Latin_Woman

Myths About Latin Woman The first article I read was The Myth of The Latin Woman by Judith Cofer. It talked about a Hispanic woman and a incident she had. A young man approached her at a bar and started reciting lines from the play West Side Story. The woman thought to herself “you can leave the island, nut they island will travel with you.” The young Hispanic woman was raised with strong morals and beliefs from her Puerto Rican heritage. She explains that she was taught a conflicting message as a teenager. She was shown to act and dress as a “senorita” or a woman. She felt embarrassed at times feeling over dressed at Americanized birthday parties, but at a Puerto Rican festivity nothing was ever too much. While in high school on career day her class was asked to dress as if they were coming for a job interview. She noticed that the Hispanic girls were overdressing as if they were going to a party rather then a office setting. She had trouble deciding what to wear because she had no models besides Marlo Thomas to base her decision on. Later on a friend of hers commented on the way Puerto Rican woman dressed at the business school she was attending. She stated they over accessorized. She felt the culture crash is wait awaited her in the real world and people would misinterpret the tight skirts and jingling bracelets as a come on. She then talk about Hispanic women being objectified by being called a “Hot Tamale.” She feels the media portray not only the food but ht elating women as “sizzling” and “smoldering.” She remembers conversation from her family when they were pressured to give into sexual advancement or they would be fired by their employer. She also explained the contradiction. Puerto Rican women go out in their best outfits and dance in front of the men they like it is natural for man to respond to them. She goes on to talk about how the Hispanic culture is looked upon as people that work at factories or as house maids and mispronounce words. This is what it preventing out culture to rise. There was an instance where she was doing a reading at a boat restaurant. A woman called her over, she thought to herself she wanted a autograph but she was mistake. The woman actually thought she was a waitress and started telling her what she wanted off the menu. This help her overcome all the stereo types and be successful and speak her mind to change the beliefs on what people think of Hispanic people. The second article I found to be similar to The Myth of The Latin Woman. It is written by the University of Wisconsin Madison. The article talks about Hispanic actor in the media and how the have been ignored in past year but since now the Hispanic population is on the rise the population is a force to be reckoned with. In the latest census it is figured that 14 percent of the population is Hispanic. When it comes to the media and Hispanic actors there are more and more of them but they are not offered lead roles instead the land with stereotypical roles. Women are portrayed as exotic sexy “spitfires.” This is what Judith referred to in The Myth of The Latin Woman. They give examples of actors such as Selma Hayek being portrayed as a ultra-sexed Latina. While John Leguizamo is portrayed as a drug lord the classic bandito role. The media said that Latina women can have romantic lead roles but there are limitation only the beautiful, thin, and light skinned get considered. She feels we should all stop and take a look at the message the media is sending. After reading these two articles I was astonished. I knew of the stereotypes of Hispanics in the world but not to this depth. One thing I do not like is that Hispanics in the media are always portrayed as drug dealers or gang bangers whether it is sitcoms or movies. Latinas are also always viewed as sexy women who are about sex and lust or the typical housemaid. That’s why I feel people have these stereotypes because this is the message the media is sending so it is what they are taught to think. Going to Judith’s article after reading her article I was inspired to be like her in a way. I can relate to her story when the woman had mistaken her for a waitress. People look at me and think I cant speak English well and that I am not well educated. They seem to be surprised and startled to see I speak and write fluent English. I am a inspiring journalist and know how to do these things very well. I want to overcome all the stereotypes and become successful and do well in my field and show society just because I am Hispanic doesn’t mean I can not be successful and go some where in life. I want to further expand my race and help it to grow to new means so we can better our people. I also want Latinas to do well and show the world that they can be more than a sexy women. That they to can be lawyers and doctors. I want to show that we can be fluent in English and not have these typical accents everyone seems to think we have. I feel the media also has to change their message. We Hispanic are increasing in numbers and things are changing. There should be more roles for Hispanics. We should be playing roles of doctors and lawyers people of importance and not of negativity. Society has to have more of a open mind and think outside of the box. This will not happen right away but hopefully, gradually over time these changes will be made that way the Hispanic people can rise and be equal. This does not only apply to our race but to others as well. There are several suggestions I have for a group oral presentation. One way we can do our presentation is a power point. We can show the stereotypes of Hispanics and describe the article we read and share some o the articles the group found. Another way we can do our presentation is do a skit. We can have people act the stereotypical roles Hispanics play in society such as gang bangers, drug dealers and The girls can play the “sizzling” Latinas. Overall it will be a great presentation.