Marianismo
""Marianismo"" originally referred to the devotion to Mary (). The term was first used by political scientist Evelyn Stevens in her 1973 essay ""Marianismo": The Other Face of "Machismo"". It was in direct response to the male word "machismo" and was meant to explain the phenomenon in Latin America in which women were either "saints or whores". It 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. In essence, marianismo is the female counterpart to machismo, and as such, probably originated during the time of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Machismo
The English word "machismo" derives from the identical Spanish and Portuguese word. Portuguese and Spanish machismo refers to the assumption that masculinity is superior to femininity in males, a concept similar to R. W. Connell's hegemonic masculinity. Gender roles make an important part of human identity as we conduct our identities through our historical and current social actions. Machismo's attitudes and behaviours may be frowned upon or encouraged at various degrees in various societies or subcultures – albeit it is frequently associated with more patriarchial undertones, primarily in present views on the past.