Masculinities in Motion Latino Men and Violence in Kentucky

Abstract

Interviews with Latino men in Kentucky underscore multiple ways in which men negotiate being a man in a setting in which they find increased work opportunities yet experience heightened feelings of vulnerability. This article examines how men construct masculinity in response to three interrelated factors: migration, women's behaviors, and peer pressure. These factors do not determine men's use of violence, yet situating them within men's lives allows us to better understand men's on-the-ground experiences as well as possible connections between men and violence. Findings contribute to an emerging group of studies that examine the destabilization of masculinity and its connections to men's use of violence against women. I suggest that the violence some Latino men use is symptomatic of men's perception that they are losing power within broader, sometimes unfamiliar systems of oppression outside the home at the same time as women are gaining power.

Masculinities on the Continuum of Structural Violence: The Case of Mexico’s Homicide Epidemic

“…This discussion sits alongside a growing body of research on gang-related violence and identity in Latin America, and among Hispanic populations in the USA (Alcalde 2011; Azaola 2012; Baird 2012; Bourgois 1996, 2004; Hume 2004; Jones and Rodgers 2009; Pereya 2012; Reguillo 2012). With specific reference to homicide that occurs around and between drug cartels and organized crime in Mexico, we argue that structural violence, in the form of poverty, inequality, and deprivation, has restructured traditional male identity in reference to the hegemonic masculine identities embedded in national and global political economic orders.…”

What It Means to be a Man?: Violence and Homophobia in Latino Masculinities On and Off Screen

“…30). On the other hand, not only is it the case that increasingly Latinos of all ages reject violence as a central aspect of masculinity (Alcalde 450–52), but nurturance, protectiveness, and loyalty are also central to what it means to be a man for many Latinos (Mirandé 107–10; Arcienaga et al. 29).…”

From Elders’ Wisdom to Brave Migrants

“…In general, research has agreed that ''Mexican masculinity'' is characterized by independence, power, and control over female family members (Alcalde 2011;Szasz 1998), but some studies have shown that younger and more educated generations tend to express more equal family relationships (see García and de Oliveira 2005;Martínez García et al 2003). The notion of the economic ''provider'' has been highlighted as an important aspect in the formation of the Mexican male identity.…”

“…Furthermore, the term brave migrant makes reference to the archetype that indigenous Mexican migrants construct through work experiences and peer interactions in the United States. While indigenous men in the United States perform precarious and ethnically segregated jobs mainly due to their undocumented status (Hondagneu-Sotelo 1994, 195), at the same time they manage to defend and move beyond their clandestine status and construct their masculinity through the notion of hard work and breadwinners at a distance (Alcalde 2011). As we shall see, this particular version of masculinity has also developed diversified forms of masculinities which are the result of the interplay between migration, ethnic hierarchy and tension between hegemonic masculinities in the United States and in indigenous communities in Mexico. This article is organized into four main areas.…”