“Machismo,” drugs and street survival in a US-Mexico border community

Abstract

This article examines how many of the behavioral norms. values, and attitudes encapsulated in the cultural ideal of "machismo" are expressed through the interrelated activities of drug use and aggression among male Mexican heroin addicts ("tecatos") in a US-Mexico border community. Ideals of excess. risk. and outstripping others frame the onset and tra1ectory of drug use careers. The aggressive aspects of "machismo" provide the "tecato"with an effective means of adapting to a social life-world fraught with a variety of personal risks. Through enacting and re-creating the ideal of "machismo" in his day-to-day interactions the "tecato" gains social status as well as a means of self-defense and a strategy for drug use management. While recognizing the practical value of these attitudes many"tecatos" are also aware of their costs. In the context of life in the streets, aggression, along with excessive drug use, are emphasized to the exclusion of other more positive male attributes in Mexican society, including personal control and familial responsibility. On an ideal level such positive aspects of male gender expressions are recognized and culturally available but on a practical level they are rarely practiced. It is suggested that structural factors may mitigate against the expression of these more positive aspects of "machismo."