A reckoning over machismo is long overdue within San Francisco’s Latinx communities.
At this point, it’s an understatement to say that toxic masculinity is deeply woven throughout our culture. It haunts us across generations, with women and LGTBQ+ people paying the highest price — with their sanity, their bodies and their lives.
One of the most painful parts of machismo is the cult of silence that surrounds it. It isolates victims who speak out. It ends friendships. And ultimately, it divides our communities, who can’t seem to agree on how to hold each other accountable while also trying to move forward. It weakens us, especially in a time when we must unite against political attacks on our Latinx working-class communities.
How can we heal? As a community newspaper, El Tecolote’s role is to give space to voices and stories that are too often unheard, in the hope of sparking necessary conversations.
To that end, we are in the beginning stages of launching “La Trenza,” a social-first video column that seeks to unravel the complicated ways toxic masculinity shows up in our lives. By untangling entrenched dynamics that do not serve us, we hope to help create a healthier community for us all.
From participants, this project will require vulnerability, and ultimately, power: to talk about your experience, in all of its complexity and nuance. From us, it will require storytelling that adapts to the unique stories and needs of participants, providing them with complete control over each part of the process. From all of us, it will require listening, with respect and without judgment.
If you are interested in participating in our project, or just want to learn more, please send an email to erika@eltecolote.org.