The lesser of two evils

I wanted to talk about Machismo tonight as my cultural post. I must say I didn't find much helpful info on Machismo on the internet. After a long time of reading articles I decided to just relly on my own knowledge of what Machismo is. I did find a decent definition.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about it: Machismo is a prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme masculism. In many cultures, machismo is acceptable and even expected.
Machismo is seen in many ways in Mexico. From early on in life women are taught to serve the men. You will see this in that men never serve themselves at get togethers or parties. The wife always asks "can I get you something". Often she won't even bother him with that question, she will just prepare him a plate.
The truth is that women have/are taking on a new role in Mexico. They are getting jobs and not fitting into the traditional womens role. They aren't always around to serve their husbands and be at their beck and call. This somewhat has influenced a small decline in Machismo. The problem is that men aren't adjusting as much to the new role because they have housekeepers that still do many of the things for them.
Machismo allows men to get away with having affairs. It is somewhat expected that Mexican men will have a misstress. It is even acceptable that they have two families that they support at the same time. One being their wife and family the other being the misstress and any children they might have. Machismo is also part of the reason why I feel that strip clubs are so successfull in Mexico. I often joke that any town in Texas, no matter the population, will have a Dairy Queen and a Church of Christ. Well, any Mexican town will have a strip club.
You might have heard that when Mexican girls turn 15 their families throw a big party for them to celebrate that they are entering womenhood. Well, it is not unheard of for a 15 year old boy to be taken by his father to a prostitute to have sex. This is their way of celebrating entrance into manhood! It is completely accepted by the culture.
Machismo can also be seen by the "right" men have to shout unacceptable remarks and whistle at women. In December I was putting the kids in the car after their school program and a pickup drove by and the "man" in the passanger seat grabbed my rear end and yelled obscene things to me. This is just part of being machista!
Well, there are other things that can be said about machismo but I will leave it to you to find out more about it. Please remember I am not saying this is how all Mexican men are. I am simply defining Machismo - not Mexican men.
The reason I wanted to write about machismo is because I always joke that the men on Cory's baseball team are Machistas. I do not mean that they are sleeping around, yelling obscene things, etc. I simply use the term to mean that they are very manly men. They are very proud and confident in themselves.
Well, we showed up for Cory's game yesterday. I showed up in my team jersey (as do most of the wives) and with my glove because I wanted to play catch with Josiah during the game. Right as the game is getting ready to start our team realizes they are going to have to forfeit because they are one player short. This is where the two evils come into play. It would be very degrading for them to have to forfeit. Jokingly I said to them. "I have my jersey on and I brought my glove!". They sat and thought for a while - it seemed like a really long while. The l0oks on their faces were great. I could see the debate going on in their head - "which is more degrading to forfeit or to play with a woman on our team?". After much troubled thought they invited me into the dugout. I was shocked, I didn't really mean it! I never thought that they would go for it. Next think I know I am behind home base with a catchers mask on and the game has started. I think my heart pounded faster than it ever has - I just knew I was going to mess up and the Machista men were going to have their way with me. Well long story short, I hit all three times up to bat, I advanced runners, had no errors, over all I did ok.
My tennis shoes are a little old and they are stretched out. The second time I was running to second my shoe went one direction while my foot went another. Next thing I know I am slidding face first into first base - oops it was a little emberassing. My whole knee is black! It was a lot of fun and I still can't believe they let me play.