ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Central American “women on the run” They are escaping the emergence of feminicide, which, it contends, is as an outcome of the devastation of an original, land-based, patriarchal, honor-bound society, the Maya, by a series of invasions, first by the similarly honor-bound Spanish, then by the United States. These have led to the repeated humiliation of men. One result of this is the development of machismo, a masculine identity which emerged as men transitioned from owning and working the land to work in less satisfying endeavors, forced upon them by industrialization. This multi-faceted situation has led to corrupt governments, failed elementary educational systems, poverty, and an overarching disrespect for law, especially that which exists to protect women. From this has emerged feminismo. Without a container, called a “Moral Third” by Benjamin (2018), numbers of men are vulnerable to feelings of humiliation and helpless rage which they then turn upon their women.
Women, meanwhile, are portrayed as taking up a submissive (marianista) role, supported by the Church. They are described as dependent on their men for practical and unconscious psychological reasons, which make separation difficult. Separation instigates massive resistance, their own and the resistance of others.
