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Machismo has been around since the 1930s from Columbian descent. The term was used in Puerto Rico shortly after, often referring to members of street gangs and to the men of the households. While predominantly run by the Roman Catholic and evangelical Christian churches, the island has very few sanctuaries for the LGBTQ community where gay individuals can be themselves and feel safe. By continuing to fight and protest against the government about injustices done to them, the gay community in Puerto Rico is advancing in creating a safe and respected environment for themselves and for future LGBTQ individuals.
Although most of the younger crowd are progressive, some Latino parents are not, especially for men. Typically in an hispanic household, the men are favored and thus must live up to the expectations of a machismo. Machismo and patriarchal authority characterize the male role; the roles of a traditional woman are housewife and mother. Women are expected to defer to the authority of their husbands.
The machismo notion is engraved early in male adolescents as they are just developing and figuring out who they want to be. A study done by Richard Mora in his article “Dicks are for chicks” he examines young boys in Romero Elementary and middle school and their ideals of homosexuality and machismo. Mora states, “... some boys view homosexuals not as less masculine, but rather as not masculine, and, thus, argues that ‘homophobia marks an intragender boundary between masculine stereotypes and the male other”(344). The idea of homosexuality is considered to be an ‘other’, not fiting into a category and labeled as being different.
In the article by José Toro-Alfonso, et al., they state “... Latino culture imposes a series of social expectations that strongly divert from the possibility of developing or expressing same gender desire” (60). In the article it also states that the machismo and familismo, which is the strong urge to stick by family traditions and customs, creates a turmoil in the youth that it is their duty to sitck with traditions and abide by hetero-normality (60). The men and youths are expected to not feel and if they do they are considered feminine and soft.
This goes into the sensitivity category that a lot of men possess, especially in their early years of age and also holds a huge part in homosexuality. In the article “Reported Effects of Masculine Ideals on Gay Men”, the authors state that “Gay men are seen to break from traditional masculinity ideology mainly because of their affectional and sexual orientation. Consequently, the general perception is that gay men are not masculine (Kite & Deaux, 1987; Madon, 1997).” Many gay men, especially in Puerto Rico do not think they are female just because of their preference to men. That’s a false statement that’s been proven wrong time and time again but still remains. This feeling of loss of masculinity to these individuals leads them to therapy to find their identity and second guessing on what gender they want to be.
Identity is a major part of a young males life, especially in a Latin upbringing.Families with a strong emphasis on traditional values were perceived as less accepting of homosexuality than were the low traditional families. Those who work with adolescents need to be aware that some will recognize their sexual orientation as gay, lesbian, or bisexual during this time of their lives. These youth need support in the coming out process because they may encounter stigmatization and disapproval not only from the larger society, but also from their families, peers, and sometimes the gay community itself.
The mindset of children and youths have increased in positivity with more musical artists coming out as gay, who have a big impact on youths culture. Following the death of Kevin Fret, Puerto Rican rapper who was renowned as the first openly gay artist in the Latin trap genre, many individuals were in an uproar. The LGBT community sought justice for the death of the young advocate who was gunned down, marking him the 24th gay Puerto Rican killed last year. Although unfortunate, these casualties stirred up the population that the gay community needs better protection and laws to prevent these occurences to happen again.
The LGBT community had little resources to help them in their quest for a better and fair environment for themselves but despite that they persevered and were able to accomplish many feats in such short years. Due to the persistence of these youths and the, the government of Puerto Rico has developed laws that protect gay, trans, bi and any sexual orientations from domestic violence and in the workplace. Another bill was passed just recently where transgender individuals can change their gender on their birth certficate.
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