Etymologically, The concept of patriarchy comes from Greek, and means “rule of the fathers” It is a cultural heritage strongly rooted in our society based on gender differentiation, and which describes a structure in which men have power over women.
This imposed structure, totally unbalanced in favor of men, in which different expectations are differentiated for men and women, is governed by rules that are determined by the gender stereotypes that are assigned to us before we are born depending on whether we are girls or women. children. Let’s see the relationship that exists between this concept and that of the types of micromachismos
The support of this patriarchal system is found in a disciplinary society in which people have been framed in certain imposed conditions, affecting all areas of the public and private sphere, the way they relate and producing a model that installs and perpetuates violence against women
The unequal distribution of the exercise of the power of dominance produces a relational asymmetry whose central axis is the gender option (female or male) because patriarchal culture has legitimized the belief that the male is the only gender with the right to self-affirmative power. That is, being a man means having the right to be a full individual with all his rights and to exercise them.
The patriarchal system and androcentric culture denies this right to women, leaving men in a superior position, exercising power of control and dominance over them as a result of the equation. protection in exchange for obedience one of the keys that is clearly reflected in the traditional couple contract.
To this we must add the implicit belief in the division of spaces, the domestic and care space assigned to women and the public space reserved for men. This relational asymmetry continues in our culture and is maintained and perpetuated for various reasons:
This perpetuation manifests itself in very diverse visible and explicit ways (murders, assaults, rapes), invisible and explicit (emotional blackmail, devaluation, blaming) and invisible and subtle (sexist language and advertising, invisibilization and micro-machismo).
This article aims to visualize the micromachismos existing in today’s society that, based on gender stereotypes help perpetuate unequal relationships.
The types of micromachismos
In our daily lives we encounter situations such as differentiating between a lady and a young lady, asking the waiter for the bill and giving it to the man, compliments, women who pay less in nightclubs and phrases like “behave like a lady”. ”, “and you still don’t have a boyfriend?”… All of them constitute types of micromachismos
Micromachismos are those subtle and everyday behaviors that constitute control strategies that threaten women’s personal autonomy are usually invisible and may even be legitimized by the social environment.
Authors such as Luis Bonino define it as practices of male domination and violence in everyday life that include a wide range of interpersonal behaviors that aim to:
These behaviors are “micro-abuses” and they are effective because the prevailing social order ratifies them when they are exercised repeatedly until a significant decrease in women’s autonomy is achieved and they are so subtle that they usually go unnoticed by both those who suffer from them and those who observe them.
Luis Bonino established a typology of the types of micromachismos, classifying them as:
1. Utilitarian micromachismos
They are those who force female availability by taking advantage of different domestic and caring aspects of traditional feminine behavior with the aim of benefiting from them. They are carried out especially in the domestic environment.
Some examples of these behaviors are: taking advantage of and abuse of “feminine service” capabilities (them as providers and them as caregivers), delegation of care work, not taking responsibility for domestic matters, non-involvement and/or pseudo-involvement, overlapping abusive requirements, denial of reciprocity and parental cronyism.
2. Covert or indirect micromachismos
They involve the abuse of female trust and credibility by hiding their objective. Some of these behaviors can be more effective than the rest, since they are so subtle that they go especially unnoticed. These types of actions produce feelings of confusion, helplessness, guilt and doubts in women that contribute to a decrease in self-esteem.
include behaviors such as paternalism, emotional manipulation, emotional/aggressive double messages sulking, abuse of trust, the creation of a lack of intimacy, silence, setting limits, defensive-offensive communication, deception and lies, disavowal, devaluation, misogynistic microterrorism, self-indulgence and self-justification, advantageous comparison and underestimation of one’s own mistakes.
3. Crisis micromachismos
They force permanence in the unequal status when these become unbalanced due to an increase in the personal power of women or a decrease in the power of men. Are behaviors such as hypercontrol, false support, passive resistance, and emotional distancing avoiding criticism and negotiation, promising and making merit, victimhood and giving pity.
They involve the retention of power, those in which uses physical, economic or personality strength to try to convince women that they are not right They fulfill her objective, since they provoke in the woman a feeling of defeat after verifying the inefficiency, loss, or lack of strength and ability to defend her own decisions or reasons. These are behaviors such as control of money or sabotage of communication, expansive – abusive use of space and time for oneself, abusive insistence and the imposition of intimacy.
Concluding
The different types of micromachismos produce multiple effects on women’s quality of life among them emotional exhaustion, mental blockage, limitation of freedom, irritability, low self-esteem and insecurity.
It is necessary to change this form of dominance that continues in our current society, for this it is necessary that both genders participate on an individual level. Both should recognize, identify and be aware of these behaviors and their effects, resist them, modify them for more egalitarian behaviors and help those who exercise them to identify and eliminate them. Furthermore, it is necessary that professionals in the different areas of action (healthcare, education, therapeutics) are aware of the daily existence of these behaviors, know how to detect them and know their effects with the aim of eradicating them.
