Group items tagged

In many Latino cultures masculinity is defined by the heroics of sport. Mexico is no exception; their most sacred and national masculine symbol could very well be their national soccer team. I chose this web page for its vivid imagery documenting the "idols of the Tricolor."

This sight documents the abuses done to homosexual couples in Mexico. I think this page gives good insight into how ashamed Mexican culture is of its gay community. The purpose of this organization is to seek social change through peaceful means but unfortunately it seems that simple letter writing campaigns will not stop discrimination on such a massive scale.

Bold move for Mexico due to its strong, cultural foundation in the Roman Catholic Church. Here, we watch as the religious opposes the social and vice versa. It's women's rights vs. Roman Catholic doctrine.

The video presents stories and images of the great poverty characterizing Haiti today. Issues of child extortion, abuse and slavery are addressed, and while Haiti may not necessarily be considered a part of Latin America by all, it is worth noting how such great poverty affects a culture, similar to countries such as Mexico and Guatemala.

The video addresses issues of violence both inside and outside the prisons, suggesting that the inside of the prisons are simply a reflection of the outside culture. Notions of machismo and what it means to be a man can also be drawn from certain images in the video, but other images suggest the crossover between genders when male drug addicts are shown doing handicrafts as therapy to help them overcome such addictions.

This small excerpt describes how masculinity in Latin America is affirmed through the concepts of "machismo". It speaks of the man's dominant role, both inside and outside of the home. It also briefly states the roles of Latin American women. The "machismo" culture does not allow for women to have much of a choice. It sets boundaries for women.

This article discusses the "maras" of El Salvador and how they have grown throughout both Latin America and the United States. The "maras" have been responsible for countless murders and are continuing to grow today. The concept and existence of such gangs come into direct conversation with the concepts of both machismo and masculinity in Latin American and American culture.

A radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and justice. Due to religious influences and beliefs, women do not have the rights to their bodies by law, so they seek alternative methods to have abortions, with a large number resulting in death. Similar to our discussion of sexual education in schools, the 'reality' does not match up with what is taught in schools (especially Catholic ones). Instead of being proactive and preventative, abstinence is taught. iolence against women is coming to the forefront as a major concern in Latin America. Termed "femicide," violence against women by men because they are women is a poor result of the hierarchy of the cultural society in Latin America. Machismo and masculinity influence men to feel that they must act this way from a young way in order to exert their power and strength, but it is unacceptable. This article also discusses women's movements and their fight for equal rights as well as rights to maternity leave and other aspects that women who work must take into account.

This article discusses how the Machismo culture in Latin America is causing health problems and cutting life expectancies. Being macho means to attract lots of women and to never show any weakness. This need to be tough is causing problems for men.

While machismo is a concept that dictates many aspects of Latin American male behavior, it has particular relevance to male sexual culture. In terms of machismo, males have an "expansive and almost uncontrollable" sexual appetite, and it is their right to satisfy that desire in the ways they choose (1). In contrast, female sexuality is seen as an object over which the male has control.

This aritcle discusses women in Latin American and how their education effects their fertility rate. Generally, poorer women who lack education have more children than richer women who had the chance of education. This is evidentally true for other cultures, but particularly for women in Latin America because men are very dominant and if a child is to be educated it is more likely to be the boy instead of a girl. The aritcle gives details about the essential need for women to have education, not only to break social bias against class, but also to promote development of countries and reducing fertility rates.

This excerpt attempts to define the word "machismo" in the Latin American culture. It goes on to describe how "machismo" is a main influence in making a man a "real man". A survey is taken in two different locations, reaffirming the idea of a machismo male-dominated society.

In the past decades, HIV infections are on the rise in Latin America and the Caribbean, however, Haiti, one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic is witnessing falling infection rates. 2.2% about 190,000 Haitians are suffering from HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS. Infection rates are more slowly to decline in rural areas than in urban areas, but progress for battling the disease has been significant for a country with such high poverty levels. The percentage of pregnant women who have tested HIV positive has declined by half over the last ten years. The majority of the population, however, lacks proper sexual education. In countries where the prevalence rates are lower, the epidemic is concentrated among socially marginalized populations, such as gay males. Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia and Mexico have the largest epidemic due partly to the fact that they have larger populations. Since Latin American and Caribbean nations are not a singular culture, attention to the HIV epidemic has not been homogeneous.

This article is especially interesting because it discuses the notion of 'machismo' but it does so in a different way than 'machismo' is normally discussed. This article is an example of the initial steps towards a reform in the Latin American society because it describes the ways in which churches are beginning to educate about the dangers and threats of the machismo culture. Many people do not truly know who the 'machismo' are, what it means to be involved in their lifestyle, and the dangers that arise as a result.

I thought this website would be helpful in better understanding Venezuela through current events. There are many sub-topics within the website that make specific searches easier, including those related to crime, culture, religion, and violence, all of which are new subjects of interest while reading Milde's book, Reasons to Believe.

Magnum photographer, Christopher Anderson's new book Capitolio explores a poignant visual insight into the degeneration of Caracas, which was once Latin America's most economically advanced cities and is now plagued with chaos and despair. Murders in Caracas have grown so dramatically that they have become accepted as ordinary, and thus looking at the homicide statistics has become mundane. His images of blood and trash serve to highlight their omnipresence in the daily lives of Venezuelans. He opens with action scenes, and then moves to rural areas where the seeds of the infrastructure where set, before submerging into the hysteria of President Chavez. The book's name derives from a metaphor of an old city-center government building that exports revolution while the city itself like the building deteriorates. Anderson traveled into the countries interior to depict the polluted Lake Maracaibo in order to exemplify the interdependence between the United States, the main consumer of Venezuela's oil, and President Chavez. Anderson photographs a sugar harvester in Barinas, the town where Chavez was born into poverty and now transformed into a laboratory for revolutionary projects. When asked about the future of Venezuela, Mr. Anderson said his book is not a source for answers, but an insight for strangers.

This article looks at Evangelism in relation to politics in Venezuela.

This article highlights the tension between government policies and indigenous populations in Ecuador. Due to the abundance of natural resources in the area, many indigenous communities are facing cultural and political instability.

This site actually does not deliver news of any kind, but instead it is testimony to the struggles that the indigenous Guatemalans faced as a result of capital and investment into a country that is not one's own. This shows disregard to the people of Guatemala who originally used the land in peaceful and harmonious ways as a way of life in order to survive which provided many of them with a sense of culture. Here the country is being showcased as if it were a product or a good, which I guess to those not living there, it is.

In response to the murder of lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenburg Guatemalan authorities arrested seven men. The men apprehended all had ties to the military or police forces. Still, no one has stated the murderes' motives. Authorities have said however, that the president and his wife were in no way responsible. It is not clear whether these arrests are a political response by the government of President Colom or if there really does exist hard evidence that these men were responsible.