Marianismo is a Spanish American term that describes an ideal of true femininity with characteristics derived from the devotional cult of St. Mary of Guadalupe, a central figure of Roman Catholicism in Mexico. It defines standards for the female gender role in Hispanic American folk cultures, and is strictly intertwined with machismo and Roman Catholicism.
Marianismo revolves around the veneration for feminine virtues like interpersonal harmony, inner strength, self-sacrifice, family, chastity, and morality among Hispanic/Latina women. More ideals regarding the female gender role held within marianismo in Hispanic American culture include those of feminine passivity, sexual purity, and self-silencing. Evelyn Stevens, political scientist, states: "[I]t teaches that women are semi-divine, morally superior to and spiritually stronger than men."
Origin of term
"Marianismo" originally referred to a devotion towards the Blessed Virgin Mary (Spanish: María). The term was first used by political scientist Evelyn Stevens in her 1973 essay "Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo". It was coined as a female counterpart to machismo, the hispanic ideal of masculinity. Marianismo is the supposed ideal of true femininity that women are supposed to live up to—i.e. being modest, virtuous, and sexually abstinent until marriage—and then being faithful and subordinate to their husbands. Although Stevens was the first to use the term, the concept probably originated at the same as machismo, during the time of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
In their book The Maria Paradox: How Latinas Can Merge Old World Traditions with New World Self-esteem (1996, G. P. Putnam), Rosa Maria Gil and Carmen Inoa Vazquez credit Stevens with introducing the concept of marianismo, citing the "ground-breaking essay written by Evelyn P. Stevens in 1973". They also discuss use of the term by academicians such as Sally E. Romero, Julia M. Ramos-McKay, Lillian Comas-Díaz, and Luis Romero. In their book, Gil and Vazquez use it as applicable across a variety of Hispanic cultures.
Evelyn Stevens' Contributions
In her essay, Stevens defines Marianismo as "the cult of female spiritual superiority, which teaches that women are semidivine, morally superior to and spiritually stronger than men." She explains the characteristics of machismo: "exaggerated aggressiveness in intransigence in male-to-male interpersonal relationships and arrogance and sexual aggression in male-to-female relationships." Stevens argues that marianismo and machismo are complements, and that one cannot exist without the other.
Origin of Marianismo
Stevens believes that marianismo is rooted in the awe and worship of female bodies, particularly in the context of pregnancy, exemplified by early cultures. She discusses the various versions of holy Mother figures found through the world, such as Ninhursaga, Mah, Ninmah, Innana, Ishtar, Astarte, Nintu, and Aruru. In many of these goddess' myths, there are stories of the young male figure in their lives, be it a son or lover, disappearing. The response of the goddesses is typically grief, and as she grieves the earth is barren. Stevens argues that this may be an allegory or explanation of the seasons. Stevens points out that the monotheistic structure of Christianity did not produce a woman-figure to venerate, especially in early Christianity, which was deeply rooted in Hebrew beliefs. Around 431 AD, people began to exalt the popular figure of Mary, Mother of Jesus. As veneration of her grew, so did concern from Protestant leaders, who believed people were practicing Mariolatry.
When Spanish colonists brought Catholicism to what is now modern-day Mexico, a Native American man, who took the name Juan Diego, is said to have seen a vision of the "Most Holy Mother of God" on a mound in Tepeyac, north of what is now Mexico City. Before Christianity was introduced to the continent, Native Americans in the region believed the mound to be sacred to the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, or "Our Mother". The vision Diego saw was eventually named "Our Lady of Guadalupe" and made patroness of Mexico by Pope Benedict XIV in 1756. Our Lady of Guadalupe quickly gained prestige in Hispanic America. Father Hidalgo lead rebels with the famous Grito de Dolores in 1810: "¡Viva Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, muera el mal gobierno, mueran los gachupines!" ( "Long live our Lady of Guadalupe, down with bad government, down with the spurred ones" (or Spanish Mexicans))