Machismo in Mexico: Review of Gutmann's Meanings of Macho

Introduction and Author Biography

Matthew Gutmann is an anthropologist who translates his fieldwork experiences into scholarship that challenges ideas too important to ignore. As a Professor of Anthropology, he is well acquainted with the gender bias inherent in society, and it is precisely this concern with gender roles that drives his books. Before writing The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City, Gutmann lived for a year in the neighborhood of Colonia Santo Domingo. His purpose in staying there was to experience the community's culture and norms firsthand, so as to understand the social dynamics that produced the figure of the "Macho Man."

Gutmann recognized that there had to be some difference between the stereotype of the violent and angry Mexican man and the reality of men's lives. He therefore began research that would give him remarkable insight into the truth behind the concept of machismo. Living in Colonia Santo Domingo for a year, he found that reality differed so sharply from the popular image that it was striking. Men who became drunk were rare; they helped with household chores and participated in childcare. His book is, as a result, a rare window into the Mexican family system.

Summary and Central Themes

Gender roles, the changing dynamics of gender relationships, and the social systems within which they exist have fascinated social researchers for decades. Matthew Gutmann is no exception. Writing on the concept of machismo and its shifting perceptions across time and borders, Gutmann presents the argument that the stereotype of the Macho Man is merely an image that distorts the truth and prevents society from helping Mexican communities change. The reality, he argues, is that Mexican men are struggling to make a living in the face of exploitation. The "macho men" that society derides are, in fact, rethinking their cultural traditions and gender roles, and allowing modern society to redefine the concept of the honorable man.

The book is valuable as a research contribution and provides an ethnographic insight into a changing society. Gender diversity and role changes have long fascinated sociologists, because these issues have the capacity to fundamentally alter the way a society functions.

Gutmann created a study of machismo in Latin America with a focus on Mexico. Through his research he overturns stereotypes and demonstrates that Mexican men are surprisingly modern in their outlook. The image of machismo has become a symbol of the past. The Meanings of Macho suggests that Mexican men are sensitive, open-minded, and willing to help their partners at home. Like many of their contemporaries around the world, they talk about sex, socialize with their families, and communicate openly with their wives. Gutmann also reveals that women have played a central role in pushing men to reconsider static beliefs, generating social forces similar to those reshaping societies worldwide.

The book is one of the first ethnographies focused on machismo, and as Gutmann states in Chapter 1, he wrote it in part to "undo our ability to speak of a unitary Mexican man, or Mexican urban men, or even a Mexican working class man, in any reasonable manner" (p. 3).

Chapter-by-Chapter Overview

Chapter 1 — Real Mexican Machos Are Born to Die: Gutmann argues that the Mexican macho stereotype exists largely because the wider world cannot perceive the issue through the lens of multiple Mexican masculinities. He states that "this book is an examination of the dialectic between engendered meanings and social power" (p. 12).

Chapter 2 — The Invasion of Santo Domingo: This chapter traces how the neighborhood Gutmann studied began its trajectory of change in response to larger social forces.

Chapter 3 — Imaginary Fathers / Genuine Fathers: This chapter outlines the role of fathers as perceived by men and women, by society at large, and by Mexican men today, revealing significant gaps between ideal and practice.

Chapter 4 — Motherly Presumptions: Gutmann examines historical assumptions about the roles of men and women in Mexican society and then exposes the contradictions embedded within those assumptions.

Chapter 5 — Men's Sex: Focusing on Colonia Santo Domingo and drawing on the lived experiences of men, this chapter demonstrates that attitudes toward sex and sexuality are shifting in Mexico, and uses case presentations to disprove older preconceptions about male sexuality.

Chapter 6 — Diapers and Dishes, Words and Deeds: Gutmann argues that the rigid division of men as breadwinners and women as homemakers no longer holds in Mexico. Because both partners often work, men have become active participants in household labor.

Chapter 7 — Degendering Alcohol: The image of the macho Mexican man is often that of a drunken figure who abuses women. Through his research, Gutmann systematically "degenders" this perception, showing it to be a stereotype unsupported by the evidence he gathered.

Chapter 8 — Fear and Loathing in Male Violence: By contextualizing violence within Mexican society's own definitions, Gutmann challenges the assumption that all forms of male violence in Mexico are expressions of machismo.

Chapter 9 — Machismo: This chapter attempts to "describe and account for these mixed and changed sentiments regarding macho and machismo" (p. 222).

Chapter 10 — Creative Contradictions: The final chapter argues that as society changes, concepts of gender and identity have changed with it, becoming less dependent on inherited cultural frameworks and characteristics.

Conclusion

Through his book, Gutmann degenders Mexican society and radically transforms the conventional image of the macho man. The work reinvents conceptions of masculinity and renders past perceptions invalid. In doing so, it opens a path toward a more nuanced understanding of masculine identity, providing careful insight into male experience and thought in contemporary Mexico.

Yet Gutmann himself acknowledges the book's limitations. Early in the text he wrote that there was a need, "of more long-term scholarly and political significance, through investigation of the vagaries of gender identities amid the realities of gender oppression, we may come to better understand the persistence of gender variations and instability amid enduring patterns of inequality" (p. 4). It is a candid admission that points toward the research still to be done — and an invitation for future scholars to build where this foundational ethnography leaves off.

References

Gutmann, Matthew C. (1996). The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Schwalbe, Michael. (1997). The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City [book review]. Social Forces, 75, 1488–1490.

Bullock, Chris J. (1998). The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City by Matthew C. Gutmann [review]. The Journal of Men's Studies, 6(3), 362–364.

Gietzelt, D. (1997). Book review: "The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City" by Matthew C. Gutmann. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 8(3).

Levinson, Bradley A. (1997). Masculinities and Femininities in the Mexican Secundaria: Notes Toward an Institutional Practice of Gender Equity. Paper presented at the Latin American Studies Association, session on "Gender and Education in Latin America," Continental Plaza Hotel, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, April 17, 1997.