Abstract

SZASZ, Ivonne; ROJAS, Olga  and  CASTREJON, José Luis. Gender Inequality in the Conjugal Relations and Sexual Practices of Mexican Men. Estud. demogr. urbanos [online]. 2008, vol.23, n.2, pp.205-232.  Epub Aug 30, 2019. ISSN 2448-6515.  https://doi.org/10.24201/edu.v23i2.1310.

The aim of this paper is to use the results of the Reproductive Health Survey on the Population Affiliated to the Mexican Social Security Institute to explore the hypotheses drawn from qualitative studies. These exploratory studies suggest significant connections between the construction of male identities and contraceptive practices, sexual relations and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. They also point to the existence of marked generational and class differences in the gender inequalities expressed in conjugal relations.

Bearing this in mind, we tried to test the hypothesis that when gender relations are more authoritarian within the couple, men are more inclined to engage in sexual practices that may pose a threat to their health or that of their partners. We therefore adjusted three logistic regression models, whose variable dependents included some that indicate sexual practices that may imply risks and we checked to see whether the expected relationship continued when we included the joint influence of the variables indicating male supremacy in conjugal relations as well as the socio-economic stratum and age of the men studied.

Keywords : gender inequality; power relations; conjugal partner; sexual practices; male identity; generational differences; socio-economic stratum.