I know I talk a lot about the sexual objectification of women, but I don't think I've ever narrowed it down. After all, not all women are objectified equally. White women are objectified for their submissiveness, hair colours, eye colours, weight, and possibly other racist reasons, black women are objectified for their posteriors and "twerking", Asian women are objectified for reasons that make me wanna vomit shards of my own pelvis, and Latinas are objectified for their posteriors, breasts, faces, skin tones, and even attitudes. I'm gonna focus on Latinas and Hispanics given how I am in fact half Spanish. Here I'll go over the stereotypes and ways which the media reduces Latinas y hispanas to nothing more than flagrant and offencively dehumanising trophies.
The biggest example of the stereotyping of Hispanic women in the media is Gloria Pritchett from Modern Family. Sure she is played by the Colombian Sofia Vergara, but just because you have an actress for a non-white character, it doesn't mean you can write them however you like. I brought up this problem with Watch Dogs 2, where Marcus, a black male, was written like a white guy. I won't touch too much on that since I'm not black and that isn't my battle, but many things apply here too. Sofia employs a much more emphatic (and somewhat annoying) accent for Gloria to add to the idea that she is a South American immigrant. Sofia's natural voice is not that grating, I promise you that. But because the show is written through the white gaze, which is the racial equivalent of the male gaze, Sofia must have her character appear as obnoxious as possible to her own kind. But that's not all. Her character isn't a strong Hispanic woman, she's your standard sexy mum, because apparently all Hispanic women are just walking sex appeal. Even her 13 year old son sexualises her. That is fucking disturbing. Say what you will about American Dad's Steve Smith wanting to fuck his mum, but at least that show knows to make Steve's oedipus complex look unnatural. Plus I expect gross humour from Seth MacFarlane. I don't expect Modern Family, which prides itself in having a mixed and gay couple (though the gay couple isn't revolutionary either), to pull this bollocks. Every single joke revolving Gloria is how hot she is. At this point I expect the show to just make her go nude every episode and have her breasts swing around at all times.
Another one is Eva Longoria's character Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives. At first glance, she is portrayed as a strong and in-your-face no-bollocks type of woman. Sad thing is, she still falls victim to the hot Latina stereotype. You see, since Gabrielle is attractive, she's allowed to be a strong lead. But "ugly" Latinas like Consuela from Family Guy (I know she's Mexican but same idea) are just jokes. Consuela is an obnoxious housemaid, another bigoted stereotype of Latinas, and Gabrielle has her shit together. Not only does Gabrielle exist through the white gaze, but the male gaze as well, a killer combination. That's why you won't see black actresses in roles that aren't racially demeaning 85% of the time, but again, not my battle. Zoe Saldana is a small exception to this. She is a black Latina, but mostly is cast in roles that aren't total bollocks. She went from being a world-class assassin in Colombiana to the strong-willed María Posada in The Book of Life. Both of these roles go against common tropes laid out for Latina characters, and the Devil must be given his due. Unfortunately, Saldana alone can't break boundaries for Latinas everywhere, but she's a fine place to start.
Now it's time for the most common depictions of Latinas and Hispanic women: we are aggressive and violent. Almost every angry Latina in film and television has at least one scene or even episode of them beating someone up with a shoe or a broomstick. Well I dunno about you, but I haven't clobbered my husband with any kitchen utensils. Sure there's that one time he tickled my foot and I mule kicked him in the chest, but that was an accident :P. Back on topic, this paints Latinas in a very bad light. It makes it appear that if you end up with a Latina, she's gonna beat your arse over the most trivial shit. And it's usually venial screw-ups that set movie Latinas off isn't it? Forgot to leave the toilet seat down? SMACK. Accidentally got crumbs all over the floor? SMACK. Woke her up 5 minutes before her alarm? SMACK (ok that one's kinda justified XD). I sometimes say violent things, but you won't see me act on them. But movies and TV shows like to make Latinas and Hispanic ladies look like the fucking Hulk. It's not true. But still, you don't wanna piss us off :P.
I think I've kept you waiting enough. I'm finally gonna touch on the sexualisation of Latinas and Hispanics. We are incessantly, and I mean INCESSANTLY, turned into sex objects. More so than any other race or ethnicity in fact. If there's a Latina character in a movie or show, there's a good chance there'll be a see dedicated to staring at her bum. Latinas barely have any diverse body types either. They're either rigidly fit with massive bums and breasts, or have giant legs and small torsos. Trust me, my girlfriend is a white Italian and has a bigger bum than me, and I'm British and Spanish (British girls are known for having big bums too BION). You're more likely to find Latinas with a UK size 6 than anything else. We're also expected to have perfectly round bums that glisten off the sunlight. Well hate to burst your bubble boys, but that ain't the case, or at least not with me. I've got cellulite, stretch marks, and blemishes back there. I wouldn't want it any other way if it means destroying stereotypes. We're allowed to have our own insecurities and imperfections. And I'll be damned if they tell me otherwise.
Just let me say right now that I can't speak for every case. I'm just giving my perspective and the prevalence of these tropes in my immediate surroundings. So what can be done about these stereotypes? STOP TOLERATING THEM ON ANY LEVEL. 1 in 6 Latina women are victims of sexual violence, and the sexualisation they face today helps not. It really isn't that difficult to assign personality to a Latina character, why not start now?
No comments:
Post a Comment