Male, male, masculine… (+infographic).
«I am a man and so I am not allowed to cry. It doesn’t mean I don’t do it, I hide it, I repress it, I would never let anyone see me like that. I’m too old for my girlfriend to go around telling her girlfriends or my partners to tell me I’m too lazy.
«Now I’m a carpenter. I’ve been a bricklayer and a mechanic. Who would see me working as a clerk or a secretary? Those jobs are reserved for young girls. Me, I do what I have to do without complaining too much. I fill the refrigerator, I keep the house and I even pay for my «jevita’s» nails and hair.
«In the kitchen, I only get along with the eggs. My wife says I’m useless, but you should see her confused face when she hands me the wrench. Nobody knows if I would have been a famous chef, but my mother made sure to teach me that the kitchen was for women, that I should go with my father to mow the yard.
«I’m macho, I fix the windows, the pipes, the washing machine. I change the light bulbs and I drive a nail through the broom so it won’t come loose. I am the «ox that pulls the cart», the «hard hand» that scolds the children and sometimes gives them a spanking on time. The one who carries the heavy things, the one who gets up with a bat at dawn to defend the house if he senses any noise.
«The one who defends his friends in the middle of a quarrel or the one who starts one if his wife’s honor is called into question.
«I am what I have to be, what I was told I had to be. I don’t question it much either: I’ve never had too many options.»
Infographics by Alejandro López Quintero
Written by Thalía García.
