Marianismo And Hembrismo Analysis

When discussing portrayals of what defines true womanhood some begin the conversation with the commonly gender specifics terms which are called Marianismo and Hembrismo (Greer; Asencio). Scholars have defined Marianismo as “derived from the Catholic belief in the Virgin Mary—ascribes superior morality and spirituality to the Latina woman, who is considered able to endure suffering more than men. Her traditional femininity is portrayed as submissive, religious, modest, and humble, and a woman who will sacrifice for her children” and Hembrismo as “a less common gender-role in the Latina culture and often in conflict with the Marianismo script, represents the strong, resilient, and confident Latina woman” ( Greer 2). Greer introduces the mentioned definition to argue that Latina women are taught to identify themselves through religious figures which is were they have a sense of personal strength in their lives even with them being submissive to their man of the house. She believes this has steered Latinas to historically live through injustice, and maintain a stable household with the principles of religion specifically the Catholic religion traditions. Scholar Marysol Asencio agrees with the concept that Marianismo and Hembrismo can …show more content…
Guy provides a different aspect she states “White experts dominated the professional discussions, such diversity prevented the creation of a single voice that could define the nature of ideal womanhood” (Guy 171). Evidence of this comes from Donna Guy questioned if Latin American Countries ever experienced Victorianism like other cultures, she points out that “In Mexico City, a significant portion of the poor population could not afford clothing, and many upper-class women did not know how to maintain households that conformed to European standards” (Guy