Latinos seen as super-sexual the world over

Rudolph Valentino, “Latin Lover” of yore

Woo-hoo, I’m back, folks! I’m all moved into the new digs and am 95% unpacked. And being unpacked means I can refocus on work (teaching/research) . . . which in turn means that I can procrastinate in earnest and get back to blogging. Yay!

As ever before, I’m riled up about representations of Latin@s in the media–in this case, the international media. For this just in: 18 Again, a ”vaginal tightening” gel from India promises to make you feel “like a virgin” at any age. Which, of course, is just what every woman wants because the first time is always so pleasurable and all. (Fun fact that I must mention here: my first time was with a guy who had the surname of “Laycock.” Yes, Laycock. I’m serious–you can’t make this sh*t up!) I found out about this lovely product from this post over at Jezebel.

So what does this have to do with Latin@s? Well, check out the video for 18 Again:

Surely you will notice that the couple at the center of the video performs salsa- and tango-inspired moves to a hodgepodge of “Latin” sounds, including strumming, flamenco-style guitars; bongo drums; conga rhythms; and even a shrill samba whistle, thrown in for good measure. Why is this music playing instead of something more specific to the culture that produced the product?

The answer seems obvious to me: In the minds of many people–in the US and clearly well beyond–Latin@s have a lock-down on all things sexual. Because we are by nature hot-blooded, passionate, sensuous, ready to bust out salsa moves at the drop of a hat…ugh. I find this stereotype so exasperating.

It reminds me of a feature article I read in Glamour back in the late 1990s. The title was something like, “10 Reasons to Try a Latin Lover.” The piece began by saying, “Fortunately, you don’t have to be Columbian, Brazilian or Puerto Rican to experience the prowess of Latin men!” It also included several testimonies from white women whose world had been rocked when they slept with said “Latin” men. One of the women dreamily observed, “I loved dating Ramon. He was literally HOT to the touch!”

Just thinking about this article makes me want to vomit. At the time, I was so irate I had to pen an angry letter to the editor explaining why the article was so offensive. I clearly recall that my letter began, “Fortunately, ‘you don’t have to be Columbian, Brazilian or Puerto Rican’ to realize how stupid this article is.”

So here’s a special announcement for the makers of 18 Again and anyone else who cares to perpetuate this pernicious ethnic stereotype: Latin@s do not have any special sexual secrets, techniques or powers. Although our skin may come in various shades of brown and our families sometimes come from tropical regions, we are just like any other group of people when it comes to sex. And not every “Latin lover” is worthy of the title. Trust me, I know, I’ve been with some of them. They’re not always worth writing home about!

The open road

The Daily Chicana aspires to be the next Ansel Adams.

Just a reminder, folks: the Daily Chicana is on a brief hiatus. I’m in the midst of a cross-country move back to my university town. As soon as my home internet service is up and running, I’ll resume this blog. Until then, my boyfriend and I are in full trucker mode as we haul all of my belongings in a van and tow my car behind us.

The pros: It’s been fun and scenic. And if I have to be in a small space with two other souls, there’s no one better than my boyfriend and our dog.

The cons: I’ve eaten more fast food in the past three days than I have in the past ten years, and it’s slow-going at times, especially navigating curvy mountain roads.

In the meantime, I hope you’re staying cool as we head into August, one of the hottest summer months around and the birth month of yours truly. And please stay tuned for the return of Daily Chicana!

Mourning Lupe Ontiveros

Lupe Ontiveros

Sad news today: the one and only Chicana actor Lupe Ontiveros lost her battle with liver cancer. She was only 69 years old. (Yes, I say “only” because my parents are just a couple of years younger and they are still, in my mind, young enough for my sister and me to not have to worry about their dying any time soon. To me, “old” is my grandma, who just turned 94.)

Born in 1942 in El Paso, Texas, Lupe bucked the trends from an early age by graduating from high school and earning a bachelor’s degree, a notable accomplishment for a Chicana of her generation (as even today, according to some figures, only 46% of Chicanos graduate from high school and only 8% earn a BA. For more info on such statistics, please check out my Latina/os in Academia post). After working for some time in social services, Lupe managed to transform her work as a film and TV extra into a long, outstanding, full-time career.

Although Lupe frequently was cast as a maid–by her estimate, at least 150 times–she fully embodied such roles, so that instead of stereotypes, they became real people, living with dignity and humor, and making the best of their circumstances. As she told the LA Weekly in 2002,

I’ve had a hell of a good time playing those maids. No matter how much I resent the stupidity that is written into them, the audacity that the industry has when they portray us in such a nonsensical, idiotic, such — oh my God! — such a degrading manner, still, my humor survives in these maids. I’m very proud of them.

One of her performances that my mom and I love best is her turn as Nacha in El Norte. In one scene below, Nacha mentors recent immigrant Rosa over lunch after an INS raid at their factory (scene starts at 2:30):

To this day, my mom loves to say, “Qué tú no has conocido a Sears?!”

In 2010, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers honored Lupe with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Here’s a short video that shows the range of her work and the impact she had on her colleagues:

R.I.P Lupe. Thanks for sharing your talent with the world and please know that your legacy will live on.

Hey, Aubrey Plaza is Latina!

Actor Aubrey Plaza

Today, I’m veering away from Comedy Week to talk about briefly about race at the movies.

Yesterday I went with a friend to see Safety Not Guaranteed, a quirky little film about three reporters trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious man seeking a time traveling partner. I liked everything about it: the performances, storyline, soundtrack. I recommend it! You can see the trailer here.

[Quick aside: It was a miracle that I managed to enjoy the movie at all because two elderly white ladies sitting directly behind us giggled at every single thing that happened in the movie. And I mean everything. A character stacks soup cans? Giggle. A character sneezes? Giggle. A car drives past some trees? Giggle. I had already shushed their loud chatter during the previews, but I was not prepared for the constant giggling once the film was underway. Yes, the movie is a comedy, but not every single minute is meant to be laugh-out-loud. At first I chalked it up to white privilege (not giving a damn about other people's movie experience), but looking back, I suspect that they were high. In which case, go grandmas!]

The lead character of Safety, Darius, is played by Aubrey Plaza, an actor and comedian who I guess is a regular on the TV show Parks and Recreation. Before this movie, I’d only seen her in the film Funny People. She strikes me as the smart, semi-hipsterish, a little awkward, dead-pan humor type. As I watched the film, I felt a connection to her simply out of gratitude that here was a different looking actress on the screen, in a lead role, no less. Don’t get me wrong, she’s totally gorgeous, but just not in the usual mainstream way:

Plaza as Darius in Safety Not Guaranteed

Today, in preparing to write about the film, I googled her name and discovered that she’s Latina. Her father is Puerto Rican, and she has described herself as “the only diverse” kid in her hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. “Aha!” I thought, “I knew there was something extra special about her!”

Notably, in an interview with David Letterman, her ethnicity doesn’t come up as a topic of conversation at all. Meanwhile, what George Lopez describes as her “exotic makeup” is one of the main issues during her visit to his show, Lopez Tonight. Ugh! Lopez uses one of my most hated keywords, “exotic.” It’s bad enough when white people describe us as exotic, but et tu, George?

Plaza admits that many people are surprised to find out that she’s Puerto Rican. “It comes out of me when I drink,” she jokes her in deadpan way. “I get really spicy.” This part of the interview starts at 1:15 in the video:

It’s interesting to think of Plaza as being on a continuum of Latina beauty, one that’s far outside of what people imagine when they hear “Latina” generally or, in this case, Puerto Rican specifically. In the eyes of the mainstream, being Latina is most accurately represented by someone like JLo, with more tan skin:

The one and only JLo

Though–ahem–let’s not forget that JLo was not always she of the straight, golden hair:

Jennifer Lopez, still fresh off “the block”

Of course, there are also those gorgeous Puertroriqueñas like Rosie Perez, as seen here in the opening to Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing:

And let’s not forget afro-caribeñas like Zoe Saldana, who, at the other end of the Latina beauty spectrum from Plaza, is also so far outside the mainstream’s idea of what constitutes “Latina” that she can be reasonably cast as a southern African American sorority girl in Drumline:

Not that I see myself as a spokesperson for all Latinas, but I’m happy to welcome Aubrey Plaza to the umbrella term that is “Latina.” For in supporting performances like hers in Safety Not Guaranteed, we have a chance to broaden people’s assumptions about what Latinas look like, how they sound, and how they act. There’s no one way to define us. And that’s a good thing. I hope she keeps winning new fans and surprising them when they discover her mixed ethnicity.

Humor Week continues: Latino Comedy Project

I’m on a roll, folks! There’s been a new Daily Chicana post each day this week, for the first time in a long time, and in another first, I actually have a sustained weekly theme (comedy). It can only mean one thing: I’m procrastinating! Not only do I have my usual work to avoid doing (with an important, fast-approaching journal article deadline), but now there’s apartment packing to avoid, too! For a professional procrastinator like me, it’s a dream come true. I’m savoring this rare opportunity to delay several important, stressful projects all at once.

So onto our theme: Comedy week continues here with one of my favorite videos: “Mex vs BC (Born Citizen),” a creation of the Latino Comedy Project (LCP) that plays off those “Mac vs PC” ads that used to be on TV all the time. My favorite of the Mex vs BC series is on jobs:

I like to show this video to my undergrads in class after they read sociologist Tomas Jimenez’s excellent book, Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration and Identity. Jimenez describes the impact of Mexican immigration on Mexican Americans’ sense of ethnicity as a double-edged sword: on the one hand, having contact with more recently-arrived immigrants helps many Chicanos maintain a strong sense of cultural heritage and gives them a reason to keep up their use of Spanish. Yet on the other hand, because many people in the mainstream can’t distinguish the difference between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants, Chicanos experience the frustration as always being perceived as a newcomer to the US and an outsider to American culture.

This misperception is what leads some people to make those annoying comments (which I’ve written about as good examples of microagressions) such as, “You speak English so well!” Meanwhile, you’re thinking, “Well why wouldn’t I? It’s my first  language!” In any case, I encourage you to check out Jimenez’s book; it’s very accessible to non-sociologists (like me!) and a fairly quick read.

But before I get too serious, let me get back to the LCP! Another popular video of theirs is a spoof of the film 300, and here were see the LCP cast bringing to life the worst fears of conservatives and xenophobes who rant about illegal immigration:

And while it’s hilariously depicted here, at the same time it’s scary to think that this is exactly what some people think is seriously happening. If you don’t believe me, just read through the racist, fear-mongering emails of Russell Pearce, the former Arizona state legislator who masterminded SB1070, that state’s masterpiece of racial profiling. I got bogged down the other night reading through those emails, laughing out loud at their absurdity.

Sometimes, when faced with such outright hatred of my people, I at least find some snarky comfort in marking all the grammatical errors that pop up throughout Pearce’s rants. I think to myself, “You think people who look like me don’t belong in this country, and yet I am more educated than you and can at least know basic spelling and grammar!” In that spirit, I leave you with a weary sigh and this iconic image.

Oh, you crazy racists of today and of yore! Please learn the rules of the English language, mmmkay? Then we can talk.

“Segregation, Dimmit, Texas,” by Russell Lee (ca. 1949)

How did I miss Mexican Mitt?

¡Que viva Mexican Mitt!

It’s pretty sad, but I must admit that I wouldn’t know any of the latest news nowadays if it weren’t for facebook. Thank god my fb friends post so many links to the latest in the economy, education, politics and culture.

It wasn’t always this way for me; back in my married days, my ex-husband would watch MSNBC every single night for three hours, starting with Chris Matthews, followed by Keith Olbermann and finally my favorite, Rachel Maddow (I seriously love her!). So I used to get a lot of news. Too much, sometimes, because after the first hour you realize that the pundits are just rehashing the same points over and over again. On slow news days, you could tell that they were just trying to drum up more drama to keep themselves on air.

Anyway, last week, I talked about Craig Romney’s ad that proudly points to his family’s connection to Mexico in a desperate attempt to draw Latinos to his father’s campaign. The attempt to pander–and the outrageous idea that a brief family interlude in Mexico gives Mitt any insight into the immigrant experience–was so incredibly superficial as to be outright laughable.

Turns out, though, that I’m merely a Johnny-come-lately to identifying the weakness of Romney’s Mexican claim. Because–as I just discovered through a friend’s facebook post–for many months now, Mexican Mitt, “the most Mexican Man in the world” has been lampooning Romney’s presidential bid on Twitter, facebook and elsewhere on the web. [Interesting note: the person who posted the Mexican Mitt image (above) is my one libertarian friend, and I had no idea what her political views were until she began posting about Ron Paul and how cute she thinks he is...woah! I am just amused because I don't think she realizes that the liberal critique embedded in Mexican Mitt is one she would ever endorse.]

Mexican Mitt is a satirical, pocho (which is to say Chicano), outspoken take on Mitt Romney…and totally hilarious, which isn’t surprising, given his creator, Chicano satirist Lalo Alcaraz, the man behind Pocho.com.

Mexican Mitt’s facebook page features his rancho relatives.

I love the Chicano humor Mexican Mitt employs, such as explaining that he’s from “MITTchoacan” (a play on the Mexican state of Michoacan) and declaring things like, “I am going ALL THE GUEY till I pain the White House BROWN!” and “Latinos need Labambacare, pronto!” Btw Labambacare apparently includes the staples of Chicano folk-healing:

Best of all is Mexican Mitt’s reggaeton-inspired music video, where he sings, “Soy Morman, soy mor-man than you!” Check it out:

To borrow Mexican Mitt’s own words, let’s hope he’s not the “only JUAN left” come election time in November! As for me, I’m off to check fb and collect more breaking news. This is looking like HUMOR WEEK at the Daily Chicana…

Anjelah Johnson: Antidote for a case of the Mondays

It’s another Monday. I have only one week left in my apartment, have barely started packing, have a huge list of “to do”s and am struggling to meet a writing deadline.

You know what that means: I gotta get out of here, or I’m gonna lose it. Yes, a dreaded case of the Mondays.

Fortunately, though, there’s an effective antidote: Mexican American comedian Anjelah Johnson. She hails from San Jose, California and, in addition to being Mexican, proudly claims Native American heritage, too. She’s best know for two characters: The first is Tammy, the Vietnamese nail technician.

And then there’s the one and only Bon Qui Qui, who takes your order at King Burger (thanks to the “Out of the Hood Program”) and serves it up with a huge dollop of ghetto-fabulous attitude:

And now Bon Qui Qui’s back! In a video for her new single, “I’m a Cut You.”

So if you are like me and battling a case of the Mondays, just sit back and let Anjelah’s comedy work its magic! Happy Monday!