Macho: Down a Notch-o - US Hispanic males have shifting attitudes toward sex - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, July 2, 2001 by Becky Ebenkamp

Quien es mas macho? Hispanic males, according to that viintage Saturday Night Live sketch and conventional wisdom. However, the days of the stereotypical Latin Lover who measures machismo by the legions of females he can inseminate and enslave may be numbered.

A survey by Selecciones magazine--the Spanish language version of Reader's Digest--found a shift in attitude among U.S. Hispanic males when it came to sex, contraception and family planning. Three-quarters (73%) agreed that partners are equally responsible for birth control, and more than half (56%) said they'd "probably" take a male contraceptive pill if available. 87% would participate in the decision to have or abort a partner's baby.

Why has this posture lost its luster? It's partly due to the role of women in the workforce. "Women don't need men to be the economic provider any more," said Carmen Alicia Fernandez, editor of Selecciones. As a result, she says, Hispanic women are teaching men how they should be treated.

Even more encouraging, men are passing this behavior on to the next generation. More than half (58%) said their parents never discussed sex with them, yet the majority (76%) of those with kids said they've had that chat. If a teen pregnancy situation were to occur, there wasn't much of a gender gap in their reactions: 62% would allow a son to make his own decision vs. 57% who'd let a daughter.

"The differences are not significant," Fernandez said. "In Latin American culture, there's a double standard, and it seems to be disappearing. That's a good surprise."