Essay On Latino Women

956 Words2 Pages

In my media analysis paper, I have decided to examine and delineate how the media portrays Latino women in television and focus on how race, and gender, have a huge impact on how women continue to be stereotyped and negatively attacked by the media. Television and the media constantly attacks the objectification of women in ads and it confirmed the difference in nature of comments about women vs men. From my view, the media focuses much more deeply on a whole array of negative or limiting aspects of women, including an intense scrutiny of and emphasis on their looks, and condemning, how women continue to struggle so hard to balance life, work, and attain an education.
The United States has often been depicted as a nation of immigrants and …show more content…

Although these Latino women were the protagonist, it doesn’t excuse the fact that they were many scenes where both women were over-sexualized for the benefit of the male gaze. First of all, let’s dig deeper and think about the many things that are inappropriate about this movie. For example, the meaning of the title of the movie Bandidas means “bandits” and imposes a Mexican stereotype portraying the Latino race as criminals and thieves. “The film’s title and the outlaw theme intend to evoke familiar cinematic representations of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in Hollywood and in America’s history: bandits, villains, cowboys, and vaqueros.” (Ruiz-Alfaro, 200). Although the women were portrayed as thieves and criminals, the movie assured themselves that the Latino women continued to be seen as attractive and sexy to the audience. In my opinion, it seemed that the producer of this film, had an ulterior motive for this movie, they wanted the audience to have fun, and mostly enjoy the sex and the beauty that these women were displaying on screen. From movies to music videos, the stereotyping of Latino women and its culture continues to be ridiculed and places women in a disadvantageous …show more content…

Unfortunately, is not only the stereotypes that degrade Latino women, it’s also the constant pressure portrayed by the media, and television ads, that continues to pressure the Latino women to be sexy, thin, young. The hypersexual Latina stereotype portrays unrealistic expectations, where many of the Latino women are forced to abide and portrayed as something there really not. “Similar to the effects on African-Americans, the media has perpetuated stereotypes about Latin-Americans, those of which differ from the typical non-Hispanic woman. These images are shown on television, which is heavily consumed by Latin-American women. Latin-American women on average watch four more hours of television daily than women in other ethnic groups. Due to this increase in exposure, Latin-American women are more susceptible to negative images, making comparisons to the media ideal more detrimental. As a result, Latin-Americans have a heavy loyalty to the health and beauty industry. The support that they give to this industry may be associated with the dissatisfaction felt when media ideals are used for comparison.” (Martin & Baugh,

Open Document