askchapo

The Young Lords tried doing something called "revolutionary machismo" and that was deemed as a failure strategy-wise.

Although gratified that the party had thought to include gender at all, the Women’s Caucus began to question this point, arguing that “revolutionary machismo” was a non-sequitor, or even an oxymoron, designed to keep gendered hierarchy intact. As Morales writes, one woman pointed out that “It’s like revolutionary racism. It just doesn’t make sense.”

At one of their first meetings, caucus members conducted a close reading of the 13-point program. When they came to point 10, the women laughed. It was obvious to them that this document was written by men. The idea of positive machismo made no sense. The word machismo implied aggression towards women. This work resulted in a “YLP Position Paper on Women.” It was published as a special insert in the September 25, 1970 issue of the Young Lords bilingual newspaper, Palante. Following the position paper, the leadership revised the 13-point program. The point on women was moved from point 10 to point 5. Machismo was no longer revolutionary. Instead, the Young Lords declared “Down with Machismo!”