Jenny Hernandez 

English 21001

Prof. Yolande 

03-23-2020

Stereotypical representations of the Latin Women 

While researching texts written on the stereotypical representations of the Latin Women, Essay, The Myth of the Latin Women/ Just Met a Girl Named Maria, written by Judith Ortiz does a great job exposing the common misconceptions White Americans have when it comes to Latin women. As a Puerto Rican female growing up in the United States, she was taught that to receive just-treatment and respect, she must always shatter stereotypes White Americans expect from her ethnic background: i.e, act and talk in strong, robust slang, only know ebonics, and dress urban. However, while she carries the reader through her personal experiences in regards to the common misconceptions White Americans have when it comes to Latin women, there has been relatively little theoretically-driven research on the reason why Latin Women are being seen that way. My goal in writing this is to bring awareness to some of the common stereotypical representations regarding Latin Women and how it has come to play in today’s era. Latin stereotypes are not only labels, but they are also walls holding one up to feel pressured to either meet the expectations or try breaking the stereotype. 

To begin, we see evidence of this in early Hollywood films that portrayed Latinas as morally bankrupt, wild seductresses. Off-Broadway hit, “Yo Soy Latina”, published in 2005, written, directed, and produced by, Linda Nieves-Powell, taps into several different challenges Latina women face when living in contemporary America. The play itself allows Latina Women to examine their identity and their connections in the contemporary American landscape. In a newspaper article, written in “The New York Amsterdam News”, summarizes the play; main character, “Lisette, ‘a Latin Women who works at a minimum-wage job as a cashier in New York City, Brooklyn, who dreams about becoming a Hollywood stardom, but the reality which she recognizes immediately is that the movie industry can only see her as a Latina in very limited roles.” (Briggs 4), this goes to show the limited roles Latin women are given in the entertainment industry that in my opinion are given due to the derogatory portrayals films have had on what they believe the ‘typical Latin Women’ to be. In today’s era, it is one of the main reasons we do not see enough women of color playing major roles; the typical roles Latin Women are given is either the Spanish speaking maid, home workers, the teen mother, or someone’s hot ethnic wife who can barely speak English. Although there are some roles for Latin Women in the entertainment industry; It is very uncommon for a Latin Woman to play the character of a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, or a businesswoman. This consequently limits one from becoming something more than the racial categorization of Latin Women. 

Finally, Latin women’s bodies being intensely fetishized. This was embodied by the wildly popular performer, Carmen Miranda, who was known as the lady in the tutti-fruity hat, whose character perfected the Latin Women trope of sexuality and comedy with the required amount of spice and broken American English. This tropical treatment outfitted these brunette Latina characters who had bold jewelry, signature red lips and curve-hugging clothing that exaggerated their breasts and curves consequently representing the ideal hourglass shaped figure that consist of having small waists, thick thighs and hips, rather than an actual representation of Latin women, because many Latinas come from different countries, social groups, and social-economic backgrounds in all types of shapes and sizes, but instead are categorized to fit into the specific ideal of what the beauty standard is considered to be according to what a group of very vocal, heckling people choose to look at as Latina beauty is. For this reason alone, you are more likely to see it in the media. In today’s era, this representation is shown in a lot of well-known celebrities, to mention some, Jennifer Lopez and Sofia Vergara. As a result, this ideal body type has played a huge body dissatisfaction among Latin women. 

All in all, although there are thirty-three different countries in Latin America and all of them differing in culture, Spanish accents, and physical appearance, with all things above being said, the history behind the bringing of common stereotypical representations in regards to Latin Women is being played out in the present era and is affecting the way people perceive a Latin Women. 

Citations:

• Briggs, Jimmie. “‘Yo Soy Latina,’ Indeed.” New York Amsterdam News, vol. 95, no. 30, 22 July 2004, pp. 19–26. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=13952221&site=ehost-live.
• Blanqué, Andrea. “Andrea Blanqué (Montevideo, 1959).” Nuevo Texto Crítico, vol. 21, no. 41-42, 2008, pp. 75–76., doi:10.1353/ntc.0.0008.
• Ortiz, Judith. “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria.” Vonsteuben, 2018, www.vonsteuben.org/ourpages/auto/2015/2/23/48981760/The%20Myth%20of%20the%20Latin%20Woman.pdf.