| Sumario: | This article analyzes the representations of masculinities in Puerto Rico using the collection of popular music compiled by John Alden Mason between 1914 and 1915. It proposes that while a considerable number of these songs were instruments of socialization and reaffirmation of a hegemonic masculinity other songs represented and constructed alternative notions to this recalcitrant masculinity. In addition, the article argues that this alternative (non-hegemonic) masculinities used music as a cathartic and performative space in which singing, as opposed to speaking, created a special setting where hetero-normative gender order and the principal tenets of patriarchal masculinity were suspended. This scenario allowed men to exteriorize intimate feelings in public spaces without causing them stigmatization or social shame.
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