Mujer Latina
The oversimplification of the category Latina
La·ti·na /ləˈtēnə/ : Noun. (in North America) a women or girl of Latin Amercan origin or descent.
Salma Hayek, Sofia Vergara, and Jennifer Lopez are only some of the Latina women under the spot light who reinforce the existing stereotypes of the Latina women. However, only a small amount of women of Latin America can fit perfectly into this idea of a Latina that has been created by society. Latinas are portrayed as a curvy hot mess with a harsh attitude. They are the girl who prays to all her santos and always has a family party because of her twenty-one aunts/uncles, and forty-three cousins (not including everyones couples and friends.) They are portrayed as the girl who shoo away all men because of her self dependence, they are difficult to attain trophy. However, she is only wanted because of her exotic being. Where this categorization of Latinas came from I do not know, but their is no one single correct thing about it.
Monhanty mentions how women are categorized into the group of “women” as if their is only one way to be female. She focuses on how the brown women is constantly depicted in one identical way which is extremely unrealistic since their is as much variety in the different types of brown women in the world as their is of humans in general.
If you Google the phrase Latina Women you will encounter these key words: “hot” “exotic” and “sexy”. Additionally, their is a variety of different sites that give you tips on how to date a Latina, or how to approach a Latina. All of these depicting Latina women as sexual, always late, attached to rituals, extremely into family among other things. However, just like Monhanty explains about brown women the categorizing of Latina women into these descriptions is extremely oversimplified.
It is insane to think that you can give five easy guidelines for dating a Latina women. First off, Latin America consist of thirty-three different countries!! These are thirty-three different cultures, slang, traditions, politics, foods, etc. How in the world can anyone possibly believe that it is possible to give a manual on how to date women from thirty-three different countries with FIVE simple “facts”.
With the vast migration of Latinos into the United States today we have new type of people who are products of intermarriages between people of different countries, plus the fact that they are immigrants and are absorbing the “american” culture brings in another aspect to their personality. So, a Mexican-American women is not the same as a Mexican women. An Argentinian/Salvadorian-American women (with a parent of each country because that is what crossing borders does) is not the same as a Salvadorian or Argentinian. Actually, a Peruvian from the province of Huaraz is not the same as a Peruvian from the province of Ocros. Additionally a poor women from Bahia Brazil is not the same as a rich women from Bahia Brazil. Hopefully, what I am getting at is obvious cause their is a lot more differences to include into these categorize: ancestors, sexuality, education among many others.
Therefore, the categorization of Latina and the stereotype that has been created around it is impossible to be true. Latin America encompasses to many women from different countries, cultures, class, sexuality, interest, religions, etcetera.
