Tag Archives: Latinos

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!

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)

Romney plays the Mexican card

Mormons are on a roll lately!

Last week I wrote about the minor kurfuffle caused by Utah Valley Magazine’s white “Women of Color.” Well yesterday, I came across this story on Huffington Post: “Craig Romney Touts Family’s Mexican Roots in Spanish-Language Ad.”

Whaaaat?

According to the Latino Decisions blog, Obama leads Romney among Latino voters by a wide margin (70% to only 22%), so I’m sure the Romney camp is praying that this ad can make a difference.

Here it is:

Quick translation:

I’m Craig Romney. I want to tell you how my father, Mitt Romney, thinks. He really values that we are a nation of immigrants. My grandfather George was born in Mexico. For my family, the greatness of the US is that we all respect and help each other, no matter where we come from. As president, my father will work for a permanent solution for the immigration system, working with leaders of both political parties. I invite you listen to him.

My first thought: Wow, homeboy’s Spanish is pretty good! At least, it’s a lot better than his father’s stilted “I approve this message” addendum. Moreover, Craig’s clean-cut appearance neatly underscores the sweet, soft-focus scenes of inter-generational Latino heteronormativity.

On closer inspection, though, emerge the Republican party’s extremely facile assumptions about what will sway Latino voters. Among these wrong assumptions are:

  1. Apparently, one must speak Spanish to reach Latino voters. (In fact, the vast majority of US-born Latinos speak fluent English.)
  2. The idea that having an ancestor born in Mexico automatically translates into affinity for–over even basic familiarity with–that country’s history, cultures and traditions. Which it doesn’t.
  3. Finally, there’s the notion that merely stating a belief in the value of immigration is enough. Are Latinos not smart enough to ask, “Where’s the proof? What have you actually done to support immigrants and Latinos?”

Also among the “things that make you go ‘hmmm’” (shout out to the 1990s!) is what’s not stated: Romney’s forefathers were in Mexico because they wanted to continue their practice of polygamy , which had been outlawed in the US. How do you suppose this aspect of Romney history will go over with the 70% of Latinos who identify as Catholic? Funny how that wasn’t mentioned as part of their “Mexican” history.

This Craig Romney ad very much reminds me of when George P Bush, W’s nephew with Mexican ancestry, was conveniently trotted out to court the Latino vote for his uncle and sprinkle Spanish into campaign stops.

[Sigh.]

Do Republicans really think we Latinos are so monolithic and stupid as to be easily swayed by someone with brown skin or by someone who speaks decent Spanish? In light of the evidence, I’d say they sure do.

Hispanics live longer than other racial groups…as do their stereotypical representations

Will this be the Daily Chicana in fifty years?

A recent Center for Disease Control report indicates that a Hispanic born in 2006 has a life expectancy of 80 years, which is two years longer than whites and seven years longer than African Americans. Apparently this phenomenon is known as the “Hispanic Paradox,” thanks to the fact that researchers anticipated Hispanics to have a life expectancy akin to African Americans due to Hispanics’ overall lower levels of education, income and access to health care. Ultimately, Hispanics’ longevity is attributed to the ‘healthy migrant effect,” which is the idea that newcomers to the US tend to make healthier food choices, such as rice and beans instead of processed foods, and are accustomed to walking more than the average American.

Interesting. I just watched a video about these findings on ABC World News, in a report entitled, “Why do Hispanics Outlive White and Black Americans?” And I quickly became annoyed at how much the video relied on mainstream stereotypes about Hispanics. Check it out for yourself. (Warning: If you click on that link, you first will have to sit through an advertisement, and I hope for your sake the ad is not Emmy Rossum singing about cotton as “The Fabric of My Life,” because you will have that stupid jingle in your head for the rest of the day). You will observe the following stereotypical images and sounds:

  • Cumbia music kicking off the report (because no Hispanic ever listens to non-Spanish language music)
  • Brown-skinned pedestrians of an unnamed city walking past a huge sign that says “PESOS” (because that’s our preferred form of currency)
  • General urban scenes (because none of us grows up in the suburbs)
  • A Mexican plaza, which I think is Olvera St in Los Angeles (because Hispanics = Mexicans = living in East LA)
  • This plaza is full of trashy but colorful trinkets and two guitar-strumming balladeers singing (of course) in Spanish
  • A large family in a dingy kitchen (because we all live with untold numbers of extended relatives)
  • Finally, towards the end, reporter David Wright mentions “a little salsa dancing” as older folks dance to music that is most certainly not salsa (because all Spanish language music can be labeled “salsa”)

[Weary sigh.]

Thanks, ABC World News, for doing your part to ensure that stereotypical portrayals of “Hispanics” enjoy just as long a life as the people you’re talking about.

By the way, the best part of the video is when Wright is stumped when interviewee Elaine Hernandez says her 82-year-old grandmother’s apple-a-day is that “good ol’ red and white can.” He doesn’t get it. “Budweiser!” she says. Classic.

Uh-oh…a Dia de los Muertos movie in the works

Today this post at Colorlines caught my eye: Pixar is Jumping on Boat to Capture Latino Audience with New Día de los Muertos Movie.

CC/Eneas De Troya

As I briefly noted in my post about Rosario Dawson playing Dolores Huerta, I’m always skeptical of any of Hollywood’s “Latino” movies. And part of my skepticism here stems from the assumption that a movie centered on Día de los Muertos will somehow speak to all Latin@s (btw a little part of my professorly self is dying right now because I just linked to a Wikipedia article. Am I turning into my students?).

Is this tradition widely celebrated in other Latin American countries? I don’t know. In fact, I didn’t know much about Día de los Muertos at all until I got to college and learned about it in a Spanish class. Although my mom taught us everything she could about Mexican culture and always instilled a sense of pride in our ethnicity, Día de los Muertos was something neither she nor my grandmother ever celebrated or even mentioned…until one day when I was visiting home from grad school and saw a huge altar where our dining room table used to be. My mom went all out: colorful tablecloth, papel picado strung about, pictures of our deceased ancestors and mementos that represented them, burning candles, marigolds sprinkled all over the place. I looked around, amazed. The place looked like a Hollywood set. Oddly, my mom acted as though this were something we had done every year.

Yet we hadn’t. I grew up in an extremely beige suburban house, with average, contemporary 1980s furnishings and decor. The only things that marked our home as “Mexican” in any way were the doilies crocheted by my grandma that covered every tabletop; a few artfully-placed knickknacks from our travels to visit family in Mexico, and a huge jar of bacon fat that sat on the kitchen counter in case anyone felt like whipping some refried beans. Oh and the mariachi records that my mom would blast on Sunday mornings, when we were compelled to get up and help her clean the house. My mom really prided herself on keeping an orderly, stylish home, because she disdained what to her were my grandma’s garish decorating choices. To this day, my mom will passionately describe her hatred for a red velvet couch–covered with protective plastic, of course–that Grandma purchased (“Our living room looked like a BORDELLO!”) or the time Grandma redid the kitchen floor with black & pink tiles, then substituted lime green tiles when the pink ones ran out.

And here’s what leads me back to the soon-to-be Día de los Muertos movie. Hollywood, please stop assuming that Dia de los Muertos is going to automatically bring us Latin@s running to the theater in droves. Because based on the “Latin@” movies you’ve produced thus far, you can only envision us looking and acting in stereotypical ways and living in only one style of home. How many times have I seen the colorful Mexican kitchen in your films? How many East LA gang and boxing stories can you seriously make? How many of your soundtracks feature only salsa and strumming guitar (as Lalo Alcaraz points out on this, one of my favorite posters)?

If you think I’m exaggerating, just check out the Mexican home scenes in the trailer for the film From Prada to Nada. And keep in mind, this is just the trailer…if there’s this many stereotypes in two and a half minutes, then imagine sitting through the whole film! I rest my case.

“Hispanics” in the mainstream…and “Chimichangas and Zoloft”

No time to write much today. Instead, I’ll share a link I read a today on a study demonstrating that instead of the “socially conservative” group described in the media, Hispanics share mainstream views on most social issues.

Here’s a brief glimpse of columnist Esther Cepeda’s piece in NBCLatino:

According to the Pew Hispanic Center’s March 2011 National Survey of Latinos, when asked whether homosexuality should be accepted or discouraged by society, 59 percent of Hispanics said it should be accepted, compared to 58 percent of the general population.

Now move on to the socially conservative values voters, with whom Hispanics are routinely lumped in because of their strong connections to religious institutions. It’s true that Hispanics are almost three times likelier to be Catholic and are more likely overall to affiliate themselves with an organized religion compared to the general public, but that doesn’t translate into a political stance.

Again according to Pew, Hispanics as a whole are about as conservative (32 percent) as the overall population (34 percent), but they’re less moderate and a bit more liberal than the general population — 30 percent of Hispanics identify as liberal compared to 21 percent of the general population.

Check out the rest of the article, and click on the NBCLatino main page so that you can see the poster for this play that I know I will love, just based on the title alone:

A Latina in academia: My individual experience

[A heads-up from the Daily Chicana: this is a long post, folks! Grab yourself a cocktail, put your feet up and get ready to read. And read. And read.]

Two days ago, in my post Latina/os in academia: A look at the numbers, I shared a several statistics concerning (both in the sense of “about” and “these numbers are sad and should concern us”) Latina/os’ overall educational attainment in the US. As you may recall, it was inspired by a story I read about three Latinas who just received their Ph.D.s in English from UTSA.

What inspired me to reflect on my own particular educational journey was how much it contrasts to those of the women featured in the article. For example, one of the women opens up about the lack of encouragement she received, even being told that she “wasn’t college material.” Nevertheless, she worked towards an associate degree from a community college over four and a half years and eventually ventured on to graduate work. Another of the women only started looking into the possibility of attending college after others expressed surprised to hear that she did not plan to apply. The third woman, who was on a more traditional educational track (going to college right after high school and then on to be a full-time graduate student), still notes wistfully that Latina/os often experience an identity crisis in classrooms where “your culture is repressed and your language isn’t validated” (emphasis added).

These kinds of stories are all too common. In fact, they represent the dominant narrative of  ”the” Latin@ educational experience (btw if you’re wondering, “Latin@” is shorter way of writing “Latina/o”). The related assumptions include: Latin@ students are often the first in their families to have been born in the US. They grow up with Spanish as their first language, learning English either through older siblings who are already in school or not until enrolling in kindergarten. They must frequently act as the primary translators for their parents in school settings (as well as in the world beyond). They do not receive much encouragement to consider college, either from their own family members or teachers and administrators in general.

I’m generalizing here, and I want to emphasize that many Latin@s do share this kind of experience and do overcome tremendous odds to make it into college and beyond. Low retention rates from K-12 and into post-secondary degrees clearly indicate that the struggles are intense, and far too many Latin@ youth fall by the wayside.

So with this as the background, I can say that it sometimes feels strange to be Latina and have an experience far different from most, or at least from what I see described in academic literature and represented in popular media (say, a film like Stand and Deliver). I didn’t realize the extent of the differences until I began teaching at my current institution, and when the realization set in, I felt very foolish to have been so blind to others’ struggles.

Continue reading →

Latina/os in academia: A look at numbers

Patricia Portales, Margaret Cantu-Sanchez, and Candace de Leon -Zepeda are receiving their doctorate degrees in English from UTSA this weekend [12 May 2012]. While Latinos make up 15 percent of the U.S. population, they account for only 3.6 percent of the doctoral degrees awarded in the United States and can be counted in the low thousands. Helen L. Montoya/San Antonio Express-News
Photo: HELEN L. MONTOYA, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS / ©2012 HELEN MONTOYA PHOTOGRAPHY

This past weekend, I came across ”Latinas blaze path to doctoral degrees” (12 May 2012), an article that tells the story of the three gorgeous Latinas pictured above, who are newly minted Ph.D.s in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio. First and foremost, I want to send out my congratulations to them and to wish them all the best as they continue their academic careers! I hope I will have the chance to meet these new colleagues in person one day. For now, I’ll just look forward to sharing their story with my students, who I know will be tremendously inspired by the challenges these women have overcome.

The nature of the challenges–and particularly the numbers and statistics behind them–are ones that I lose sight of all too easily, even though I myself was a first-generation doctoral graduate. The caption of the image above begins to hint at the rarity of what Dr.s Portales, Cantu-Sanchez and de Leon-Zepeda have achieved. Latina/os (note: the term “Latina/o” includes people whose origins extend to any Latin American country, not just Mexico) comprise 15% of the US population, yet according to the National Center for Education Statistics, we received only the following in 2009:

  • 8% of bachelors degrees
  • 6% of Master’s degrees
  • 3% of Ph.D.s.

Moroever, Latina/os comprise just 4% of college faculty. (By way of comparison, whites received 71.% of bachelors degrees, 64% of Master’s and 63% of Ph.D.s. and make up 75% of faculty.)

These numbers are made even smaller if we keep in mind how many Americans (25 years or older and of any race) earn a doctoral degree in the first place: 1.5% of the US population as a whole in 2011. Therefore, these three women and I represent a select group only .045%. We don’t even make up one half of one percentage point.

Now, to focus specifically on Mexican Americans, here is a handy flowchart and more numbers that astound me (and as a Humanities scholar, numbers usually don’t move me all that much):

From “Leaks in the Chicana and Chicano Educational Pipeline,” by Tara Yosso and David Solorzano, Latino Policy and Issues Brief No. 13 (March 2006).

Again, we see that Chicana/os do not make up a full percentage point of doctoral earners. Seeing this figure always shocks me, particularly when I discuss it in class with my students. (The part that always gets to me: of the seventeen students who attend a community college, only one will successfully transfer to a four-year institution…such a tremendous gap!) As I explain to students, I live in a strange world where most of my close friends are people of color with Ph.D.s and who are either tenured or on the tenure-track at top universities (as well as, of course, my colleagues and the people with whom I interact on a day-to-day basis at work). On some days, it seems to me, “Everybody gets a Ph.D. Big deal.” And yet it truly IS a big deal. You just have to conduct the most cursory examination of these facts and figures to appreciate it.

Looking at that flowchart again, I don’t have the time/space/energy to start get into all the reasons why Chicana/os graduate at such low rates. One thing I do want to do, though, is to caution against engaging in any theories of cultural deficiency, which basically means blaming some monolithic notion of Mexican American or Latino “culture” for whatever is “wrong” in Latino communities. For example, there is a terrible stereotype that Latino students don’t perform as well as whites as Asians simply because “Latinos just don’t care about education,” a pernicious idea that gets bandied about not just in popular media, but also from the mouths of administrators at my own university campus, who should know much better than to think this way. Instead, I will point you to the excellent work of Critical Race Theory and education scholars such as Tara Yosso, Daniel Solorzano and Marcos Pizarro, who are helping to transform our understanding of the Latina/o educational crisis by analyzing the impact  issues such as educational inequities, lack of funding, historical trauma, racial battle fatigue and microagressions.

Okay, so there are the numbers in my head for today; it’s a lot to wrap one’s brain around. However, this is the numerical groundwork I have to lay for an angsty post about my own education experience and class status that I have planned for tomorrow. Now doesn’t that sound like a fun read? See you tomorrow…