Monday, November 18, 2013

Latinas in the Media




Google for images of "Latinas" and that is what you get. A myriad of sexualized women. And one "We Can Do It!" shot. Unfortunately, this is how the world sees Latinas, a role that is very limiting and degrading.

I've struggled with some women in my culture and their way of dressing. Some may say that it is empowering to be proud of and comfortable with the bodies "God" has given us. But this oversezualized representation of Latina women is just injusto. We are more than a piece of meat to savor over.

It's no better that one of our own perpetuates this image, along with another common image of Latinas. Hollywood star Eva Longoria's show "Devious Maids" cast Latina women as maids working in a rich white person's mansion, with all sorts of scandals happening behind the scenes. I get that the show is somewhat of an homage to the telenovelas that are shown all over Latin America, but a majority of those shows are even worse. Not only do they over sexualize women, but they always seem to depict the good and beautiful lighter-skinned woman as the protagonist and the darker-skinned woman as the evil backstabber.
nbclatino.com

Longoria defended her show in an interview with the New York Times, but editor-in-chief of Cosmo for Latinas Michelle Herrera Mulligan criticized her for her comments in an open letter

Mulligan makes a great point about the other image of Latinas that Longoria's show perpetuates -- the maid.

Latinas, and Latinos in general, are depicted as the "help" in most cases. While there certainly is a large number of Latinas who make their living as maids, they are not the like the women in "Devious Maids".
I have actually meet a couple of strong, hard working women through my volunteering with UNITE HERE Local 1, the hospitality union.
The women I've talked to work long hard hours cleaning hotel rooms and do so for their children. Of course there are a lot of differences between the real-life maids I've met and the maids depicted in "Devious Maids", but the show perpetuates the maid as a role that only Latina women can fill. The show exacerbates this by sexualizing their actions.
The real women who just happen to be maids are not represented, and are certainly not freed of any oppressive forces just because there is a show about maids on Lifetime.
"Devious Maids" does not breakdown any barriers, it only makes them worse for the average person.
UNITE HERE Local 1



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