Micromachismos: 4 Subtle Signs Of Everyday Machismo
In several articles of Psychology and Mind We have talked about the different forms that machismo takes. In different areas of life (work, family, social…), women have historically suffered a series of palpable discriminations that have relegated the female sex to stereotypes and secondary roles in society.
Micromachismos: what are they? how do they manifest?
The micromachismos They are subtle manifestations, which often go completely unnoticed, of machismo. It is an underground machismo, which does not set off our alarms most of the time.
The heteropatriarchal system in which we live permeates domestic life, work life, and even the way we communicate. In today’s article We have proposed to analyze the main micromachismos that women and some men who do not comply with heteropatriarchal gender roles suffer.
1. Sexism in language
A classic demonstration of machismo that It is enclosed in our everyday language, in our language, could be the preeminence of the male gender over the female, among other things. For example, let’s look at a fictional conversation that illustrates this:
– Mr. teacher, how can I make a word feminine?
– Starting from its masculine formula, and adding an “a” instead of the original “o”.
– Understood, teacher. And the masculine, how is it formed?
– The masculine is not formed, the masculine exists.
This dialogue was written by Victoria Sau, and is a good example of the subtle machismo that resides in our everyday language. It is a machismo that does not murder, that is difficult to detect, and that is therefore commonly accepted culturally.
2. Gender roles
Micromachismos also come to light in the media and advertising. As we know, the media tries to generate an impact on us, trying to sell us certain content and, also, certain notions about how we should behave and what we should think.
Recently, the hypermarket chain Hipercor committed a mistake that revolutionized social networks: He put two baby t-shirts on sale, one in blue and the other in pink. On the blue one, you could read: “Smart like dad,” and on the pink ones, “Pretty like mom.”
The case hit the media and Hipercor had to withdraw those articles, since it offended not only the feminist group but anyone with common sense. It was a micro-machismo that fortunately was not culturally tolerated, and that placed women within the aesthetic stereotype.
Without leaving the news, it was also a scandal when El Corte Inglés offered in its facilities a product marked as “special for them”, a pack that consisted of a broom and a dustpan. The same chain sold vacuum cleaners under the slogan: “Mom, you are the best” As if vacuum cleaners were products designed exclusively for women.
More examples of micromachismos related to gender roles: In the vast majority of public toilets, the place for changing babies is located in the women’s bathroom Perhaps we can assume that this is a trend that is not of great importance, but the truth is that this is precisely a micromachismo: a role that we have culturally assumed as natural, unquestionable. But have we stopped to think about it? These gender stereotypes are capable of persisting generation after generation precisely because of the naturalness with which we experience them.
3. Hypersexualization
Another blatant case of sexism occurred when Carrefour put on the market a swimsuit for girls aged ten to fourteen with padding in the bra part. It’s hard to imagine that they could have tried to sell padded swim briefs for children.
Not to mention the number of times advertising uses female bodies to sell anything: cologne, alcohol, video games, clothing… The female body is more frequently hypersexualized and used as a claim for big brands in relation to the male body.
A micro-machismo that is beginning to set off our alarms (and it’s about time) is the fact that women are used as sexual attraction to attract audiences to nightclubs. There have been high-profile cases in this regard, which fortunately have outraged a large part of the population, resulting in several campaigns being withdrawn and their authors asking for forgiveness.
Machismo does not only affect how we use language, how we sell certain products or how we place each gender within certain roles and stereotypes. Many women also warn that the use of public space contains a certain sexism
For example, it is often openly discussed in forums about the tendency of men to sit with their legs wide open in public seats, for example in the subway, preventing the people sitting next to you from being minimally comfortable, and from seeing their space invaded. It is something that can be a cause for debate, since it is not very clear that it is only men who feel like they are invading someone else’s space, and if that were the case, it could be due to certain anatomical characteristics of men. The trend could well be explained simply by a question of bad education. It’s difficult to clarify.
In any case, it is possible that this type of phenomenon occurs, in which women are undervalued and little taken into account on public roads. Of course, the constant harassment that women suffer when they walk down the street, the compliments and other behaviors that, in my opinion, constitute clear machismo and, fortunately, are increasingly recognized and repudiated, would not fit within the category of micromachismo. by society.
Where does the concept of ‘micromachismo’ come from?
The history of the term micromachismo dates back to 1990, when the Argentine psychologist Luis Bonino He used it to define “those masculine behaviors that superimpose the authority of men above that of women.” In this sense, Bonino points out that micromachismos “are everyday tyrannies, a type of soft and invisible violence, of low intensity”, which cover reality in an imperceptible way and which travel parallel to the patriarchal logic of our society.
Precisely It is the ease with which these micromachismos are camouflaged where their danger lies, because it generates invisible damage towards the female sex and towards anyone who does not adapt to the gender role that has been socially assigned to them. In the case of women, this role is usually that of caregivers, weak, submissive, secondary…
Another way to classify micromachismos
Luis Bonino and other psychologists have proposed another criterion to classify these everyday machismos:
1. Utilities
They are used in the domestic environment and refers to the fact that men tend to make women responsible for caregiving and domestic tasks They usually do so by appealing to their “greater capacity” to iron, wash, care for the elderly or cook.
This could seem like clear machismo, and not micro-machismo, but it can occur in very subtle forms, such as the husband who tells his wife: “Wait, I’ll help you hang the clothes” or “I love the way you cook, I prefer that you do it because it turns out very well for you.”
2. Subtleties with a sexist bias
They are especially subtle micromachismos, which They seek to impose sexist ideology and undervalue the role of women in society (whether in the workplace, in relationships, at work…).
Silences, using paternalistic communication or contemptuously ignoring a woman because she is a woman are sexist subtleties. It is also good to use degrading humor towards the female gender.
3. Coercive
In this type of micromachismos, the man exerts moral, psychological or economic pressure to impose his power over that of the woman
They can be observed when a man sits in the best chair in the living room, controls the television remote control, or takes up more space in public places (such as on the subway, as we have already mentioned).
