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Irelinde Jackson

Professor Javier Campos

Mexican-American Studies

15 April 2019

LGBTQ+ Family Dynamics and Challenges in Latinx American Communities

Machismo Mentality and Other Key Factors

Love and relationships are hard with any circumstances given and between any two

people. But the ability to love is one of the key things that sets us as humans apart from all other

life and matter on this planet. Our complex neural pathways are able to help us process and react

to complex social dynamics, emotions and stimuli. Our bodies physically react... from escalated

heart rates to clammy hands as we sit next to someone who captivates us. We as humans have

the opportunity to pursue these close knit relationships if we choose. Not only as you see in other

species choosing a mate to continue their line of genealogy and conquer as the most fit in their

tribe, by means of offspring. Rather much of humankind chooses to pursue romantic

relationships to raise their quality of life; to feel known and supported by someone who isn't

obligated to but rather chooses to experience life with them. Although relationship, love and

sexuality are things seen in every human culture around the world, the social dynamics and what

that love and expression of that love looks like can vary from place to place, culture to culture,

and from person to person.

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Many things play into each person's views of relationship dynamics, family, love,

affection, and romance. One of which we will dive into here, which is cultural ideology. General

cultural ideology can be influenced by many factors one of the biggest being religion, another

being economy, and in today's time it can even be heavily influenced by media. In many

communities there are themes of masculine headship over the family often with more authority

and leadership role in the relationship or family and often women are thought of in a maternal

and nurturer status which often can also be compounded with less authority and even less respect

at times. As we look at this ideology we can see religious ties to supporting this ideology,

economical factors being driven by and feeding back into this cycle of male dominant economic

power, and media both helping and hurting the conversation on sexuality and equality.

Obviously, each person has the capability to decide what they believe about relationships, and

what they believe about themselves and their roles in potential relationships. However, when you

are raised with specific ideology and family structure permeating around you all throughout your

upbringing it typically inherently affects your own perspective often in both positive and

negative ways. Much of whether it has a positive or a negative affect on you is whether or not

you had a positive experience being raising in that structure. Additionally, whether you agree

with the ideology and values that uphold your family structure and, finally, whether you can see

your self reproducing that structure in your own life as you grow and transition into your own

family.

For many Latinx people, the setting that they will be raised in will be a multigenerational

view of family, an understanding and respect often for religion, and some spoken and some
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unspoken expectations on gender roles and expectations in the family function. One coined term

that plays a lot into the social culture of many Latinx families is “machismo” mentality. This is

thought to be more of a cultural framework than a religious one. The actual verbiage

“machismo” actually has unclear roots, full origin, and context, because it arose to popularity

during the chicano movement, however, media spun the understanding of it to be more militant

and authoritative, and in one show with “machismo” in the title the main character was reckless

and wreaking havoc (Cowan 2017). But the overarching theme whether used for good or bad is

the idea that men must prove their masculinity and be macho. This may be inspiring and maybe

even motivating for some young Latino men but this mentality may also be harmful to men who

don’t feel comfortable projecting that sort of masculinity and macho-ness. And even harmful to

men and women who are LGBTQ yet still have family friends and community that is male

dominated.

Many families in America either practice or are influenced by judeo-christian ideology

and values. The teachings of religion often help shape one's views of self and identity. It can also

for many, serve as a framework for family roles and culture. A study done in 2014 found that

approximately 77% of Latinx people identify as Christian (PEW Research Center)​. ​Most all

Christian denominations and texts teach that marriage is intended to be between a man and a

woman. Teaching that it is the man's responsibility to lead his wife and family. In this teaching

the man is called to love his wife and she is called to submit to her husband. This can be

something that men take pride in and humbly and sacrificially they may serve their wife and

family. Possibly the wife will feel comfortable in the role religion and society defines for her
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feeling fulfilled as a wife and mother nurturing and caring for her children and husband and

being the stability for the family to find comfort in. However in some families cases individuals

have chosen to see this theme and hear these teachings and the man will assert power and

dominance over the woman and children and the woman may feel helpless or not valued. In

addition, people raised in a setting with these themes and frameworks all around who don’t feel

they could flourish in a relationship like that described in Christian texts, may feel less, like they

don’t belong, like they are not fully and valiantly man or woman without fulfilling those roles.

Like any other description of them or their choice on relationship would not be enough, not only

for God’s standards but also for the standards of their family, of those they love that are all

around, many of whom may seem to depict a biblical marriage pretty well.

In the context of Christianity Sex was given as a gift from God for these marriages and

sex outside of the context of this biblical marriage is considered sin. In addition to that, marriage

is supposed to act as a metaphor and reflection of God and the church. As the husband is to lead

the wife so does God the church. And so, relationships between the same sex would not only be a

sin but also be unable to reflect this picture of God and the church. In the old testament scripts it

says that God created man. Man shouldn't be alone. And so, God put the man to sleep and from

his rib made woman. So, from the very first book in christian text, Genesis, they establish a

human desire and need for companionship and relationship. So that is common ground that most

people can agree with and that science can back up. Humans were meant to be in community,

and in relationship, and too much solidarity can negatively affect the psychological state of a

person.​ “Evidence indicates that loneliness heightens sensitivity to social threats and motivates
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the renewal of social connections, but it can also impair executive functioning, sleep, and mental

and physical well-being”(Cacioppo 2014).​ ​So with all of this religious context of relationship

and family dynamics, it begs the question, do these religious ideologies affect people today in

their ability and comfortability with understanding their sexuality and identity? And what

challenges arise with reconciling their sexuality that with their family if it does not fit within the

bounds of a biblical and at this point also just social structure around them?

Next, we have the economic disparities for women, the LGBTQ community and the

Latinx community. It doesn’t take much time searching to see that for the Latinx community in

America disproportionately face economic stress. “While the latest poverty rates among

Hispanics are a historic low, Hispanics continue to be overrepresented among the population in

poverty. They made up 18.3 percent of the total population in 2017 but accounted for 27.2

percent of the population in poverty.”(Edwards 2019) In addition to the Latinx community facing

this statistical poverty, here in utah women also face an addition pay gap to that of men. “In

2016, a study by the National Women’s Law Center said Utah had the nation’s second-worst

“lifetime wage gap” — behind Louisiana — at 67 cents on the dollar. Over a 40-year career, that

meant a typical woman would earn $663,440 less than a typical man.”(Davidson 2018). In

addition, LGBTQ community is also more likey to face poverty the Center for American

Progress reports, “​Qualified applicants should not have to hide their identity to get a job, yet, 1 in

10 LGBTQ people reported removing items from their resume to hide their sexual orientation or

gender identity (SOGI) from employers.” (Mirza 2018)

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Contrasting the majority of caucasian family dynamics, which are separate and

autonomous from generation to generation, many Latinx families are multi-generationally

structured with extended kin being included in their form of family. This can be positive and

negative. If you have a good relationship with your family, with healthy communication and

understanding of how to have conflict and disagreements, then you have a built-in support

system bigger than most. However if your family is more one way of thinking, and one set of

beliefs across the board, then it’s not necessarily a feeling of support and community but rather

expectations and judgement at times. For many people in the LGBTQ community it is terrifying

to be honest about your feelings, identity, attractions and opinions with your friends and family.

Many people come out to one person at a time and some even only tell their siblings or parents at

first. However, for many that their family is operating in a close knit multigenerational form,

they may not have that luxury. They may feel that if they tell someone then everyone will know,

and that may be the truth. And in addition to that they may have fear of not just having strain on

one relationship with a parent or sibling but rather being rejected collectively with their whole

large family. And often times because of this family dynamic, more traditional beliefs are

respected and upheld because the older generations are very present in the younger generations

upbringing, where as many euro-american families may have contact and relationships with the

grandparents but their lives are not extensively interconnected at all. Part of these family

structures are not just culture and bond but also the economic realities I went over above. Many

generations of Latinx families will live together or even if they do move out it is often very close
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in proximity sometimes even just an apartment over. Whereas euro-americans are less likely to

face poverty and more likely to have access to moving to their own established living space

​ ith all
earlier in life and essentially be independent from previous generations (Georgas 2003).​ W

of these aspects of life accumulating for LGBT+ Latinx people, living in honestly about their

identity, and if desired, choosing to find a partner and even have a family can be something that

may make them feel more complete and joyful themself but may have extreme fragmentation

effects on their life and communication with the family they possibly so closely grew up with.

As generations pass more inclusion continues to arise in Latinx communities and something that

is important to note is that they don’t have to do it alone. Even If their family is not ready or does

not know how to come alongside them just yet with processing this information possibly for the

first time in a very real way, there are people and organizations who want to help. These include

but are not limited to, the Human Rights Campaign, Hispanic Federation, UnidosUS, Volunteers

of America Salt Lake, PFLAG, Salt Lake Pride Center, Rape Recovery Center of Salt Lake, and

even our own school, Salt Lake Community College.

I spoke with Kierra Cable at the Volunteers of America, youth resource center and she

explained that they have a variety or courses and resources for youth and young adults to

understand identity and sexuality as well as anger management and conflict resolution. They

partner with the Pregnancy Resource Center of Salt Lake to teach sexual education and with the

Pride center for issues on sexuality, identity and more! Ultimately I believe that for LGBTQ+

Latinx young adults to be able to live authentically they should not have to lose their family to do

so. And so, I propose that above all of the heat of the topic on sexuality and sex education that
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we would also value conflict resolution and healthy family dynamics. That is something that

every school in Utah, no matter our sex education policies in Utah can push for. And so I have

begun having conversations with educators in Utah county and Salt Lake county in hopes of

implementing healthy communication and conflict resolution as part of their family and

consumer science classes curriculum at their schools. Lisa Kammensjoe a local educator has

agreed to help me understand how to logistically implement this into curriculum efficiently and

there is no needed budget once we find a good amount of resources and have lesson plans laid

out open for use.

 Works Cited

Schmitz, Rachel M., et al. “LGBTQ+ Latinx Young Adults’ Health Autonomy in Resisting

Cultural Stigma.” ​Culture, Health & Sexuality​, vol. 21, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 16–30.

EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1080/13691058.2018.1441443.

“Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics.” ​Pew Research

Center's Religion & Public Life Project,​ 11 May 2015,

www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/racial-and-ethnic-composition/latino/.

U.S. Census Bureau. “Hispanic Poverty Rate Hit an All-Time Low in 2017.” ​The United States

Census Bureau​, 26 Feb. 2019,

www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/02/hispanic-poverty-rate-hit-an-all-time-low-in-201

7.html​.

Davidson, Lee. “Utah Now Has America's Biggest Gender Wage Gap - Women Earn 70 Cents

on

the Dollar Compared to Men.” ​The Salt Lake Tribune,​

www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/04/10/utah-now-has-americas-biggest-gender-wage-g

ap-women-earn-70-cents-on-the-dollar-compared-to-men/.
Georgas, James. “Family: Variations and Changes Across Cultures.” ​Online Readings in

Psychology and Culture​, vol. 6, no. 3, 2003, doi:10.9707/2307-0919.1061.

Cowan, Benjamin Arthur. “How Machismo Got Its Spurs--in English: Social Science, Cold War

Imperialism, and the Ethnicization of Hypermasculinity.” ​Latin American Research

Review​, vol. 52, no. 4, Oct. 2017, pp. 606–622. ​EBSCOhost,​ doi:10.25222/larr.100.

Jackson, Irelinde M, and Kierra Cable. “Volunteers Of America: Volunteer Engagement

Specialist .” 7 Apr. 2019