Gender, sexuality and violence in Ecuador*

Resumen

The following article, based on field work in a mestizo parish in Highland Ecuador, examines how women (and some men) describe and interpret marital violence. Their interpretations are analyzed with reference to the socio‐economic conditions of the area of study, and with reference to the dominant gender ideology in mestizo societies, characterized by machismo/marianismo. It is argued that discrepancies between an ideology of male dominance and a much more equalitarian practice, together with an ambiguous notion of masculinity as both powerful and extremely fragile, dependent on female sexual conduct, create an “insecurity of maleness” which under certain circumstances is dealt with in violent terms.