OVERSEXED and Underrated

OVERSEXED
and Underrated
The Hypersexualization of Latinas in television and film
By Eliana Grijalva-Rubio

There she is again, that over-sexy Latina, "tramp"-ing around in my TV screen in her usual mini-mini skirt, all cleavage and tan legs. Usually I lunge for the remote and change the channel in disgust, but now I watch in a kind of trance, just waiting to see how Mr. Smith and Mr. Goldberg are going to skewer my culture next. Twenty years ago, there were hardly any Latinas in any kind of mass media. Unfortunately, the price we're paying now to see ourselves represented is a set of exaggerated, overdone stereotypes that put the African-American bad boy and the bespectacled Asian math whiz to shame. Even in TV shows that are almost there when it comes to positive portrayal, like ABC's Ugly Betty, while the fashion-challenged Nuyerican scampers around doing good and saving White people from themselves, there's her sister Hilda, lounging around in her apartment in plunging necklines. And yeah, so it's character development, and I'd be the first person to say she's entertaining. I think she's hilarious and she's one of my favorite characters. But if we're talking about stereotyping, she's in.
When it comes to movies, the popular 2007 comedy The Women is about a woman who leaves her cheating husband for some girls-only fun. But the characters are as predictable as the laugh track on Friends. The reason Mary Haines' (played by the Caucasian, blond Meg Ryan) husband is cheating in the first place is the seductive Crystal Allen. Despite her last name, the other woman is played by Eva Mendes and is very Latina indeed. Or at least, what Hollywood has stereotyped to be Latina. She saunters around in skirts that just keep getting shorter and shorter, skimpy tops that keep showing more, and heels that look like they're on steroids, they're growing so fast. Crystal definitely plays the veteran man-eater and dons the lingerie with confidence, all with a perfume bottle in her hand. Seriously, Mr. Executive, sir, this character is getting really old, really fast. But after all, what sells better than an exotic, dark-skinned woman in too-little clothing? A sweetly innocent, pretty good-girl White woman throwing down with the bad-girl, vixenish Latina chick. That's easy.
By now, I'm wishing the miniskirts were back, because it's only gone downhill. My eyebrows are raised past my hairline watching the near-pornographic commercial blaring out of the TV, for a hamburger, of all things. I finally change the channel, but it actually does get worse. Just a glimpse at an LATV reggaeton music video makes me want to strangle someone. This is not the Latina I know. And for Myra Mendible, in her book From Bananas to Buttocks, the Latinas she saw were not the women surrounding her, either. When talking about Spanish-speaking TV, she says the networks have sexualized women all the way to the news shows, and if I flip on my set at 5:30, she couldn't be more right. Even the female anchors, women that should be considered professional, are wearing tiny skirts and scanty halter tops that, literally, let it all hang out. Ms. Mendible quotes columnist Diane Holloway, who says that especially during primetime, "sexy-looking women with lots of cleavage are the norm." And Rosie Molinary drives her point across time after time in her book, Hijas Americanas, by interviewing Latinas of all ages and backgrounds. One of the women, Carolina, said, "You never see a more wholesome side of women in the media."
I grab a pointer from both women and take to the streets myself, on the hunt for Latinas my age, to see what they think about the tons of skinny, bikini-clad women running amok in our TV sets. Vanessa is 15 and says that she thinks it's not fair, the way we've been stereotyped and cast not only as women, but as Latinas. She tells me that if people see nothing but that same negative portrayal, they're going to look at her and automatically think she's exactly what they see every time they flip to Telemundo. Emily, 13, says she doesn't think we're ever going to see positive images of ourselves on the big or small screen--- Unless we do something about it. Dr. Brenda Risch is Director of Women's Studies at UTEP and agrees. She says that in order to fight these negative portrayals, we need to create our own positive representations. When asked about how she thought hypersexualization of Latinas was damaging to women, she replied that these portrayals are damaging to a young woman's self-esteem because they confirm the old stereotype that a woman's main worth lies solely in her appearance. "Young women learn to focus on how closely they fit a standard appearance and to offer their sexuality as a commodity to others. The same focus is not put on their creativity, intelligence, emotional maturity, values, etc."
And last but certainly not least, one of our own founding editors of Latinitas, Alicia Rascon, has her own opinions about hypersexualization. "I think there's a big stereotype that Latinas are super-sexy and to me it's disturbing that that's the only way they look at us. Very often when we see a show on TV or a movie, we don't see a lot of Latina characters, and when we do, they're the really scantily clad Latinas that are going to steal your boyfriends. I think we're a lot more complex than that, so I think it's horrible that they're simplifying us." The truth is, Hollywood mass media is simplifying Latinas, not to mention the extreme hypersexualization that focuses on our culture. But if we respect ourselves and continue to fight back, we have a real chance at ultimately changing these stereotypes and casting a positive image for the long run.