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Hegemonic masculinity may be considered a public health problem in that it promotes aggressive behavior, violence towards men and women, and self-injury. "Being a man" within such a pattern implies stress, tension and anxiety to prove one's own masculinity. This article proposes that it is necessary to understand how dominant masculinity is individually and socially connected with the exercise of power over women and its implications in legislation and rights, to go beyond it. This text reviews these connections both through interviews with men and through examining how literature on masculinities presents the rarely discussed connections among power, law, legislation and dominant notions of masculinity. It explores the notion of power present both in literature and in men's perceptions, as a way to understand which perceptions of authority are culturally and socially legitimated by men. It is concluded that masculinities are in a process of transformation in Mexico, but that important vacuums persist which arrest the eradication of dominant masculinity. The analysis is based on a bibliographic revision, together with group and individual interviews with men. Results show how in the men's perceptions and reflections on the exercise of power, there persists a lack of criticism.

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Objetivo: Identificar las necesidades de las mujeres respecto a cómo involucrar a los hombres para la transformación de la inequidad en el ejercicio de las mujeres de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos y evaluar las respuestas masculinas. Material y métodos: Este estudio es la segunda parte de uno similar realizado seis años atrás para evaluar cómo definen las mujeres sus derechos sexuales y reproductivos. El presente trabajo es una investigación cualitativa dividida en dos fases: En la primera se realizaron entrevistas colectivas con mujeres para validar los resultados de la investigación previa sobre cómo negocian las mujeres sus derechos sexuales y reproductivos, y el tipo de participación masculina que deseaban; en la segunda, se realizaron entrevistas colectivas e individuales con hombres planteando lo vertido por las mujeres. Se exploraron las percepciones sobre el ejercicio del poder y las visiones de cambio que sostenían los entrevistados. Las entrevistas se realizaron en Sonora, Ciudad de México y Puebla, fueron 11 colectivas con mujeres y un total de 30 individuales y cinco colectivas con hombres. Resultados: Las mujeres están construyendo el liderazgo de cambio social, pero sin por ello involucrarse en la organización colectiva, asumen un papel como educadoras y moderadoras del impacto del cambio en el ámbito familiar. Los hombres mantienen posiciones reactivas que preservan espacios ancestrales de poder, se mantienen abiertos a un cambio que consideran debe darse desde el ámbito institucional para continuarlo en el doméstico. Conclusiones: Cualquier estudio o intervención sobre masculinidades debe tomar como referencia las necesidades de las mujeres.

Objective: To identify women's needs regarding how to engage men in the transformation of social inequality of their sexual and reproductive rights. Material and methods: This is a qualitative and interdisciplinary study, divided in two phases: a) women were interviewed to find out what kind of involvement in their sexual and reproductive-health responsibilities they want from the men in their lives, b) men were interviewed, individually and in groups, to understand their own perceptions on the same concerns and also in response to the perceptions women articulated. The research was carried out in three locations in Mexico, in Sonora, Puebla and the Federal District. A total of 11 collective interviews with women took place, 30 individual with men and 5 collective with men. Results: Women are in increasingly constructed a social leadership that does not necessarily translate in collective organizing, and assume the role of educators and moderators as means to act as buffers of the transformation experienced at the family, parental and community levels. Men interviewed hold a reactive position to change that expressed in their resistance to become agents of change, men assume that change should occur first at institutional levels before it carries on at domestic sphere. Conclusions: New insights can be gained in the study and interventions designed in the field of male involvement by taking women's needs as a point of departure. These findings raise awareness of the need to deepen the dialogue between men and women in order to produce better understanding and successful decision-making for both parties in the arena of sexuality and reproduction.

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OBJECTIVE: If properly trained, medical students could become future opinion leaders in health policy and could help the public to understand the consequences of unwanted pregnancies and of abortions. The objective of this study was to analyze the frequency of unwanted pregnancies and induced abortions that had occurred among women who were first-year medical students at a major public university in Mexico City and to compare the experiences of those women with the experiences of the general population of Mexican females aged 15 to 24. METHODS: In 1998 we administered a cross-sectional survey to all the first-year medical students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which is the largest university in Latin America. For this study we analyzed 549 surveys completed by female students. RESULTS: Out of the 549 women, 120 of them (22%) had been sexually active at some point. Among those 120 sexually active students, 100 of them (83%) had used a contraceptive method at some time, and 19 of the 120 (16%) had been pregnant. Of those 19 women who had been pregnant, 10 of them had had an illegal induced abortion (in Mexico, abortions are illegal except under a small number of extenuating circumstances). The reported abortion rate among the female medical students, 2%, was very low in comparison with the 11% rate for women of similar ages in the Mexican general population. CONCLUSIONS: The lower incidence of abortion among the female medical students indicates that when young Mexican women have access to medical information and are highly motivated to avoid unintended pregnancy and abortion, they can do so.

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OBJECTIVE: If properly trained, medical students could become future opinion leaders in health policy and could help the public to understand the consequences of unwanted pregnancies and of abortions. The objective of this study was to analyze the frequency of unwanted pregnancies and induced abortions that had occurred among women who were first-year medical students at a major public university in Mexico City and to compare the experiences of those women with the experiences of the general population of Mexican females aged 15 to 24. METHODS: In 1998 we administered a cross-sectional survey to all the first-year medical students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which is the largest university in Latin America. For this study we analyzed 549 surveys completed by female students. RESULTS: Out of the 549 women, 120 of them (22 percent) had been sexually active at some point. Among those 120 sexually active students, 100 of them (83 percent) had used a contraceptive method at some time, and 19 of the 120 (16 percent) had been pregnant. Of those 19 women who had been pregnant, 10 of them had had an illegal induced abortion (in Mexico, abortions are illegal except under a small number of extenuating circumstances). The reported abortion rate among the female medical students, 2 percent, was very low in comparison with the 11 percent rate for women of similar ages in the Mexican general population. CONCLUSIONS: The lower incidence of abortion among the female medical students indicates that when young Mexican women have access to medical information and are highly motivated to avoid unintended pregnancy and abortion, they can do so.

Objetivo. Con entrenamiento adecuado, los estudiantes de medicina pueden convertirse en líderes de opinión con futura injerencia sobre las políticas de salud, así como ayudar al público a entender las consecuencias de los embarazos indeseados y del aborto. El objetivo del presente estudio ha sido examinar la frecuencia del embarazo indeseado y del aborto provocado en mujeres de primer año de la carrera de medicina en una de las principales universidades de México, D.F., y comparar las experiencias de esas mujeres con las de la población general de mujeres mexicanas entre los 15 y 24 años de edad. Métodos. En 1998 hicimos una encuesta transversal de todas las estudiantes de primer año de medicina de la Universidad Autónoma de México, que es la universidad más grande de América Latina. Examinamos un total de 549 encuestas. Resultados. De las 549 mujeres encuestadas, 120 (22%) habían tenido actividad sexual en algún momento. De esas 120 estudiantes que habían sido activas sexualmente,100 (83%) habían usado un método anticonceptivo alguna vez y 19 de las 120 (16%) habían estado embarazadas. De estas últimas 19 mujeres, 10 se habían sometido a un aborto ilegal (en México el aborto siempre es ilegal salvo en circunstancias extenuantes muy contadas). La frecuencia declarada de aborto entre las estudiantes de medicina, que fue de 2%, fue muy baja en comparación con la frecuencia de 11% hallada en mujeres de la misma edad en la población mexicana en general. Conclusiones. La menor incidencia del aborto entre las estudiantes de medicina revela que cuando las jóvenes mexicanas tienen a su alcance información de orden médico y el firme propósito de evitar el embarazo indeseado y el aborto, lo pueden lograr

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Contribución de diversos autores que realizan trabajos en torno al tema del aborto coordinado por Adriana Ortiz Ortega desde diferentes puntos de vista: a favor y en contra del aborto; así como algunos aspectos jurídicos, sociales y médicos. El tema del aborto se agrupa en diez capítulos: 1. Moral, derechos humanos y filosofía 2. Aspectos jurídicos 3. Políticas públicas y aborto 4. La actitud social ante el aborto 5. La perspectiva feminista 6. Aspectos médicos 7. Aspectos bioéticos 8. Perspectiva Pro-Vida 9. La última palabra la tienen las mujeres 10. Tolerancia: una alternativa por venir 11. Quiénes son los autores 12. Bibliografía escogida.

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