Claudia Sheinbaum, about the macho statements of Chicharito Hernández: “You have a lot to learn”

President Claudia Sheinbaum said at the Mañanera Conference on Wednesday that the Mexican footballer, Javier Hernández, also known as Chicharito, “has a lot to learn” about women and added that he has very macho ideas. This comment occurred after the player, who has been part of the Mexican National Team, dedicated his last video on social networks to point out that “women are failing.” According to Hernández’s sayings, this occurs because women “eradicate masculinity, making hypersensitive society” and invites them to embody their “female energy” with tasks such as caring, cleaning and “holding the home, the most precious place for men.”

After the president was questioned about her opinion about the player’s statements, she said with a smile that the front center is “very good footballer”, but that women can do what they want, because there must be an equality relationship. Sheinbaum said that while the idea that women must be at home, they actually have “everything to develop” and for this the social conditions to achieve it must also be generated.

The president clarified that it is not about poleminating with Chicharito, who was recognized twice that she is a great player, but explained that it is important that all the men in the country recognize women as people, as American activist Angela Davis said. Sheinbaum also pointed out that her government is against discriminating women who are dedicated to home. Sheinbaum added that it is “mom, grandmother, housewife and supreme command of the Armed Forces”, so he stressed that women can be what they want to be.

Yesterday afternoon the Secretariat of Women also made a pronouncement about the footballer’s videos. They affirmed that they rejected the dissemination of sexist, macho and misogynist speeches, in a statement issued by social networks. In the message they point out that women have the same rights and capacities to develop their life projects outside gender stereotypes. In addition, they celebrated that the common social reaction was the questioning of Javier Hernández’s message.

Chivas’s player also received an answer from his teammates, in the women’s division. Blanca Félix, Daniela Delgado, Jaqueline Rodríguez and Joselyn de la Rosa republished a video of the content creator, Mariana Valle, in which she clarifies that cleaning is not patriarchal oppression, but that represents a wide historical context on how women were delegated to home tasks, while they were denied access to having “a voice and a story.”

This is not Javier Hernández’s first video about what, according to him, women and men should do, but the most explicit between their content. So far he had short videos where he put two examples that were supposedly opposed, the previous one to the most controversial publication says: “Then you love a supplier man, but to clean you is patriarchal oppression … interesting.”

So far the player has not reacted to the statements of public figures. The sports club to which it belongs, Chivas, took five days to issue a statement about it. In the document, the team indicates that “it reaffirms its commitment to equal development, gender equity and respect for all people”, and adds that “it has taken corresponding actions according to the internal regulations”, without clarifying which are or if they are addressed to the player, of whom his name is not mentioned.

The content made by Chicharito, is placed ideologically close to what other content creators do, who seek to promote a “traditional” discourse on the roles of men and women in society. Some such as Andrew Tate or “Temach” are dedicated to spreading speeches about the value or energy of genders, to return to family structures in which men were suppliers, leaders or successful, while women stayed at home, with the only possibility of performing care tasks.