After the United States' victory over Mexico in the war of 1848 and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, European immigrants who moved to the newly seized western and southwestern lands exhibited extremely racist behavior toward the Latina residents of those lands and Mexican immigrants. From that year onward, and for over 70 years thereafter, thousands of incidents of lynching involving Latin American immigrants or citizens were reported in the United States. One of the most notorious of these executions was that of Josefa Segovia, a Mexican woman who is historically depicted as "big-mouthed" and "promiscuous." This incident was just the tip of the iceberg of the condescending view that the United States had and continues to have towards Latin American women.
Stereotype of Latina women: lustful and daring
- Don’t tell me anything so 18th century as a family arrangement.
- We do things so in my country.
This conversation is between a white American man and Dolores del Río, a Mexican Hollywood actress in the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio. From the early days of the film industry's rise in the US, Hollywood designed an Orientalist-like framework to portray Latina women and men. Latina women, like Dolores del Río, Lupe Vélez, and many others, were depicted as lustful and exotic, rescuing white men from their mundane lives and bringing excitement back into their existence. These women typically came from lower social classes, and the white male protagonist would save them from their misery, turning them into objects to fulfill his desires.
This objectifying gaze of American cinema and culture towards Latina women has persisted from that time to today. Over the years, Latina female characters have been portrayed with hypersexualized appearances and hot-tempered, daring personalities. This sexual representation has extended to music, magazines, and even novels, and over 100 years of cultural shaping has had a significant impact on Latina women both inside and outside the United States. This representation has led to the construction of an idealized image of the Latina woman in the minds of Americans and among Latina women and girls themselves; an that ideal does not encourage Latina girls and women to pursue education, family formation, or meaningful social activities; rather, it presents the image of a beautiful, half-naked woman seeking pleasure in her youth and independent life.
Feminism versus (?) Hollywood
Feminist and the defense of women movements in the United States itself and in Latin American countries have risen to combat this depiction. There are hundreds of books, articles, documentary movies, and more available online that aim to defend the "identity of Latina women" against these waves of propaganda. An analysis of some critical texts and videos from this movement yields interesting results. The main critique of the feminist movement centers on the sexualization of Latina women, highlighting how this negative stereotype can lead to the deprivation of educational and employment opportunities. This critique, which is rightly raised, encourages Latina women, within its lines, to distance themselves from family structures and to cultivate an intense focus on financial independence, and ultimately, sexual freedom.
It is striking that a movement advocating for women's rights would challenge the sexualization of women by asking why only a specific standard of beauty is celebrated? Why aren’t larger or slimmer Latina women, as well as those with curly hair as sexualized as sexualized as the standard figure? It seems that there is no problem with undermining the dignity of many Latina women and portraying them as sexual objects; it is only the discrimination in sexualization that is considered reprehensible. It’s quite interesting that one of the main criticisms of feminism regarding the hyper-sexualization of women is the question of why Hollywood and capitalist media giants portray Latina women solely as heterosexual women, while there is no representation of Latina women who are homosexual!
Has aligning with feminist thought in the matter of representing Latin American women helped improve the public image of these women, or has it merely intensified and complicated the oppression of they face?
Multidimensional oppression
In the 1933 film, Dolores del Rio told Jean Raymond that in her country, it was customary for men and women to marry in order to be together. Nearly 90 years later, Western media moguls, who have produced hundreds of films, music videos, series, novels, and magazines over a century, have reaped the rewards of their investment and changed this custom. Young girls and boys in most Latin American countries, especially Colombia, Chile, Mexico, and others, are increasingly choosing not to marry, whether for companionship or to start families. Statistics show that more than 75% of all newborns in seven Latin American countries are born outside of marriage. This staggering figure is the result of severe cultural shocks to Latin American society.
Many Latin American women and girls have increasingly adopted a solitary, pleasure-seeking lifestyle. By emulating Hollywood's portrayal of Latinx women or accepting feminist discourse, they have distanced themselves from their familial and national identity – an identity which was well-known in previous generations for its large families and devoted mothers. A significant number of Latin American grandparents still consider family the primary source of their identity, and people in Mexico liken their large families to the dessert muégano – a dessert that is very difficult to separate into pieces!
The detachment of Latina women and girls from their identity has led to more women being forced to care for their children alone while also juggling one or more jobs. The hardships of this lifestyle affect both the women and girls themselves and their children. Research has shown that domestic violence is much more prevalent in single-parent households compared to traditional families, and Latin America has one of the worst rates of child abuse in the world. Children who live only with their mothers are more likely to engage in criminal behavior during adolescence and adulthood, and today, a significant portion of these countries face a serious problem with criminal gangs.
Western media giants are now reaping the rewards of years of propaganda in Latin America. Many girls, following their model, have extremely distanced themselves from their families. They have had children outside of marriage, and have most likely created a bitter life for themselves and their children. Perhaps one of the main reasons for the rampant spread of criminal gangs and the high crime rates in this region is the absence of fathers in children's lives. Capitalists have benefited the most from this favorable environment, making huge profits by establishing drug cartels and human trafficking networks. This bitter fate is not limited to children. The same is true for the single women, who, given the dire economic conditions in many of these countries, do whatever it takes to reach the United States, enduring the most difficult jobs for the lowest wages and social status, in hopes of living a few more years in this world.
The attack on the identity and image of Latina women has been very profitable for US capitalists and politicians, who, according to Imam Khamenei, have no motive for intervening in women's affairs other than to expand their influence and political control. Through this, they have taken a giant step in weakening the spirit of independence and resistance in Latin American societies. A continent that once stood against US imperialism, inspired by liberation theology, now grapples with alarming waves of crime. American manufacturers are also fattening their pockets by exploiting cheap migrant labor.
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