By Rodrigo Sac Amaya<\/b><\/p>\n
Conservatism, machismo, and religion can negatively influence access to proper sexual education and lead to inaccurate ideas about sexuality. This affects the development of Guatemalan men and education about human, sexual, and reproductive rights, as well as sexual diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n These three factors have inhibited their learning process. In Guatemala, many men are ignorant about the basics of sexuality. Families shy away from discussing these \u201ctaboo\u201d topics, and this causes their young boys to grow up learning misinformation. As adolescents, they are hesitant to ask their families or teachers about sexuality and rights. As young people and later as adults, shame or a lack of interest causes them to ignore these important themes.<\/span><\/p>\n As men, we used to strive to be masculine, strong, and machista. We are used to hearing comments such as \u201cMen don\u2019t go to the doctor,\u201d \u201cReal men don\u2019t use condoms,\u201d \u201cHaving multiple sexual partners is an achievement,\u201d or \u201cDon\u2019t talk about sexuality because it\u2019s shameful.\u201d Our role in society became flawed and subjected to prejudice. We were insecure and limited, and automatically closed ourselves off in a bubble.<\/span><\/p>\n This bubble prevented us from growing freely. It made us ignorant about sexual and reproductive rights. We shied away from finding out about basic matters, like getting to know our bodies and living free from discrimination and violence related to sexuality and gender identity. They are matters that we often learn about at home, and many times are absent from school curricula because we are taught to think it bad to discuss them.<\/span><\/p>\n How does all of this affect us?<\/b><\/p>\n As men, we are accustomed to not expressing who we are, keeping our feelings inside, and not discussing our vulnerabilities. We don\u2019t go to the doctor when we\u2019re sick because we\u2019re \u201cstrong.\u201d Often, these barriers cause us to hide. Harm begins when we are unable to let go of that which hurts us. We do not open up to other people, and everything stays inside. We repress ourselves so much because our (false) masculinity is at stake, and we have to defend it at all costs. We have not learned that we are missing out on knowledge and personal growth. Changing and knowing our sexual and reproductive rights doesn\u2019t just benefit us, but also those around us.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite this, there are organizations that provide spaces for men to learn about sexuality. According to the NGO Grupo de Apoya Xela (GAX), in 2020 and 2021, there were 672 men\u2014gay, bisexual, transmasc, and heterosexual\u2014interested in learning more about human rights and sexual diversity. In response to this interest, GAX offered programming including certification, talks, and training events that discussed sexuality.<\/span><\/p>\n There is still, however, a great challenge ahead: reaching those who do not have access to technology and men who are in rural areas of Quetzaltenango. It will be a group effort, but we each should think about how we can help individually. We grew up in spaces that were closed-off to different ideas, holding beliefs that limited us and kept us from a wide and diverse education. At first, it is hard to unlearn what we have been taught and be open to change, but the more we look within ourselves, the easier it will become. Those of us who have dared to know our bodies and fully enjoy our sexuality form part of a large group of people who recognize how important sexual and reproductive health is for everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Did you know?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n According to the Guatemalan Ministry of Health\u2019s Department of Epidemiology, through 2019 there were three-times as many men infected with HIV as women.<\/span><\/p>\n 6,414 men obtained condoms through the Ministry of Health in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2019, 46 out of every 100 people with an STI were men.<\/span><\/p>\n Rodrigo Sac Amaya is in charge of GAX\u2019s social media and communications.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rodrigo Sac Amaya Conservatism, machismo, and religion can negatively influence access to proper sexual education and lead to inaccurate ideas about sexuality. This affects the development of Guatemalan men and education about human, sexual, and reproductive rights, as well as sexual diversity. These three factors have inhibited their learning process. In Guatemala, many men […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[453,414,438],"tags":[560,3789,3788,3787,2698],"class_list":["post-9813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frontpage-en","category-world","category-youth","tag-guatemala-en","tag-men-and-sexual-rights","tag-new-masculinities","tag-new-masculinity-and-sexuality","tag-quetzaltenango-en"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/foto-rodrigo-1.jpeg?fit=1798%2C1199&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-2yh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3239,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/women\/the-shocking-statistics-of-guatemalas-teen-mothers\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":9813,"position":0},"title":"Guatemala’s teen mothers: behind the shocking statistics","author":"EntreMundos","date":"8 agosto, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2014, 71,000 pregnancies were registered in girls 10-19 years old. Photo: Girl at the kite festival of Sumpango, Sacatep\u00e9quez. Photo by Patricia Mac\u00edas. By Patricia Schwartz The annual \u201cOSAR\u201d (Observation of Sexual and Reproductive Health) study reveals the history of the precarious situation of underage mothers in Guatemala, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abFrontPage\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"FrontPage","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/frontpage-en\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/madresmenoresimg2.jpg?fit=1200%2C833&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/madresmenoresimg2.jpg?fit=1200%2C833&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/madresmenoresimg2.jpg?fit=1200%2C833&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/madresmenoresimg2.jpg?fit=1200%2C833&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/madresmenoresimg2.jpg?fit=1200%2C833&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5932,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/women\/micromachismos-another-type-of-violence-against-women\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":9813,"position":1},"title":"MicroMachismos: Another Type of Violence against Women","author":"EntreMundos","date":"11 noviembre, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By: Karen Legrand Guatemala is ranked as one of the most unsafe countries in the world for girls and women. According to the National Institute for Forensic Sciences (Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses, INACIF), in 2018 there were 628 reports of crimerelated deaths of women, meaning that two women were\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abFrontPage\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"FrontPage","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/frontpage-en\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/micromachismos.jpg?fit=1200%2C865&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/micromachismos.jpg?fit=1200%2C865&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/micromachismos.jpg?fit=1200%2C865&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/micromachismos.jpg?fit=1200%2C865&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/micromachismos.jpg?fit=1200%2C865&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9519,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/health\/the-pressing-need-for-comprehensive-education-regarding-sexual-and-reproductive-rights\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":9813,"position":2},"title":"The Pressing Need for Comprehensive Education Regarding Sexual and Reproductive Rights","author":"EntreMundos","date":"15 febrero, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Maria Fernanda Sandoval Criminal Attorney Specializing in Child Protection \u00a0 Reproductive and sexual rights are human rights which have inherent characteristics that are inalienable and untransferable.\u00a0 They are recognized by United Nations established standards specifically by the UN's Developmental Assistance Framework. Reproductive and sexual rights include the right to\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abFrontPage\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"FrontPage","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/frontpage-en\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10735,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/women\/interruta-against-sexual-harassment\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":9813,"position":3},"title":"InterRuta against sexual harassment","author":"EntreMundos","date":"17 mayo, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"RISE Sexual harassment can be defined as any practice that has a sexual connotation that is unwanted and has the potential to cause harm to the person who receives it. 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They explained to me that I could always say \u201cno\u201d when somebody wanted to do something to me that I didn\u2019t like.\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abHealth\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/health\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/foto-ale-para-diagramar-en-compu-ofi.png?fit=1047%2C1101&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/foto-ale-para-diagramar-en-compu-ofi.png?fit=1047%2C1101&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/foto-ale-para-diagramar-en-compu-ofi.png?fit=1047%2C1101&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/foto-ale-para-diagramar-en-compu-ofi.png?fit=1047%2C1101&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9814,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9813\/revisions\/9814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}