Reflections on Orders of Gender, Cultural Mandates and Masculinities in Latin America

Abstract

At least four gender orders overlap, fuse and coexist with one another in Latin America. Each one—original, traditional, modern, neoliberal—has required the configuration of masculinities and femininities. They are orders that remain intertwined or fused; reinforcing and transforming the configurations of previous orders. The meta-order (patriarchy) has not definitively transformed the relations between men and women, nor between men and women and themselves. This article reflects on gender orders, cultural mandates and the findings from research in the region.