The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City

363 Pages·2006·39.557 MB·English

by  Matthew C. Gutmann

The Meanings of Macho
Men and Masculinity
Michael Kimmel, Editor
r. Still a Man's World: Men Who Do "Women's Work,"
by Christine L. Williams
2. One of the Children: Gay Black Men in Harlem, by William G.
Hawkeswood. Edited by Alex W. Costley
3. The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City,
by Matthew Gutmann
4· Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the
Perfect Suburb, by Bernard Lefkowitz
5. Proving Manhood: Reflections on Men and Sexism,
by Timothy Beneke
6. Man Made: Thomas Eakins and the Construction of Gilded-Age
Manhood, by Martin Berger
The Meanings
of Macho
Being a Man in Mexico City
Tenth Anniversary Edition
With a New Preface
Matthew C. Gutmann
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley · Los Angeles · London
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in
the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the
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institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 1996, 2007 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gutmann, Matthew C., 1953-
The meanings of macho : being a man in Mexico City :
with a new preface I Matthew C. Gutmann. -
Tenth anniversary ed.
p. em. - (Men and masculinity ; 3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-q: 978-o-520-25013-o (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN-IO: 0-520-25013-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
I. Men-Mexico-Mexico City-Psychology. 2. Masculinity
Mexico-Mexico City. 3· Machismo-Mexico-Mexico City.
I. Title. II. Series: Men and masculinity (Berkeley, Calif.); 3·
HQ1o9o.7.M6G87 2oo6
305 ·3 10972' 5 3-dc22 2oo6o42057
Manufactured in the United States of America
15 14 I3 I2 II IO 09 08 07
10 9 8 7 6 4 2
This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook so, a 100% recycled fiber
of which so% is de-inked post-consumer waste, processed chlorine-free.
EcoBook 50 is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of
ANSIIASTM D5634-01 (Permanence of Paper).
To My Mother
Ann Rosenthal Oliver
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In Mexico you begin again every day.
Rodolfo Usigli
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Contents
Acknowledgments
XI
Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition
XV
Maps
XXIX
Introduction: Gender Conventions
I
I. Real Mexican Machos Are Born to Die II
2. The Invasion of Santo Domingo 33
3· Imaginary Fathers, Genuine Fathers 50
4· Motherly Presumptions and Presumptuous 89
Mothers
Men's Sex Ill
5·
6. Diapers and Dishes, Words and Deeds 146
7· Degendering Alcohol I73
8. Fear and Loathing in Male Violence I96
9· Machismo 22I
IX