New research published in sexual roles Rural Mexican parents reported that although they often explicitly rejected myths of masculinity and rape in surveys, they still reproduced gendered assumptions about risk and responsibility in everyday conversation.
Psychological research on sexual violence has disproportionately focused on Western educated, industrialized, wealthy, and democratic (WEIRD) populations, according to researcher Andrea S. Medrano and others. In Mexico, the authors place sexual violence within the broader context of gender inequality, rural underreporting, limited institutional resources, geographic isolation, and cultural norms surrounding gender. Rural women may face additional vulnerabilities as stigma, distrust of authorities and limited services can make violence less visible and less likely to be reported.
The authors investigated how parents in rural Mexico understand sexual harassment and rape, and how these understandings are shaped by machismo, caballerismo, and rape myths. This study focused on parents because families are important places where children learn about gender, safety, responsibility, and risk.
Medrano et al. distinguish between traditional machismo, which centers on male superiority, domination, and gender hierarchy, and caballerismo, which emphasizes family responsibility, respect, and chivalry. They were particularly interested in whether parents’ survey responses matched the way they talked about sexual violence in interviews.
The researchers surveyed 200 parents of adolescents recruited through two public schools in a rural town in the state of Mexico. Participants had to be 18 years of age or older, live in a rural town, and be the parent or primary caregiver of an adolescent enrolled in one of the schools.
Most of the participants were women, many were housewives, most lived in poverty, and most had less than primary school education. The town itself was small and largely indigenous. Participants were recruited at monthly parent-teacher meetings with support from school directors and recommendations from other participating families. Parents completed a 60- to 90-minute paper-and-pencil survey in Spanish at school in April and May 2021.
Participants reported demographic information such as age, gender, and household income, as well as two key indicators. The Traditional Machismo and Cavallerismo scale was a 20-item scale divided into two 10-item subscales that assessed masculinity beliefs by capturing dominance-oriented beliefs about masculinity, power, and gender hierarchies. The Cavallerismo subscale captured a more relational form of masculinity centered around manners, family responsibilities, and emotional connections. Item agreement was rated on a scale of 1 to 7. Rape myth acceptance was assessed using the short form of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, which asked participants to rate their agreement with statements reflecting common myths about sexual violence on a scale of 1 to 5.
In addition to the survey, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with a randomly selected subsample of 16 parents, 12 mothers, and 4 fathers who had previously completed the quantitative survey. These interviews were conducted in Spanish by the first author and focused on community violence, gender risk, sexual harassment, rape, and how parents discuss safety with youth.
The researchers were interested in how parents understand sexual violence in everyday language. The interviews were conducted as part of a broader project on the experiences of violence, harassment, mental health, and resilience among families in rural Mexico. Although the interview guide did not directly ask about “rape myths” as a formal concept, questions about neighborhood risk, gender vulnerability, sexual harassment, rape, and parent-youth conversations naturally elicited parental assumptions about responsibility, safety, gender, and harm.
Interviews were transcribed in Spanish, translated into English, and checked by bilingual and bicultural research assistants to preserve meaning and cultural nuance. This allowed the authors to compare explicit investigative attitudes with more implicit logics manifested in parents’ narratives.
Overall, parents did not strongly support traditional masculinity or rape myths. Men report higher levels of traditional masculinity than women, meaning they are more likely to endorse beliefs tied to male superiority, strength, and control. However, men and women did not differ significantly in cavallerismo, suggesting that a more family-oriented and respect-based version of masculinity was similarly endorsed by both genders. Additionally, men and women did not differ significantly in their overall rape myth acceptance scores.
Traditional masculinity was associated with increased acceptance of rape myths, and parents who more strongly endorsed domination-based masculinity were also more likely to endorse myths that shift blame away from perpetrators or minimize sexual violence.
In contrast, caballerismo was associated with lower acceptance of rape myths, suggesting that values centered on respect, family responsibility, and emotional connection may serve a different function than traditional machismo. The association between traditional masculinity and acceptance of rape myths was stronger among women, suggesting that women may also be able to participate in transmitting patriarchal beliefs, particularly through family and parenting practices.
Interestingly, parents’ interview narratives often relied on the logic of rape myths in subtle ways. Although many parents perceived sexual harassment and rape to be neighborhood risks, they often explained those risks through gendered expectations about how girls behave, dress, supervise, and move in public. Some parents said girls and women need to be especially careful, avoid being alone, monitor their surroundings and do things that reduce risk. Parents also often portrayed women as more emotionally affected by violence, whereas men were more resilient or more exposed to public violence.
The authors identified three major themes. The first was gendered patterns of violence, risk and vulnerability. Parents explained that men and women face different types of danger, and that women are often portrayed as vulnerable both in public and at home. The second was supporting and challenging rape myths. Some parents reproduced victim-blaming ideas or minimized certain forms of harassment, while others challenged these beliefs and spoke about consent, boundaries, and respect. The third was parenting and protective socialization. Parents explained that they try to protect their children through gender-specific advice, teaching daughters to be cautious and teaching sons not to be machistas or disrespectful towards girls and women.
Taken together, the results show that there is a tension between explicit rejection and implicit replication. Although parents were generally less supportive of rape myths in formal surveys, in conversations many parents cited the culturally familiar idea that girls and women are responsible for risk management.
The authors point out that standardized measures like the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale may not fully capture culturally specific rape myths in rural Mexico, such as maternal blame, victim credibility, and narrow ideas about what counts as a “real” rape.
The study, “Machismo, Rape Myths, and Sexual Violence: A Mixed Methods Study of Parental Beliefs and Gendered Risk Conversations in Rural Mexico,” was authored by Andrea S. Medrano, Courtney M. Medina, Ashley Harvey, Darragh Ganu, and Maira A. del Carmen.
