Marianismo
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-Diaz, and Luis Romero. In their book, Gil and Vazquez use it as applicable across a variety of Latino/a cultures.
Marianismo
According to Marianismo beliefs, women are expected to be naïve about sex, which means that many girls and women are not taught about the spread of HIV. Women receive social status when they maintain the appearance that they know little about sex, including the extramarital affairs of their husbands. Many husbands have extramarital affairs as a way to prove their machismo, both with women and men. Men who have sex with men (MSM) often do not identify as gay, and in Peru, one study found that 47% of MSM reported to have had sex with a woman in the previous year, often without condoms, and many were married to a woman. This behavior, combined with the willing ignorance from wives of these affairs, puts women at risk of HIV contraction. Most women in Latin American cultures with HIV contracted it from their sole sex partner, their husband. Regardless of the sexual monogamy associated with Marianismo purity a woman adheres to, her status as HIV-positive threatens the identity she wants to associate with.