The Hybrid Construction of Sexuality in Mexico and its Impact on Sex Education

Herrera, Ana Amuchástegui

doi:10.1080/14681810120080659

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Even though secular discourses of medicine and hygiene have been partly substituted for religion as a means of dictating social behaviour in Mexican society (Gutiérres, 2016, see also Foucault, 1976, the new discourses both challenged and underscored earlier religious understandings by invoking scientific notions of cleanliness, purity and moral duty. However, Catholicism continues to be the most powerful discourse regarding sexuality in contemporary Mexico (Herrera, 2001), including a continuity of a discourse of sin, although substantially weakened (Gutiérres, 2016). Rose (1990) argues that confessional mechanisms in social work are an extension of discipline and professional control over life itself, and continues:…”

Section: Regulating Physical Experiences and Sexualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

Ursin¹

2019

JCSW

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EnglishThe point of departure of this paper is that childhood is socially constructed and continuously re-defined through public policies, laws, practices and ideologies. The paper explores the perspectives on children, upbringing and socialization as reflected in the manuals, forms and questionnaires of social workers in a child protection institution in Mexico. It employs a theoretical lens borrowed from Childhood Studies, using three dominant images of childhood—the Dionysian, Apollonian and Athenian—to examine the links between discursive constructions of childhood and ways of governing institutionalized children. Four overarching themes were identified as representative of predominant concepts of values concerning children and child rearing in an institutionalized context in the documents: (1) Patriotism, (2) Work ethics, (3) Hygiene, and (4) Physical experiences and sexuality. The analysis reveals how children are perceived primarily as future citizens, with their upbringing being a part of a wider nation-building project. Hence, there is an emphasis on how to become a ‘decent’ labourer, internalize the values of- and loyalty to the nation-state, and develop into a ‘moral’ and ‘civilized’ citizen. It is argued that institutional socialization is part and parcel of a political ideology that reinforces the idea of children as relatively passive socialization objects. Spanish"El sentido de mi vida siempre será defender nuestra patria”: Criando y educando ciudadanos en instituciones de protección infantil en México. El punto de partida de este artículo es que la infancia es construida socialmente, y que es continuamente redefinida a través de las políticas públicas, las leyes, las prácticas y las ideologías. Este artículo explora las perspectivas sobre los niños, la crianza, y la socialización según se reflejan en los manuales, planillas y cuestionarios de los trabajadores sociales en una institución de protección infantil en México. Se emplea la propuesta teórica tomada de los Estudios de la Infancia, usando tres imágenes dominantes (Dionisíaca, Apolínea y Ateniense) para examinar los vínculos entre las construcciones discursivas sobre la infancia y las formas que gobiernan a los niños institucionalizados. Se identificaron cuatro temas relevantes como representativos de los conceptos de valores predominantes en los documentos respecto a los niños, y cuidado infantil en un contexto institucionalizado: (1) Patriotismo, (2) Ética de trabajo, (3) Higiene, y (4) Experiencias físicas y sexualidad. El análisis revela cómo los niños son percibidos primeramente como futuros ciudadanos, y su crianza es parte de un proyecto más amplio de construcción de la nación. De este modo hay un énfasis en cómo convertirse en un trabajador “decente”, internalizar los valores de y la lealtad al Estado nación, y desarrollar un ciudadano moral y civilizado. Se afirma que la socialización institucional es parte de la ideología política que refuerza la idea de los niños como objetos de socialización relativamente pasivos.

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Section: Regulating Physical Experiences and Sexualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

Ursin¹

2019

JCSW

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“…Gender norms also establish that in sexual relationships men should take the role of initiator, decide on the frequency and type of relations, and to be the educator in the relationship (Castañeda et al , 2001). However, there is a growing gap between modern urban Mexico and traditional rural Mexico with regards to gender roles and the approach to relationships between men and women (Herrera, 2001). Traditional gender norms for sexual behavior are normative in rural areas of Mexico.…”

Section: Sexual Behavior Of Young People In Mexicomentioning

confidence: 99%

Mexican adolescents' risky sexual behavior and migration intentions

Ayers

Marsiglia

Hoffman

et al. 2012

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care

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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify the association between risky sexual behaviors and migration intentions among adolescents living in Guanajuato, Mexico.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by self‐administered questionnaires to students enrolled in an alternative schooling system in Guanajuato, Mexico, during the school year of 2006‐2007. The sample size for this study includes 538 unmarried students, 35 percent male, ages 14‐19. Ordinal logistic regression is used to estimate the odds of engaging in risky sexual behaviors.FindingsThe results reveal that male adolescents with higher intentions to migrate have significantly higher odds of engaging in risky sexual behaviors than both males who are less interested in migrating and females, regardless of their migration intentions.Practical implicationsInterventions on both sides of the US/Mexico border are needed in order to address this concern particularly among males who express a desire to migrate to the US someday.Social implicationsThese findings highlight the importance of examining risky sexual behaviors even before migration to the US occurs. By engaging in high risk sexual behaviors prior to migrating, adolescents are putting themselves and both their sexual partners in Mexico and their future sexual partners in the US at increased risk of contracting STIs and HIV.Originality/valueThe study examined risky sexual behavior of adolescents in Mexico prior to migration. Knowledge about risky sexual behaviors prior to departure is vital for policy makers and researchers as they seek to design and implement interventions aimed at quelling this growing public health concern.

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“…This model has recently come under challenge by a series of studies emphasizing cultural discontinuities and variations both in the historical organization of patriarchy in Mexican society and within current changes in patterns of intimate life (e.g. Gutmann, 1996;Salles and Tuirán, 1998;Salles and Valenzuela, 1998;Amuchástegui Herrera, 2001a, 2001bCarrillo, 2002;Hirsch, 2003;Irwin et al, 2003;González-López, 2005). For instance, Carrillo (2002) points to the cultural importance of a code of 'sexual silence' within which the exclusive legitimacy of the 'traditional' family model is consistently asserted while 'deviant' sexual practices, such as homosexual contacts between men, may still take place frequently and are therefore not uncommon although such practices remain secret.…”

Section: Intimacies and Social Change In Mexicomentioning

confidence: 99%

Modernity with Limits: The Narrative Construction of Intimate Relationships, Sex and Social Change in Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez's Juventud en Éxtasis

Nehring

2009

Sexualities

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In this article, I explore the narrative construction of sexualities and intimate relationships in the self-help novel Youth in Sexual Ecstasy by Mexican writer Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez. Self-help texts may be understood as being indicative of the reconstitution of the cultural logics of intimate life in relation to processes of modernization and globalization. The popular work of Cuauhtémoc Sánchez in particular points to respective cultural transformations and tensions emerging in Latin American contexts. The text is firmly embedded in the political project of reasserting a hegemonic construction of Mexican sexual identity based on the nation's patriarchal Christian heritage in the face of social change and tendencies towards a pluralization of sexual understandings and practices.

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The Hybrid Construction of Sexuality in Mexico and its Impact on Sex Education

Cited by 13 publications

References 2 publications

‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

Mexican adolescents' risky sexual behavior and migration intentions

Modernity with Limits: The Narrative Construction of Intimate Relationships, Sex and Social Change in Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez's Juventud en Éxtasis

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