The favoring of the male position and the submission of women as a sexual object is due to a historical development, which involved a patriarchal society system in which the man has the figure of worker, producer and powerful, and the woman is submissive, servant and seen as an object. of reproduction and pleasure for the first.
Over the years, machismo has taken different forms, shaped itself according to the evolution of social organization and today it manifests itself less explicit, but still very present.
the feminist struggle
There is currently a disparity in opportunities and credibility in relation to women in the labor market. The view, even if not stated, that a woman should take care of the house and children, look good and serve the man, as she did in many periods of human history, is still a sad and current reality.
The concept of machismo is generally associated with the brazen mistreatment of women, sexual abuse and the position of male supremacy.
These are really characteristics of machismo, however, the idea goes beyond such larger attitudes and is also expressed by small attitudes of mistreatment, often not noticed by others, but very felt by women.
“Small” abuses
We list some common situations in women's daily lives, which affect them indirectly and sustain the favored position of men. Check out:
Interruption
Realize that women are constantly interrupted by men in lectures and speeches. A weakness is attributed to the female figure, which diminishes the credibility and space of her argument.
For Americans, the phenomenon was registered as “manterrupting”, a combination of the words 'man' and 'interruption', in English.
word not granted
In addition to often not being heard, women suffer from loss of argument. Especially in the work environment, they expose their opinion and do not get the attention they deserve, which is usually transferred to a male figure, who can appropriate and use the same arguments that a woman previously exposed.
In English, the coined term was “bropriating”, which represents the appropriation by a friend, with irony.
uncertain intelligence
Within the framework of distrust and lack of credit for women, many men in the corporate environment start to treat them as stupid, making a point of explaining every detail in order to ensure that they understand. Such an attitude stems from a sexist prejudice about female intellectual incapacity.
In the United States it was called “mansplanning”, something like 'man who explains'.
With these and other attitudes, man continues to assert himself superior and maintain a masculine and masked society. The role of feminist militancy is to break such taboos and offer equal space to women and men, without either side being disadvantaged or attacked, even if 'subtly'.
Text written by Julia Zayas from the Eu Sem Fronteiras team.
