta Georgia ghetto, the black fighter does not want to be in a Boston pub with tough Irish brawlers.

  5. On the filp side, those who want pats on the back all the time, even females,are incredibly annoying as much as the macho Mexicans. It’s not psychologically healthy to be that wimpy. Of course, on Facebook you get a load of that stuff all the time. Sometimes you just want to smack these people.

Leave a Reply to Another William Playfair Web Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)