Machismo and that feminist bullshit

Wikipedia's definition of Machismo:
Spanish machismo refers exclusively to the belief in the superiority of males over females, that is it means "sexism" or "male chauvinism" (along with the Spanish adjective machista, "sexist" or "male chauvinist"). Machismo itself derives from macho, meaning "male [animal]" or, when used metaphorically, "masculine" or "very masculine"

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This Friday night, an fairly cool Argentine musician told me feminism was bullshit. He said it as a fact; as if bullshit was a synonym for feminism.

Considering that i am spending the the next 4 months studying gender relations in Argentina, this was not a good night for me.

The machismo has finally gotten to me. I am past frustrated; I am pissed.

At first, I only saw the machismo in it's visible form. The piropos (cat call on the street) bothered me but didn't seem to extend beyond the streets. I, like Argentine women, learned to walk with my head down and my eyes averted. This is the national walk of an Argentine women; body submissively slumped, eyes and emotions hidden to the world.

And although I seemed to ignore the piropos, it is impossible to not hear them; it is impossible to be immune. Because even though the piropos stop at your home's door, their affect does not.

I first noticed machismo in my home when my host dad told my host mom not to interrupt my host brother but then 2 minutes later he interrupted her. There is often an attitude that men have first priority to speak. It is not that women are not allowed to speak but that the man's opinion is usually first and last and most important. In another friend's house, the brother gets first use over the computer even if the sisters are have a more urgent need to use it.

The machismo extends to the classroom. Feminism thought is not considered a legitimate academic theory. There is no Gender Studies department in UBA- the top public school in Argentina and home to 100,000 students.

And, in general, feminism here considered bullshit. It is a fact as clear as Maradona is the best futbol player ever or Evita was a saint.

And it really pisses me off.

But after being pissed for a good 48 hours straight, I realized it is not worth the energy. I am going to be here for 4 months and machismo is not going to change. I am not going to change it.

I just have to hope it doesn't change me. I have to hope my body is not permanently slumped; that my eyes remember how to show emotion; and that my voice is still loud, clear and strong when I come home.

But, for now, I am a visitor. I am here to learn and to observe. I won't be able to do that if i stomp around pissed off all the time. So for the next 4 months I will learn to pretend my ears are closed while really taking note of every vulgar expression flung at me. And in 4 months I will leave that list of piropos in Argentina and come home with a better understanding of what it means to be a woman.