Paternalism and Machismo in History: Origins and Consequences
Introduction to Paternalism
What is Paternalism and How Has It Influenced History?
Paternalism is a system of beliefs and practices that assumes men know what is best for women. Throughout history, we have witnessed the imposition of gender-based roles and expectations, where men assume the role of protectors and providers, considering women to be fragile and in need of male guidance. Paternalism can be understood as the application of the authority and protection typical of the traditional pater familias, aimed at achieving the best for everyone through the decisions he makes. This paternalistic approach has perpetuated inequalities and restricted women's potential and autonomy.
Machismo: Breaking Harmful Stereotypes
Machismo is an abhorrent behavior promoted, according to some, by Christianity. It is made up of attitudes and behaviors that unjustifiably violate the dignity of women in comparison to men, being one of the elements on which misogyny is based, as both behaviors have the same origin. Machismo is a phenomenon that has profoundly affected women for over 20 centuries.
One of the most negative aspects of machismo, which has allowed it to survive for many generations, is that women, as a result of stereotyped religious fanaticism, have given it validity. Clerical submission has led them to believe that they are inferior and that their dependence on men is absolute, as this has been established in sacred texts as a mandate from God. Many authors, generally religious fanatics in the service of Christianity, have attributed many causes to machismo and have gone so far as to claim that such aberrant behavior originated in the Paleolithic era, in an attempt to exclude Christianity's responsibility as its sole creators, far removed from the Paleolithic period.
The Origins and Promotion of Machismo
Although paternalism has existed since time immemorial in many ancient and current societies, it is notable that, for religious interests, attempts have been made to confuse paternalism with machismo. This has been done to theoretically mitigate the negative effects of the latter on women. While in paternalism the role of men is to be protectors and providers, in machismo, the role of men is to be the owner, master, and possessor of women; it is a kind of veiled slavery, created as a result of interested interpretations of "sacred" texts by the theologians of the Church in the early days of Christianity, specifically in chapter 2, the second creation contained in Genesis of the Old Testament. Here, women are given to men as an object of their possession, invoking the name of God.
In our societies, women are taught from birth to be self-sacrificing, weak, self-denying, sacrificial, giving, submissive, and above all, dependent on men. Simultaneously, men are taught to be dominant, aggressive, daring, authoritarian, and seductive, with the weakness, inferiority, and dependence of women being emphasized, all carefully structured by religion to conceal the institutionalized dominance of men over women. This interpretation and delivery will be addressed in depth in subsequent writings related to this subject.
Conclusion
In this brief overview of ancient history, it can be observed that in the cultures and religions of those times, women were considered mother goddesses, divinities who exercised power over all things, with fundamental roles to fulfill. They were respected, appreciated, and loved. In these remote periods of human history, moral, ethical, religious, legal, and political values were structured by and around women. Even when the transition from gynocracy to matriarchy and then to paternalism occurred, women never lost their fundamental position in societies. Unfortunately, this preeminence of women was gradually discarded by Christianity from the 1st century onwards, to strengthen the machismo created by its interpreters and to eliminate any value that women may have had in humanity's past that could influence the misogyny also developed by Christianity and Catholicism during the following centuries, with the purpose of giving credibility to the interpretations of the early chapters of Genesis by the doctors, theologians, and saints of the Church.






