Chauvinism is the behavior, expressed by opinions and attitudes, of an individual that refuses equality of rights and duties between genders, favoring and extolling males over females. O male chauvinist it is the individual who exercises machismo.
In sexist thinking there is a "hierarchical system" of genders, where the male is always in a superior position to the female. In other words, machismo is the misconception that men are "superior" than women.
The ideology of machismo has been ingrained in the cultural roots of society for centuries, both in the world economic and political system, as in religions, in the media and in the family nucleus, the latter supported by a patriarchal regime, where the male figure represents the leadership.
In this scenario, the woman is in a state of submission to the man, losing her right to free expression or being forced by the macho society to serve and assist the wishes of the husband or father, characterizing a traditional regime patriarchal.
Learn more about the meaning of Submission.
The macho ideal divides the world into "what is feminine" and "what is masculine", such as professions, gestures, expressions, manifestations, behaviors, emotions, and so on. According to the social convention of machismo, the man must follow the masculine stereotype, while the woman must act according to what has been predefined as feminine.
It's not just women who suffer from sexism as a form of prejudice. Men homosexuals, or even heterosexuals who classify themselves as metrosexuals, for example, are also targets of exclusion in sexist society.
When a man runs away at said "rules of masculinity", can already be framed as a target of prejudice in a sexist society.
Learn more about the meaning of metrosexual.
In modern media, machismo appears when the figure of the woman is presented as a "sexual object", of satisfaction and pleasure for men, with the intention of selling.
In an informal connotation, machismo can still mean the act of being macho, masculine or an exaggerated excess of maleness and virility.
Feminism
O feminism is a social, philosophical and political movement that has the opposite ideal to that of machismo, as it fights for equal rights and duties for men and women.
Thanks to feminist demands, women conquered, during the 20th century, rights that were previously guaranteed only for men, such as divorce, voting in elections, running for government office, among others.
The feminist movement has as its main objective to deconstruct the discourse rooted in the contemporary society of machismo, making people aware of the absence of differences between genders.
See also: meaning of Feminism, femism and gender inequality.
Machismo in Brazil
The machismo culture is strongly present in Brazil, largely within the younger groups. According to a survey carried out in 2013 by the Data Popular institute, 96% of young Brazilians, between 16 and 24 years old, claim that Brazilian society is still extremely sexist.
