We haven’t had any riddles here for a while, so let’s liven things up with a riddle. Fellow Hispanists, please abstain from answering because it’s too easy for you.

My students were presenting their research projects today, and the issue of machismo (Latin American sexism) kept coming up. So let’s see how well you understand the real macho manhood.

Which activity should a man engage in at least once in his life to prove that he is a real macho?

The answer is under the fold.

A real macho is the man who has had sex with another man at least once. Homosociality ⇒homoeroticism ⇒homosexuality. Not always of course, but there is a lot of fantasy life leading in that direction among gender-segregated societies.

The machos insist that the only reason why a real macho needs to have sex with another man at least once is to know for sure sure sure that he is not into it.

Yeah, right.

Reader xykademiqz gave the closest response, so I guess she is the real macho around here.

19 responses to “A Real Man: A Riddle”

  1. David P. Bellamy Avatar

    Sex with a prostitute? An anthropologist told me several years ago that in some Central American countries, a boy’s visiting a prostitute with his father is a rite of passage.

    Like

  2. cliff arroyo Avatar

    Sex with a donkey?

    Hey, no one every accused me of raising the tone in this type of discussion…

    I’m not a hispanicist but I think I know the answer but will abstain (pun unintended) for the time being.

    Like

    1. Clarissa Avatar

      You teach Spanish so you’ve totally got to abstain. 🙂

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      1. cliff arroyo Avatar

        Actually I don’t teach Spanish. I’m fairly fluent (active skills are rusty through disuse) but my teaching goes in different directions. I wouldn’t mind trying in the abstract but getting skills backwould be a long haul.

        As much as I love the language and Iberian (and some Latin) culture my interests are now swaying strongly toward SW Europe esp the Black Sea and Aegean (from where I write these words looking at the coast of Turkey).

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        1. Clarissa Avatar

          Ha! Then why was I so sure you taught Spanish?

          I wish the end of the academic year just ended already because it’s making me loopy.

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  3. el Avatar
    el

    Visit a bull fight?

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  4. Clarissa Avatar
    Clarissa

    Come on, people, you can do it! Let’s keep going in the direction of sex.

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  5. Jones Avatar
    Jones

    [cough] prostate examination [cough]

    [turns my head] [cough]

    🙂

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      Well, you could call it that, I guess. 🙂

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      1. xykademiqz Avatar

        So what’s the answer? I have no idea, but from your hint I would say raping another man?

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        1. Clarissa Avatar

          The answer has been posted under the fold!!!

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  6. Ol Avatar
    Ol

    I think that I am a hispanist and I swear I did not have a clue before reading the replies.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      It seems like the end of the academic year is getting to you, too. 🙂

      Like

  7. Ol Avatar
    Ol

    Clearly there are major flaws in my education.

    Like

  8. xykademiqz Avatar

    Reader xykademiqz gave the closest response, so I guess she is the real macho around here.

    Yey! I am macho!

    This calls for a video clip I remember from my childhood:

    Like

  9. cliff arroyo Avatar

    That’s what I thought though the rationalizations were different.

    Penetrating a woman = everyday, any guy can do that

    Penetrating a man = penetrating a penetrator, a feat!

    Needless to say, the macho guy can only be the pitcher, never the catcher

    I seem to recall that being “the boy” in such interactions is not necessarily regarded as “gay”. And that’s a pattern found all around the mediterranean basin.
    The film director Passolini was killed IIRC by a working class male prostitute who was mortally offended that the director wanted him to be “the girl”….

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      Exactly. To every statement of the comment. 🙂

      Like

  10. Jones Avatar
    Jones

    Oh c’mon, I gave a huge hint … 🙂

    Like

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