Analysis Of My Encounter With Machismo In Spain

Sex and gender have commonly been thought to be interchangeable words that mean the same thing, but this could not be further from the truth. The reason that they are different words is that they do not define nor represent the same thing. Where sex deals with the biological aspect of individuals, like chromosomes, hormones, and sex organs, gender deals with the behavioral characteristics of a person and how they are perceived culturally. (Giraudo 2017) Sex is inherent while gender is learned from society, culture, and social interactions. Gender identity is how a person thinks of themselves, and gender expression is how they choose to represent themselves through clothes, behavior, and interactions. The commonly held belief that society would

Studying gender across cultures will show that gender is not represented the same everywhere. In the United States, it is considered respectful for men to not call out to women, but in Andalusia, Spain it is considered not masculine for men to stop themselves from praising a woman’s beauty in public. David Gilmore explains in his essay “My Encounter with Machismo in Spain” that in Andalusia, masculinity is based on three components: virility, valor, and virtue. (2013) If a man does not meet these components, then they are not considered masculine in Andalusia. Gilmore further clarifies that “gender evaluations in places like Spain are part of a broader moral calculus which men negotiate on an everyday basis and in a variety of contexts.” (2013) Being knowledgeable of a culture and the rules and circumstances of judgment and personality assessment of that culture can help individuals to understand the gender codes of that culture. (Gilmore 2013) Ethnocentrism means to misunderstand and judge other people’s cultures when an individual looks at them from their own perspective and beliefs. (Giraudo 2016) Gilmore laid out that although the Andalusian concept of manhood was different from his own, he did not learn about the subject from an ethnocentric viewpoint. (2013) Gender expression in Spain is different from what an American may be used to but studying other cultures allows people to accept that gender expression, identities, and roles are different in every part of the