Machos and sluts: gender, sexuality, and violence among a cohort of Puerto Rican adolescents.
During the past decade, interpersonal violence increasingly has become a public health concern. As a result, prevention programs now aim to decrease violence among diverse populations. This article describes the beliefs and rationale for gender-based violence among a cohort of low-income, predominantly second-generation, mainland Puerto Rican adolescents. Based on a three-year (1989-91) ethnographic study, the findings describe how these young people, through the use of gender-based social constructs such as "machos" and "sluts," justify violence by linking it to beliefs about gender roles, sexuality, and biology, and thus perpetuate gender-role conformity, particularly heterosexual male dominance. The findings suggest that if the public health community is going to reduce gender-based violence among Puerto Rican youth, it needs to acknowledge that gender and sexuality are important ingredients that support violence and avoid a simplified and stereotypical model of culture that ignores other social factors and changes in traditional Latino gender roles.
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D000328:Adult; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City; D011287:Prejudice; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000208:ethnology; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology