ABSTRACT
This chapter charts some major attributes of gender and sexuality ideologies and relationships from the pre-Conquest period to contemporary times. It first focuses on the period prior to the European Conquest, emphasizing the role of state expansion in Mesoamerica and the Andes in shaping ideologies, practices, and relationships. The following two sections turn to the European Conquest and postcolonial era, emphasizing the clash between indigenous and European constructions of gender and sexuality, and how and why shaping these was crucial for efforts at consolidating colonial rule and nascent Latin American and Caribbean nation-states. The chapter then turns to a discussion and critique of marianismo and machismo, two widespread models of gender and sexuality. The subsequent section centers on the expression of sexual identities and how these underpin gendered notions of masculinity and femininity. This is followed by an assessment of the controversy surrounding gender and violence in Amazonian societies. The chapter ends by examining how gender, courtship, and sexuality are being redefined by Mexican men and women whose lives straddle both sides of the Mexico-United States border.
