Micromachismos: 4 subtle samples of everyday machismo

In various articles of Psychology and Mind We have talked about the different forms that machismo takes. In the 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 the society.

• For example, we recommend you read: "Psychology of sexism: 5 macho ideas that exist today"

Micromachisms: what are they? How do they manifest themselves?

The micromachisms they are subtle manifestations, which often go totally 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 and even the way we communicate. In today's article we have proposed to analyze the main micro-chauvinisms suffered by women and some men who do not fulfill heteropatriarchal gender roles.

1. Sexism in language

A classic demonstration of machismo that it is enclosed in our everyday language, in our language

, It could be the preeminence of the masculine gender over the feminine, among other things. For example, let's look at a fictional conversation that illustrates this:

- Master, how can I make a word feminine?

- Starting from its masculine formula, and adding an "a" instead of the original "o".

- Understood, master. And the masculine, how is it formed?

- The masculine is not formed, the masculine exists.

This dialogue was written by Victoria Sau, and it is a good example of the subtle machismo that our everyday language harbors. It is a machismo that does not kill, that is difficult to detect, and that is therefore commonly accepted culturally.

2. Gender roles

Micromachisms also come to light in the media and in advertising. As we know, the media try to make 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 hypermarkets chain Hipercor committed a gazapo that revolutionized social networks: put on sale two baby t-shirts, one in blue and one in pink. In the blue one, you could read: "Smart like daddy", and in the pink ones, "Pretty like mommy".

The case jumped to the media and Hipercor had to withdraw those articles, since it offended not only the feminist collective but anyone with common sense. It was a micromachismo that luckily was not culturally tolerated, and that placed women within the aesthetic stereotype.

Without leaving the present, it was also a scandal when El Corte Inglés offered in its facilities a product designated 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 micromachisms 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 assumed culturally as natural, unquestionable. But have we stopped to think about it? These gender stereotypes are able to persist generation after generation precisely because of the naturalness with which we experience them.

3. Hypersexualization

Another blatant case of sexism occurred when Carrefour launched a swimsuit for girls from ten to fourteen years old with padding in the bra part. It's hard to imagine that they could have tried to sell padded swim trunks 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 hypersexual and used as a claim for the big brands in relation to the male body.

A micromachismo that is beginning to set off our alarms (and it was about time) is the fact that women are used as a sexual lure to attract audiences to discos. There have been high-profile cases in this regard, which luckily have outraged a large part of the population, getting several campaigns to be withdrawn and their authors apologizing.

4. Use of public space

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 discussed openly in forums about the tendency of men to sit with their legs wide spread in public seats, for example in the subway, preventing the people who sit next to him from being minimally comfortable, and seeing their space invaded. It is something that can be a matter of debate, since it is not very clear that it is only men who are feel invading foreign space, and if so, it could be due to certain anatomical characteristics of the males. Well the trend could be explained simply by a matter of rudeness. It is 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 the public highway. Of course, the constant harassment that women suffer when they walk down the street, the compliments and other behaviors that, in my opinion, constitute a clear machismo and, fortunately, are increasingly recognized and repudiated by society.

Where does the concept of ‘micro-sexism’ come from?

The history of the term micromachismo dates back to 1990, when the Argentine psychologist Luis Bonino he used it to define "those male behaviors that superimpose the authority of men over that of women." In this sense, Bonino points out that micromachisms “are daily tyrannies, a type of soft and invisible violence, 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 micromachisms are camouflaged where their danger lies, because it generates invisible damage to the female sex and to anyone who does not conform 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 micromachisms

Luis Bonino and other psychologists have proposed another criterion to classify these day-to-day machismo:

1. Utilities

They are used in the home and refers to the fact that men tend to hold women responsible for care and domestic tasks. They usually do so by appealing to their "greater capacity" to iron, wash, care for the elderly or cook.

This might seem like a clear machismo, and not a micromachismo, but it can occur in very subtle forms, such as the husband who He says to his wife: "Wait, I'll help you hang your clothes" or "I love how you cook, I prefer that you do it because it comes out very well"

2. Subtleties with a macho bias

They are especially subtle micromachisms, which They seek to impose the sexist ideology and undervalue the role of women in society (either in the workplace, in relationships, at work ...).

Silences, using paternalistic communication or contemptuously ignoring a woman for the fact of being a woman are macho subtleties. So is using a denigrating humor towards the female gender.

• Related article: "Women are undervalued at work (and it seems normal to us)"

3. Coercive

In this type of micromachisms, the man exerts a moral, psychological or economic pressure to impose his power over that of the woman.

They can be observed when the man sits in the best armchair in the living room, he controls the control of the TV or occupies more space in public places (such as in the subway, as we have already commented).