ABSTRACT
The Aztecs, or Mexicas, were the last of the nomadic tribes to enter the valley of Mexico from the north in the middle of the thirteenth century. La Chingada is symbolized in Mexican folklore by La Malinche, or Dona Marina, an Indian woman who was given as a slave to Hernan Cortes at the age of fourteen and who went on to serve as his translator and concubine. The mestizo macho, haunted by the bisexual quality of the Conquest, seeks not only to be dominant and aggressive in his household but also to conquer all women outside his household. Rejecting the explanation that machismo was a response to emasculation wrought by the Conquest, some have argued that machismo and the cult of masculinity were introduced to the New World by the Spanish conquistadores, who were themselves extremely macho. Contemporary Mexico is Mexico-Tenochtitlan, an indigenous people, culture, and civilization that have incorporated elements of Christianity and Western civilization.
