Life is hard: machismo, danger, and ... - Google Books - 0 views
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Michelle Seidman on 21 Apr 10Lancaster, Roger M. 1992 Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua. Berkeley: University of California Press "Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua" by Roger N. Lancaster discusses domestic abuse in Managua, Nicaragua. Lancaster discusses the unequal power structures that exist between genders and enforced gender norms. The machismo culture in Managua produces men who show their masculinity through violence, power, and dominance over the women in their lives. Women also have fixed gender roles of tending to their domestic chores and obeying their husbands. When women act outside of their gender roles, such as drinking, not listening to their husband, or telling their husband what to do, this is when their husband hits them in order to show that they are the men and thus they have the power. This book is important to my paper because it explains how domestic violence is culturally situated in Latin America and what cultural circumstances cause domestic violence, which in this case are gender norms including women's inequality and men's power over women.