Marianismo is the stereotyped gender role of females in Mexican society. To fully understand the meaning of Marianismo we must first understand Machismo, explore their origin (the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes) and discuss how Marianismo has changed in the recent past.

These gender roles are the direct consequence of the Spanish influence from the time that Spain conquered Mexico. When Hernan Cortes and the conquistadors came to christianize the indigenous population of Mexico they were "Flushed with the courage of errant knights, guided by a determination to spread their faith, and feverish with wild dreams of fame and fortune," (Gutierrez p.41). This image of the conquistador became prototype of the modern macho male. Therefore Marianismo can thought of as a reaction to the macho behavior implanted by the Spanish.

Machismo is characterized by hypervirility, the aggressive masculine behavior that is expected of the Latin American male. One who is macho is admired for his physical strength, bold sexual advances toward women, great sexual prowess, self-confidence and bravery. Macho men express these characteristics through both their words and their actions.

Marianismo, the female counterpart, is characterized by hyperfeminine behavior. "The roots of Marianismo are both deep and widespread, springing apparently from the primitive awe at woman's ability to produce a living human creature from inside her own body," (Stevens p. 5). The Mariana is pure, submissive to her father, brothers and spouse, and lacks sexual desires. The ideal Mariana is often thought of as someone like the Virgin Mary. Marianismo is not a religious practice although the word "Marianism" is sometimes used to describe a movement within the Roman Catholic church which has as its object the special veneration of the figure of the Virgin Mary, (Stevens p. 5).

"The characterization of women throughout Mexican literature has been profoundly influenced by two archetypes present in the Mexican psyche: that of a woman who has kelp her virginity and that of the one who has lost it," (Leal p.227) The Mariana being the virginal archetype and the other Octavio Paz would call the "Malinche." The malinche is the violated woman. Dona Marina is one of the oldest female characters that can be traced back to the earliest Mexican writers such as Bernal Daiz de Castillo who was the chronicler of the sixteenth-century Mexican conquest. She became the prototype for the malinche because she was Cortes' lover and interpreter and was abandoned with their illegitimate child. "Marina became the epitome of the person who betrays the homeland by aiding the enemy," (Leal p. 227).

Since the 1970's Marianismo has taken on a new meaning which "is just as prevalent as Machismo but is less understood by Latin Americans themselves and almost unknown to foreigners," (Stevens p. 4) With the women's movement Marianismo has evolved into a "cult of feminine spiritual superiority, which teaches that women are semidivine, morally superior to and spiritually stronger than men," (Stevens p. 4) and have a much greater capacity for sacrifice.

In conclusion Marianismo is the expected gender role of the Mexican woman. A woman's reputation is determined by how well she lives up to the example of feminine virtue. Only in the last few decades has it been the major focus of Latin American women's studies. It has now evolved into a term used to describe the feminine spiritual superiority, moral superiority and spiritual strength of the modern Mexican woman.

Stevens, Evelyn P. "Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo in Latin America," in Gertrude M. Yeager, ed., Confronting Change, Challenging Tradition: Women in Latin American History (Wilmington: Jaguar books on Latin America ; no. 7, 1994) pp. 3-17.

Gutierrez, Ramon A (1991) When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and power in New Mexico, 1500-1846. Stanford University Press. Stanford CA.

Leal, Luis. "Femal Archetypes in Mexican Literature," in Beth Miller, ed., Women in Hispanic Literature Icons and Fallen Idols. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) pp.227-242.