Living in a Stereotypical World

890 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Hispanic stereotypes in modern culture

Throughout many years, stereotypes have been eminent. While it’s not good to be superficial, many people have fallen into the trap of believing these stereotypes. One of the most notorious stereotypes are about Hispanics. In Judith Cofer’s essay, The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, she profusely discusses how she has been stereotyped throughout her life. The fact that she was stereotyped based on her race does not come as a shock to many people. Cofer opens up her essay by reflecting on a time when she was on a bus and a man broke out in a rendition of “Maria” from West Side Story. Due to her Puerto Rican heritage, stereotypes will follow her for the rest of her life. While it’s unfortunate, she has not remained the only one. Hispanics are known to have low-wage jobs, thus making Americans feel that they’re “taking all of the jobs”. Some stereotypes of Hispanics is that they lack a proper education, attempting to survive with low-level jobs. Unfortunately, this may seem to be true. Based on the Census Bureau 2002, it’s shown that Hispanics are the least educated out of other races. This may be why the most common depictions of Hispanics on radio and television is Latinos who are maids, gardeners, drop outs, and criminals; most of the time who know little to no English. In her essay, Cofer constantly states how her family had this strict rule of virtue and modesty while she was a girl. She explains how as a teenager, she was “instructed to behave as a proper senorita” (204); however, she couldn’t dress too mature for her age. She also reflects on a time when it was Career Day in her high school. Cofer mentions this friend who had said Puerto Rican girls always stand out, for wearing everything at once. Hisp... ... middle of paper ... ...of an education like she does. There’s still many who struggle to this day. Stereotypes have and always will be around. It’s up to us, the people, whether we choose to believe and act on these stereotypes. As Cofer states, “We cannot change this by legislating the way people look at us. The transformation, as I see it, has to occur at a much more individual level. My personal goal in my public life is to try to replace the old pervasive stereotypes and myths about Latinas with a much more interesting set of realities.” (207). This stereotypical world we live in has to end one day. Works Cited “Stereotypes Against Hispanics” studymode.com. Web. April 2013. “Study: Non Latinos Buy Into Stereotypes About Hispanic Americans.” huffingtonpost.com. Web. 12 September 2012. “Hispanic Stereotypes- How They Affect Us At Work? (part I)” network.nshp.org. Web. 9 August 2006.

Show More
Related

  • Sandra Cisneros' Never Marry a Mexican and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sandra Cisneros “Never Marry a Mexican” and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are stories that reflect on the cultures in which the characters grew up in. In Never Marry, Clemencia, the narrator, reflects on her past sexual relations as well as her childhood. She speaks of her parents’ marriage and then transitions into her relationship with college professor and his son. In Oscar Wao, Yunior, the narrator, gives a second-hand retelling of Oscar’s experiences in New Jersey growing up as well as in the Dominican Republic. A person’s identity is largely influenced by their culture, this is especially the case in Hispanic cultures. The social constraints that these cultures place on social class, sexuality, and gender norms can be very detrimental to a person’s self-esteem.

    Read More

  • Formation of Real Truth: Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Shakespeare's Othello

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    Heilbroner, Robert L. “Don’t Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments.” Emerging Voices: Readings in the American Experience. Ed. Sara M. Blake and Janet Madden Orlando: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1993. 436-442.

    Read More

  • Woman Hollering Creek: Dreams and Reality

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nevertheless, Cisneros’s experience with two cultures has given her a chance to see how Latino women are treated and perceived. Therefore, she uses her writing to give women a voice and to speak out against the unfairness. As a result, Cisneros’ story “Woman Hollering Creek” demonstrates a distinction between the life women dream of and the life they often have in reality.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How To Tame A Wild Tongue

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced because of her cultural background. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. By forcing them to speak English and attempting to get rid of their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that arises from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Internalized Racism In America

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    Internalized racism has hit the individual level where half of all Hispanics consider themselves as white. One Mexican American asserted that he felt “shame and sexual inferiority…because of my dark complexion.” He also described himself with “disgust” loathing his appearance when he sees himself in the mirror. Stereotypes play a huge role in the Latino culture in the U.S where often the usual stereotype is that Latinos are job-stealers, uneducated, poor and illegal. “Envidia” or jealousy sabotages the Latino community because Latinos begin to question the qualifications of other successful Latinos. No one has the positive thought that Latinos can achieve and triumph in any field; they just can’t believe that. Latinos just stamp other Latinos with those stereotypes Americans say. Because of internalized racism, Latinos and Hispanics distance themselves from the Spanish language to support the English only movement. They are embarrassed of their inherited language and rather choose English to complete assimilation. “Almost 40% of Latino/a respondents prefer English as their dominant language…” (Padilla 20). Where I currently live, I always see on the day to day basis Hispanics and Latinos that immigrated to the United States from other countries sounding “white.” I speak to Hispanics; even Latinos in Spanish and they respond

    Read More

  • The Characteristics Of Race And Gender: After Ferguson Canedy

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some stereotypes of Latinas are housemaids, house cleaner, Mexicans. Alicia Machado was Miss Universe in 1996, “Trump to ask Machado and Miss Universe staff -- who Machado said were often aghast -- 'who she thought she was, ' on multiple occasions. In both angry conversations and casual ones, Trump referred to Machado as Miss Piggy, Miss Housekeeper,’ and Miss Housekeeping,’ who should know her place and do as she was told. He said it to her face. And he said it to Miss Universe staff” (CNN Politics by Daniel Diaz) it interferes with Latinas identity. Latina actresses take on roles of being maids or being minor roles, for example, in Family guy Consuela is a house cleaner who cleans everyone houses she is portrayed as a an middle age Mexican women that can 't not speak English and speaks broken English she called everyone “Mr.” and “Mrs.” and uses incorrect sentences always wears a uniform and rubber cleaning gloves and spends most of her time asking for “Le-mohn Pledge” while walking around spraying everything with Windex she seen as stereotypical Latina housemaid. In one episode, the Griffin family’s youngest son Stewie Griffin (the talking baby) accuses Consuela of stealing his play money (with yet another stereotype that all maids are thieves. Not just Hispanic women portrayed horribly, but black women even in the media are portrayed negatively they are given names as Baby Mamas, Gold

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotypes on Television

    1870 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Web. 15 Jan. 2015. Izumi, Yutaka and Frank Hammonds. " Changing Ethnic/Racial Stereotypes: The Roles of Individuals and Groups."

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Chicanos And Chicanas Education

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. Chicanas and Chicanos were often marginalized, which lowered their social sense of self. (Pizarro, 53).

    Read More

  • Mexican Immigration Discrimination Essay

    2918 Words  | 6 Pages

    Kanellos, Nicolás, Felix M- Padilla, and Claudio Esteva Fabregat, eds. Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States: Sociology. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1994. Print.

    Read More

  • The Puerto Rican Dummy And The Merciful Son Analysis

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Latino male is the bogeyman of the Pioneer Valley" (page 35). In my personal views, I am neutral in the debate of whether the standard Latino male has been dealt a negative hand in the past and present stereotypes. However, those who believe that ...

    Read More

  • My Beloved World By Sonia Sotomayor

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    The backlash that Sotomayor experiences because of her decision to apply to and her acceptance into Princeton reveals how most Puerto Ricans experienced forms of racialization, or racial classification, by Caucasian Americans. Sotomayor experiences the culmination of years of racial discrimination and oppression when her school nurse asks with an “accusatory tone” and a “baleful gaze” how she got a “likely” and the “two top-ranking girls in the school only got a ‘possible’” (Sotomayor 102). She expects Sotomayor to experience “shame” under her gaze because he...

    Read More

  • Empowering Intersectionality In Yvonne Ridley's How I Came To Love The Veil

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the

    Read More

  • Prejudice and Stereotyping in the Movie, Crash

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    As far as personal experience, living in Miami,-Florida, as a none-Cuban Latin, makes it easier to have an insight in all kinds of prejudice and stereotypes within the same Hispanic society. This behavior makes it hard to not feel negatively judged by others who do belong to the majority group. Unfortunately prejudice is not simply an attitude that remains internal to its owner; it impacts behavior. When negative attitudes on the basis of differences translate into behavior, we have as a result, discrimination and the social inequity it produces. Therefore, efforts to reduce prejudice are well advised to take the social context into consideration when focusing on the individuals' attitudes.

    Read More

  • Language, Gender, and Culture in Society

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate.

    Read More

  • Hispanic Culture Reflection Paper

    382 Words  | 1 Pages

    I am a part of the Hispanic culture that is so often overlooked and disrespected. From the media and my peers, I learned what society has expected of me from a young age. In my seventeen years, I have been classified as ignorant, lazy, and told that I had no future ahead of me. These stereotypes have only further motivated me to prove that what is portrayed about Hispanics, is not true.

    Read More

More about Living in a Stereotypical World

Open Document