“Machismo IS violence,” “Maricón is he who harms a woman” “Don’t allow violence to enter your home,” “Everyone against gender violence.” These are the slogans of several campaigns launched all over Latin America and Spain, seeking to put an end to Machismo.
Men who mistreat women have “a misunderstood idea of masculinity,” says Bernardita Prado, director of domestic violence prevention at Chile’s Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs. Her group ran the recent campaign to redefine the word maricón.
As machismo comes under attack in popular culture, shows are cropping up with themes that challenge stereotypes. “The Weaker Sex” (“El Sexo Débil”) is a telenovela that came out this month.
“El Sexo Débil” tells the story of the Camacho men, a dad and two older kids who find themselves abandoned by their women due to their chauvinistic piggy ways. The production has the slogan: “As long as we remain macho, we’ll always be the weaker sex.”
“We think it’s urgent to promote a distinct view because this country has machismo as a second skin,” says Epigmenio Ibarra, general producer of “The Weaker Sex.”
Ecuador has released a campaign called “REACT ECUADOR, Machismo IS Violence.” Below some of these spots:
With the rise of female participation in high-end jobs, politics, applied sciences and research, many families have been driven to redefine gender roles, and many men have found the enormous pride inherent to taking on household and children responsibilities that once belonged to “housewives” and “soccer-moms,” while their wives “bring home the bacon.” It is not necessarily an inversion of roles, but in the words of Ernesto Vargas “I’m not being forced to do this [household chores]. It’s just what needs to be done.”
