Professor Jorge Aquino: The Reforming Machista

Men may rarely consider themselves to be feminists. In the case of USF Theology and Religious Studies Professor Jorge Aquino, however, feminism seems to be quite his expertise.
Professor Aquino spoke to USF affiliates at the Lone Mountain Campus on Wednesday afternoon regarding his ideals on feminist religion thought in the context of Theology and the Latina experience.
Aquino, a Cuban-American liberal male, said he considers himself to be a "reforming Machista-- not a woman, but a feminist."
About 20 audience members gathered as Aquino discussed the struggles many Latina women in America face through marginalization, liberation, cultural difference, and second-hand citizenship. According to Aquino, to be a Latina means to suffer a great deal of racial oppression and exclusion.
"Who will you find cleaning up a hotel room?" Aquino asked, then paused. "That's no accident."
Growing up in a Cuban household in Chesterfield, Missouri, Aquino is no stranger to such bias. As the only person of color in his town, he says that at age 7, he and his brother refused to learn the Spanish language to escape the verbal abuse imposed on his race.
He then reflected upon a hymn he heard in Catholic grade school: "Whatever you do for the least of these my brothers, you do to me" (The Book of Matthew). He says this verse carries the message of inspiration and the spirit of love that has influenced his interest in equality amongst humankind.
Aquino continued to argue in his speech that when we construct gender discourse in the world, mutuality between the sexes becomes interrupted. According to Aquino, America is currently in the "Nepantla" of "feminist consciousness," a term derived from the Aztec language indicating a place of confusion and crisis. In order to think beyond set sexual standards, he believes that we must center ourselves in between the two extremes.
"Why is [feminism] such a dirty word?" Aquino asked the audience. "[Today's] generation doesn't understand what the word means or what it constitutes."
As a result, feminism continues to be just as fluid today as in the past. It's easy for males and females to ignore that it still happens, according to Aquino.
In fact, The low number of female students studying Theology concerns him. He believes the frontiers many females face in the world are creating a backlash that needs to break.
Sexual harassment in the workplace, pornography, and sexual enslavement in third world countries are a few examples of what Aquino considers to be "gross facts of society."
Women shouldn't have to deal with this," he stated. "They need their dignity."
Aquino, now a graduate student with a doctorate in Religious Studies, feels that his culture's rough history with America as well as his Catholic faith are reasons to have doubted his destiny in teaching Theology.
"Teaching is something more succulent," he says. "I could only do this kind of work here at USF because not many schools allow you to think freely about your faith."
According to Aquino, Latin Theology is creative, syncretic, and hybrid. It mixes with different religions and saints, both Catholic and non-Catholic.
If men and women begin to incorporate the theories of Latin Theology and feminism, he hopes that society will cease the fire raging between gender roles and racial inequity.
Aquino concluded his discussion with the words of a Latina feminist: "one must stew, steep, and soak one's self in order to nourish and train the soul."

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