Lorenza Martinez

Subculture: The meaning of style by Dick Hebdige

The dictionary defines subcultures as groups that have beliefs and behaviors that are
different from the main groups within a culture or society*. Dick Hebdige also uses the
term subordinate groups (page 1), this means that this groups are not a majority of the
total population of a given society. Therefore, societies are formed by dominant and
subordinate groups.

I grew in Colombia and I have lived there my whole life. In my country, there is a very
strong and aggressive masculine pride that we call machismo. I strongly identify with
the women who are against it, who dont tolerate it and who fight against it. I think that
we can call it feminism. In Colombia, the ordinary behavior (page 5) is thinking that,
women who are mistreated -it can be physical or psychological- were looking for it. In
fact, according to an inquiry that was made by the United Nations and the Presidency of
the Republic, they found out that 59% of the men who were inquired thought that the
women who dressed in a provocative way were exposing themselves to be raped.
32% assured that men should control women and 36% said that women should always
obey their husband. Furthermore, 41% thought that women should stay at home and
take care of the children.
These results show the poor idea that many men have of women. However, whats
worst, is that many women accept the other sexs hegemony. One of the best examples
happened in 2011. Herman Gomez, who was the couch of the soccer team at the time,

beat a woman in a bar in Bogota and one of the senators said that if her husband beat
her it would be because she had looked for it. Women are seen as beautiful objects and
you can not walk down a street without hearing a degrading and humiliating
compliment or a whistle. In a way, you can describe men as the dominant group an
women as the marginal one. They are the ruling gender.

I have called myself a feminist for a few years now and, because of it, I have had to
explain the term a thousand of times. I have had many arguments with people because
they dont think that believing in gender equality is the same thing as being a feminist. I
have had to explain why I am not a feminazzi (an why that word is absolutely
pejorative). I am one of those Colombians who believes that hatred towards woman
prevent the county from developing and improving because, as Gabriel Garca Marquez
once said, I dont believe that one sex is superior to the other one. I believe that they
are different () But mens hegemony has wasted a ten thousand years opportunity.

Sources:

*"Subculture." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

** Yahoo, https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090224170406AAvqGvr
Que las mujeres manejen el mundo. app.eltiempo.com. El Tiempo, 4 October 1992.
El Machismo En Colombia, Una Realidad Que Asusta. vivecaribe.co. Vive Caribe.
August 14, 2014