==Vergüenza==

Vergüenza((Smith, Robert C. Mexican New York Transnational LIves of New Immigrants. California: University of California Press, 2006.)) is a quality that most Mexican females possess, and according to Jack Katz, a professor of Sociology at UCLA, it is the “incapacity for action and a confession to self of moral incompetence in some regard.” The sentence used to describe a woman possessing “vergüenza” is: “ella tiene vergüenza” ( she has shame). The oxford dictionary defines shame as a “painful mental feeling around by having done something dishonorable or ridiculous.” Prof. Smith argues that in “ranchera femininity,” vergüenza is the “inability to respond (or at least the willingness not to respond) to male anger, the male gaze, or other exercises of male power. Hence, honor requires a woman to feel shame for being female in the presence of males.” If a Mexican woman challenges the authority of a male, she has dishonored herself and has not acted shamefully. Therefore, vergüenza goes hand in hand with male privilege and the male authority in marriage of respect.

((https://files.eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1101/2010/05/15154439/verguenza.jpg))

==Renegotiated Notions of Femininity==

The renegotiated notions of femininity are four models of migrant womanhood((Smith, Robert C. Mexican New York Transnational LIves of New Immigrants. California: University of California Press, 2006.)):

1. The first model is the hegemonic Ticuani image of a ranchera. A woman of this model defers to her husband and always shows shame and never displays anger or challenges male authority. She remains at home and takes care of the children and does domestic work. She also depends on her husband for economic support. She does not display any “inappropriate sentiments” according to Federico Besserer’s (a Mexican anthropologist) informants. “Inappropriate sentiments” include displaying anger or disagreement and therefore showing a lack of respect for men.
2. The second model is a Ticuani migrant woman who wants to peacefully renegotiate her roles and accommodate her husbands renegotiation of “ranchero masculinity.” She begins to work outside the “female space” that is, her home, and ventures into dealing with a few American institutions, such as schools. The husband begins involving himself with domestic work at home.
3. The third model is the pionera. She is an older Ticuani migrant woman, who is either divorced or widowed (or probably never married), living independently in New York, probably raising a family or living alone.
4. The fourth model is the New York woman, and she is an Americanized vision of independent womanhood, because she supports herself, does not need a man to make her happy, works, and probably would get married to an individual who shares her egalitarian views. This model however mirrors the views of the second generation more than the first generation female migrants.

==Alternative Image of Modern Masculinity (migrant)==

The alternative image of modern masculinity of a migrant((Smith, Robert C. Mexican New York Transnational LIves of New Immigrants. California: University of California Press, 2006.)) is adaptation to the new context where his partner must also work and using of violence (a “ranchero” prerogative) is against the state. They adapt to the needs of the family and this image I think represents most of the Mexican male migrants now present in this country.

==Enacting More Than One Image==

• Dona Talia- acknowledges husbands economic standing and therefore succumbs to her situation: Ticuani Migrant Femininity. She stays with her husband even though she is unhappy: ranchera role.Lets her daughter date by rejecting husband’s demands: pionera. But hides it from husband and stays with him anyway: Ticuani Migrant Femininity.
• Dona Selena- shares household work with husband: Ticuani Migrant femininity. Does not attend public events without her husband: Ranchera role. Also agrees with her husband about not letting their daughter date.
• Don Emiliano- not letting his daughter date: Ranchero role. Doing household work, taking his daughters to school: Modern Migrant. Does not let his family go to public events without him: Ranchero role. Uses earning of money as a rationalization to cross the line dividing men’s and women’s work: via assimilation, he becomes a Modern Migrant.