In “A Rose that Grew from Concrete” by Tupac Shakur, he symbolizes the concrete as the ghetto which is where he grew up in. The second symbol in his poem is a rose which represents himself and all the difficult things that he has went through. In a similar way, the rose is the women and young men who are going through the concrete, which is Machismo. Many people believe that machismo makes a man’s life shorter. One of the reasons that people believe this is because a “real tough man” usually does not go to the doctor’s office because real men can handle sickness on their own. Men tend to usually suffer in silence when suffering mental health issues because if he reaches for help then he would have been looked upon as “weak”. Machismo harms women’s opportunities in their household or work. It makes specific ideas of how to act and think limiting females with their lives. This does not only affect women’s health but the men too.
What does it mean to be a machista? Machismo is the sense of being highly manly with a strong sense of masculine pride which makes men be superior to women. It is known that to be macho is a good thing because it means that you can protect women but there is a much more severe level of being a macho man. Machismo is strongly used in the Mexican culture and affects women's health and well-being. Crime rates against women in recent years has been quickly rising up, which lead Mexican’s to start discussing the harmfulness of it through violence and sexism. An abusive partner includes constant fighting, lack of communication, and lack of respect which is all caused by machismo.
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Machismo comes up as a problem because many of the women are being affected by it. Machismos do not realize what they are doing to their women and will never change because that is how men are raised to be, which is being intimidating, being in charge, and being emotionally aggressive. This disgusting behavior within a family causes fear, jealousy, arguments and rage with their wife/ daughter. In the workforce, machistas are bothered and angry seeing women in a high position or being a type of leader at work so they see them as bossy or arrogant. In family households, women are being put down and being forced to serve them or else they are afraid that their husband/ dad will hit them. Women who have been through this for a long time now can not change the way how the man is. Women would have to find a way to either escape from them or to attend therapy. Living in the same household with a machismo can start giving mental health issues to the women who are suffering from it.
A way to prevent machismo is by educating those who think that their sexuality determines who is weak and who is the dominant ones in the relationship/ household and will learn that men and women are both equal. Adding this conversation/problem to sex ed classes in school for teens to start giving them an idea that women and men are equal and what mental illnesses can this cause to the women. Through lectures and giving explanations this can benefit our future generation by not having women being mentally or physically abused.
Young men will be forced to take a sex ed class and will be informed by the disadvantages and harm that can cause women’s mental health. It can give young men a heads up that this is not how society or hispanic cultures should be. Young men can realize that maybe their father is a machista and can speak up for themselves and see that this is not a normal way of living. The only problem is that the young teens will not take this class seriously. They might already be with the mind that the man is the one who rules the house by the way of how they are living in their household.
Machismo is not only a problem for women, but for men too. This can affect men because it is possible to feel pressured by not being able to show emotional feelings or having to be brave all the time and gives no room to let real emotions out. What might be challenging is that young men might already be influenced by machismo from older brothers/ father/ uncles. Many kids can still be affected by machismo but the hours that is being spent at school can still push for at least a small change. Having teens take a sex ed class talking about this problem can increase a solution to machismo in the future.
My father is a machista and my mother and I are still being affected by it today. Having a male who believes that he is the one who is in charge and his wife's/ daughter opinions do not matter or expressing violence in a physically or mental way is not something that should be normalized. Having women who can speak up for themselves before a machista starts to take over needs to be brought up. Women and machista’s themselves are being emotionally distressed without it even being realized.
Machismo is a problem for the machista himself and the women that are being affected by it. It does not only bring in physical violence but it also affects the mental health. Having sex ed classes bring this problem up will make a difference on how to handle it and avoid it in the present time or future. Knowing that my father will never change his ways of being a machista does still affect me but the day when I leave my home and marry the man of my dreams, machismo will only be a part of my past.
Work Cited
- Montero, Henry A. “Depression in Men: The Cycle of Toxic Masculinity.”
- Psycom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986
- Ortiz, Veronica Lira. “The Culture of Machismo in Mexico Harms Women.” Merion West, 31 Dec. 2018.
- “The Trap of Masculinity: How Sexism Impacts Boys and Men.” Anti-Defamation League.
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