Rethinking the Latin-American Male-chauvinism

Abstract

In this article I try to reflect on the validity of the identification of masculinity in Latin-American with the so-called male-chauvinism: the aggravation of virility and the predominance of man over woman. I propose that these aspects respond to a particular historical configuration in the mestizo American societies and to the intrinsically contradictory quality of the male identity in these societies. Taking as a source research carried out about urban Peruvian males, I reviewed the representations of masculinity in these populations and the changes that have crossed in the last decades. I conclude assuring that in spite of the male-chauvinism is very frequent in their discourses, the role of macho is currently the summary of a questioned masculinity and of the difficulties that male are crossing in the world where the old certainties are breaking down.