In Junot Diaz's short story collection Drown, the male protagonists of the stories project their ideas of masculinity onto the women with whom they interact. The resulting force is toxic overcompensation that affects every daily interaction, whether with their children, friends, wives, or strangers. The exaggerated machismo evident throughout the book is not only representative of societal norms, it also speaks specifically to the experience of men and women within Dominican culture. Gloria Anzaldua comments and critiques similar traditions that exist within her culture in excerpts from her book Borderlands/La Frontera, in which she discusses the nuances of race and gender in relation to her own cultural identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay In her book, Anzaldua writes in a combination of Spanish and English in order to simultaneously critique, alienate, and engage her readers. His use of “Spanglish” allows him to create a space to express his opinion that does not exist in either the Chicano or white American cultures around him. Additionally, her attention to boundaries, particularly those that exist between languages, cultures, and genders, allows her to highlight how many people do not fit into either side of a binary. This is an issue that heavily affects the Latino immigrant community in the United States, as assimilation into the American way of life marks them as traitors to their culture, despite the fact that they are never fully accepted by American culture, whatever their sacrifices. Women are even more affected because, according to Anzaldua, “culture is made by the men in power” (Anzaldua 1018). While men struggle to find an identity in a new environment, women are not even welcome in their own culture. Anzaldua claims that “nothing about my culture approved of me” and that “every shred of self-confidence that I had painstakingly mustered was tested daily” (Anzaldua 1018). She was discouraged from pursuing interests such as "studying, reading, painting, writing", and her refusal to fulfill the role of a housewife led her family to view her as "lazy" (Anzaldua 1018). Since men are inherently powerful in its culture, they are able to “make the rules and laws” while “women pass them on” (Anzaldua 1018). This means that even though women do not participate in creating the ideological beliefs of their culture, they reify them through their behavior. A woman in Chicano culture is a good subject for ideology by “renouncing herself in favor of the male” and “remaining a virgin until she marries” (Anzaldua 1018). Women also verbally perpetuate oppressive behavior towards their gender by teaching their daughters to submit to men. Anzaldua proves this point by referring to his own personal experience: How many times have I heard mothers and mothers-in-law tell their sons to beat their wives because they did not obey them, because they were hociconas (loud mouths), because they were callejeras (I go to visit them) and gossip with the neighbors), to expect their husband to help them with raising their children and with household chores, to want to be something else as a housewife? (Anzaldua 1018). This is illustrated in Diaz's short stories, as the female characters conform to men, even in the face of blatant disrespect. In Anzaldua's real world and in thefictional world created by Drown, women are objectified in ways that serve men, whether they are sexualized or degraded in ways that allow men to vent their fears and frustrations without compromising their masculinity or power. Perhaps one of the most notable indicators of gender discrimination in Drown is the constant sexualization of every female character encountered by the male protagonists. It begins at the beginning of the book, since the first story “Ysrael” features a young Rafa telling his brother, “Am I going crazy? chinga all my daughters and then chinga all the others” (Diaz 4). From a young age, boys learn to view girls as sexual conquests rather than people. An example is in the story "How to Date a Browngirl..." in which the narrator, who is assumed to be Yunior, attempts to give dating advice and assures the reader, "If it's a white girl, you know that you will have at least some manual labor” (Diaz 144). Throughout this story, Yunior dehumanizes all girls by stripping them of their individuality and viewing them as mere vessels for sex. He tells the reader, "A local girl may have thick hips and a thick ass, but she won't be quick to let you touch her... She might kiss you and then leave, or she might, if she's careless, give up... A girl White might give up right away. (Díaz 147). Additionally, adult men encourage this behavior, as can be seen in the story "Fiesta, 1980" when Yunior's uncle Miguel tells him and his mother that "in Santo Domingo, he would already be fucking” (Diaz 31). . In this scene, Miguel treats the subject of sexual intercourse as a rite of passage for men. Meanwhile, double standards in Latino culture create a paradoxical situation in which men are expected to have sex with women, who are looked down upon if they do not remain virginal until marriage. Because of this, men are allowed to talk a lot more about the women they interact with, while women must remain secretive. For example, in the story "Edison, New Jersey", a casual conversation between the narrator and his friend Wayne takes place during which the narrator is asked, "Have you even bought any?" and he responds, “Hell yeah…Homegirl was an animal.” I still have the teeth marks” (Diaz 138). In each of the stories, the men assert their masculinity and project their insecurities about their own sexuality onto the women by controlling the narrative and dramatizing their sexual encounters in ways that make them appear powerful. Another way in which men overcompensate for their fragile masculinity is through physical violence against women. Yunior and Rafa's Papi exerts physical power over his wife in the story "Fiesta, 1980", first seen when he enters a room and Yunior relates that he "didn't tell anyone, not even to my mothers. He simply passed her by” (Diaz 23). Her physical presence is so overt that Yunior describes her younger sister as being "too scared to open her eyes" because "being with Papi all her life had turned her into a major league wimp." Every time Papi raised his voice, his lip began to tremble, like a specialized tuning fork” (Diaz 26). Madai learned submission to men from a young age, with the dynamic between her mother and father being her first example of a relationship. Physical violence is also a common theme in the story "Aurora", which is meant to be primarily about love. Lucero attempts to reconcile his abusive relationship with Aurora when he says, "She once tried.