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The 9 types of machismo and how to detect them

The 9 types of machismo and how to detect them

March 28, 2024

Machismo does not always manifest itself in the same way, and that is what makes it sometimes difficult to identify. It is a pattern of behavior and thought that has been the custom and the general and hegemonic norm for centuries.

However, the feminist and struggle movements for equality in general have made the questioning of certain unwritten norms that govern personal relationships more and more important. That is why behaviors that were normal decades ago, today are no longer so, since they denigrate and harm women. The different types of machismo are now easier to recognize .

Next we will give a review for these samples of discriminatory treatment.


  • Related article: "Types of sexism: the different forms of discrimination"

The main types of machismo

There is no single way to classify the different types of machismo, but this categorization will depend on the criteria in which we look. From now on we will focus on 3 different criteria.

Types of machismo according to the immediate cause

It is clear that, in the end, machismo it is due to a cultural, economic and political element that causes women to start from a disadvantaged situation. However, if we analyze the macho behavior of individual people, we can distinguish different causes:


1. For religious reasons

Many great religions contain in their sacred or reference texts an important machismo, if they are interpreted literally . This means that some people, for example, demand that women remain in a position of subordination to men, in a role of "support, whose sole power of decision concerns domestic matters.

2. By tradition

Beyond religious influences, there is a machismo that is expressed through even atheist or agnostic people and that it has to do with the positive value of "what has always been done" . This, in fact, is not a justification of sexist attitudes, but a description that tries to be used as an argument.

For example, rejection of the idea that a woman does not want to be a mother can be shown because, traditionally, women have tried to marry and have children.


  • Maybe you're interested: "Sexist prejudice: explanatory theories"

3. By misogyny

It is one of the most obvious types of machismo, since it is expressed through an aggressive discourse against all women in general. Misogynists they are characterized by their hatred towards women , so that their treatment towards them tends to be discriminatory, without needing a specific reason for it: everything depends on emotions and passions.

Normally this view of things is based on resentment and bad personal experiences.

4. Due to ignorance

Some people fall into sexist acts largely because they have been little exposed to the point of view of many women , or they have grown up in an environment in which there has been very little ideological variety beyond traditionalism. The result is that they find it difficult to empathize with women and recognize them as human beings with the same rights as any other person.

According to who expresses it

The types of machismo can be classified according to the nature of the entity that expresses it.

1. Institutional machismo

It is the machismo that is formally collected in laws, codes of conduct and statutes .

2. Personal machismo

It is the one that is expressed by individuals and by groups without formal structure .

According to the degree of violence

Machismo, as a harmful element, is always something that produces some kind of pain, be it physical or psychological. That's why you can distinguish between types of machismo according to its proximity to violence physical or verbal.

  • Related article: "The 11 types of violence (and the different kinds of aggression)"

1. Machismo of physical confrontation

It is a pattern of behavior that leads to the aggression of women because they are so. Femicide is its most palpable consequence, but not the only one.

2. Machismo of legitimization of violence

It is composed of attitudes of condescension and permissiveness towards people who attack to women because they are. Of course, this attitude reinforces the impunity of sexist crimes, either by normalizing this type of aggression or offering protection to those who commit them.

3. Paternalistic machismo

This machismo is of an overprotective type . It could be interpreted as a well-meaning attitude, but it hides a sexist background, based on the idea that the woman is something that must be protected by man and, therefore, is not positioned against the idea that the woman is a human being. human being with full rights and with the capacity to make decisions autonomously.

For example, a husband who constantly watches his wife not only shows that he does not trust the latter's ability to fend for himself, but also feeds a vision of the world in which the woman is a precious asset with which, therefore, can be treated as if the relationship were that of user - object or that of product - buyer.


Micro Machismo - MGTOW (March 2024).


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