In a scene from the film, Selena, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a Mexican-American singer, is ignored by a white sales woman. The sales woman judges Selena on the color of her skin, determining her social status as one unimportant to her business, not realizing that Selena was actually a celebrity. Just as the sales woman predetermined a role for Selena rooted by race and ethnicity, Waretown High maintained class, gender, and race stereotypes in determining girl’s futures and outcomes. Julie Bettie’s Women Without Class discusses these stereotypes through expectations set for las chicas and the preps by the school, families, and themselves, the exclusion of hard-living students, those whose families were low income, and the ability for some girls to become upwardly mobile as an exception to the rules. The girls in Waretown High distinguished themselves according to class and ethnicity. Symbolic boundaries between the preps and las chicas were represented through their styles, ambitions for their futures, and taking part in class performances. The preps dressed in more neutral and pastel colors, giving off a sense of innocence and femininity. The preps focused on following the socially accepted path in life of going to school, getting married and then having a family. The preps, who had college-educated parents, used their cultural capital to basically run the school. In contrast, las chicas wore dark makeup and more sexualized outfits as a class and ethnic performance,
Common stereotypes about women in the Mexican-American culture include that women are uneducated, good housewives, and very fertile. Many parents still believe it’s the woman’s job to stay home and be the homemaker. The concept of gender, which is socially constructed, is reinforced since birth. (Sociology Lecture 08/24/2015) Ana was caught in the middle of gender politics. Her mother oppressed her daughter so she can become a grandmother. The film “Real Women Have Curves” deals with gender stereotypes and struggles of poor women living in East LA. Carmen was trying to have Ana chained to the notion of women being inferior to men. Carmen believed men to be superior, whereas Ana thought differently. However Ana strived to liberate herself from traditional cultural norms by pursuing her college education. Her mother’s negative influence only caused Ana to rebel.
In this chapter, bell hooks describes her experience with class privilege in college. Her race and socioeconomic status made her stick out from her classmates, which made her a target for their stares and torments. Her financial situation also made it hard for her to get into a college that she felt comfortable at. Hooks’ struggles ultimately made college hard for her, and left her feeling bitter and troubled about her achievements.
Whilst Mexican Americans were looked down upon as a whole minority, it could be said that female Mexican Americans were in an even worse position than their male counterparts, with little or no input permitted whatsoever. Female actresses in the film are demoted to supporting actresses or dancers in comparison to the heavily male orientated cast who have leading roles. According to Fregoso (1993: 659) ‘Chicanos and Chicanas became visible in public discourse as ‘social problems.’ Moreover, Chicanos became foreigners in their own country which led to the increase of so called ‘gang culture.’ In attempt to counter act the media and public perception of Chicano culture Fregoso (1993: 660) explains ‘Valdez deconstructs racist images of Chicano youth as ‘gangs’ or social problems, depicting the male members as victims of racist institutions… the male subjects are reversals of dominant depictions of Chicano masculinity.’
Selena was born into the musical family. Selena was a Mexican popstar actually a popstar all around the world. She has one brother and one sister. Her brothers name was Abraham and her sister was Suzette. Her dad played in a band called Los Dinos. He quit his music career to start Selenas. She will be forever remembered. Selena grew up in Mexico, died violently, and is remembered by thousands today.
1.Describe the main characters of the film: Who are they? What are their motivations? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are the obstacles they face?
She has little interactions with her father, other men, and even boys; she even shares that she fears them (Cisneros 49). This further validates the gender hierarchy in place in Chicano culture. These interactions between parent (or anyone contributing to their socialization) and child that aid in gender identification can cause boys to later negatively repress any feelings of femininity in order to be perceived masculine like their fathers (Chodorow 87). This, then in turn can serve as the explanation of the common subordination of women, specifically in Mexican-American culture. On Mango Street, even as children, Esperanza’s younger brothers, don’t speak with her and
Many young second generation daughters of Mexican heritage has grown up with a distinctive gender norm. In the midst of the second world war, the expression of freedom and equality spread throughout the country. This initiates for women to become more tuned to the social affairs the men had left behind. Thus, immigration brought a lot of Mexican families into Los Angeles. Double exposure to familial expectations and the American way of life brought in a sense of desperation of trying to balance both. The second generation daughters who have been exposed to the loudly spoken
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there
During the poetry reading, a woman motioned Cofer to a table and thought “that [Cofer] was a waitress” (Cofer 108). Cofer was carrying a notebook, yet the woman assumed Cofer was a waitress because she is a Latina. This demonstrated that people assumed that Latinas have the role of a housemaid, similar to the stereotype of Mammy from Gone with the Wind. If Cofer was a different race, she would not experience these incidents. The media’s poor portrayal of Latinas negatively affect how they are viewed in the real-world, especially when they hold such
Women themselves perpetuate their inferiority; the author recounts a moment in her life when her emotional connection with her mother was interrupted abruptly by a telephone call from her brother. In this instance, the mother chose to speak with her son, the Chicano, over her daughter, the Chicana.
Linda illustrates how the way we view Hispanics is what holds them back from fully growing in our society. This is mainly done through discrimination that withholds them from attaining jobs or opportunities that halts their overall progression up the ladder. The U.S. census and many other federal agencies confirms that the Hispanic race, much like any other race, works had to make a decent living and support their families. This depicts Hispanics as a race that shares a common norm of all others, yet is still treated as if they are the bottom rung of society. This is actually not the case when
Stereotypes have a way of getting inside your head, and sometimes you end up in a tough situation without even knowing it. In the novella, House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros describes the lives of several women of who live on Mango Street. In the community, stereotypes are given to women, which most of them succumb to. The girls tend to get married young to someone they do not love and end up trapped. Very few women actually made the smart decisions and made a successful life for themselves without a man. Despite the power of negative stereotypes given to women in Esperanza’s community, individuals who are strong and determined enough can overcome the unfavorable outcomes.
Black women deal with challenges every day whether it’s because of their race, gender, class, education, religious or sexual ties. When it comes to Black women we tend to view their issues as either race or gender related to the exclusion of other aspects of their identity and their intersectionality (Bryant-Davis 114). The show Insecure, an HBO comedy series created by Issa Rae, focuses on the sisterly bond between two young professional black women living in Los Angeles. The show demonstrates the challenges that black women face on a regular basis, whether it’s finding love, navigating a white dominated workplace, battling stereotypes or finding their identity. Although Insecure deals with many important sociological issues, my focus in this paper is the representation of Black women in the workplace, specifically in a white dominated environment and the microaggressions they encounter in their attempt to succeed in their careers.
Many Hispanic women now desire higher education and professional standing rather than their culturally defined homemaker and housewife roles. In the film The Changing Role of Hispanic Women, Hispanic women describe themselves as “more towards looking for a future” while holding a strong sense of family, yet letting education take priority in their lives so they can be able to pass something onto their children since these women in fact are “aggressive, and they go out for what they want” ("The Changing Role of Hispanic Women"). These self-depicted traits alone show the newly found desires of Latinas which bring with them a shift in the societal roles of these same
Throughout the essay, Lugo-Lugo uses personal experiences and builds bridges with her audience to further establish emotional appeals. Carmen Lugo-Lugo is a woman of color, specifically a Latina. Latinos have become so stereotyped, that people’s portrayals and descriptions of them have become so ingrained in their minds that