Celebrating Pride Month

Thu, Jun 1, 2023 – Fri, Jun 30, 2023, is Pride Month which means this is a good month for a deep reflection on machismo and how it affects the mental health status of Latinx communities. When the Spaniards. invaded Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America they brought with them very rigid and violent ideas about men and women in the new society they envisioned.

Unfortunately since the colonial era our cultura has been plagued by deeply problematic ways of understanding manhood as well as deeply conservative characterizations of how women should be perceived. These ideas of machismo leave little to no room for a deeply nuanced understanding of the diverse LGBTQIA+ community.

In Latinx cultures, there is really only one right way to be a man. You have to be “fierce, feo y formal” as one popular dicho says. Men must be emotionless, hard workers, courageous, and knowledgeable in “manly” things and provide for your wife and kids. The cultural pressures on men are many from being strong to being a womanizer. All of these ideas come from the traditions of the Spanish colonial era that ravaged Indigenous communities.

The colonial traditions waged such violence that many of our parents to this day still carry with them the stigma of being punished if they were perceived as not conforming to rigid gender stereotypes. Unfortunately this dynamic incites distress and violence and challenges to our collective mental health. If machismo can be understood deeply we must first understand it as a disease.

This month in honor of pride month, we at Los Cien invite all of you to reclaim our rich Indigenous roots by celebrating our pride community. In order to truly celebrate we must begin with an understanding that gender and sexual orientation do not conform to rigid stereotypes rather these are fluid and there are many ways of identifying and claiming an identity. Therefore in honor of claiming unique identities and to celebrate, we are partnering with Sonoma County Pride by co-hosting a Fiesta del Orgullo “Al Cien”! The event will be on June 2nd at 9pm, in downtown Santa Rosa, on the second floor of La Rosa Tequileria & Grille. May we continue to heal through coming together, having important conversations and remembering the diverse people we truly are!