Mexican Masculinity

The video we watched on masculinity in class made me think about how ideas of  masculinity may differ within cultures and how they are reinforced. I was raised in a traditional Mexican home. Of course things have changed now but i feel that the gender differentiations that i learned as a child have at some level an effect on how i think now even in a modern society. One of the primary places where masculinity and maleness is defined is in male archetypes in cinema. As a child my dad loved watching classic Mexican films from Mexico's Golden Cinema Age. I remember watching a particular film over and over. It was called "Alla en el Rancho Grande". This film created the archetype of what is know as El Charro. El Charro can be compared to a cowboy. El Charro is a character that embodies all Mexican ideologies about masculinity or what it meant to me a man. Charro's were skilled horsemen, they were strong and tough and they never did a woman's work. They were quite the womanizers and never put down a fight if they were challenged. For Mexican men these films translated what their roles as men were. I remember as a child at parties the men in my family would gather in a separate area than the women. My mom my sisters and i would usually be in the kitchen cooking the meals. Another part of earlier Mexican Culture that shaped gender roles and  gender expectations was Luchadores, Mexican wrestlers.When i was a child Luchadores were very popular, all my boy cousins would wrestle each other pretending to be a Luchador. Even though we were children we were aware of our roles. When i tried to play Luchadores my boy cousins wouldn't let me because i was a girl. And so watching these types of media construct and reinforce our roles and capabilities. Because i was a girl my capabilities couldn't include being tough or strong enough to play wrestling. For me watching these types of media as a child made me aware of what my place was within my Mexican Culture. I feel that things have changed a for my family's younger generations because of the assimilation of Mexican families to American culture. However, even so kids are still getting these roles through American Culture through examples like those we saw in class.