Latin Woman

Myths About Latin Woman
The first article I read was The Myth of The Latin Woman by Judith Cofer. It talked about a Hispanic woman and a incident she had. A young man approached her at a bar and started reciting lines from the play   West Side Story. The woman thought to herself “you can leave the island, nut they island will travel with you.” The young Hispanic woman was raised with strong morals and beliefs from her Puerto Rican heritage. She explains that she was taught a conflicting message as a teenager. She was shown to act and dress as a “senorita” or a woman. She felt embarrassed at times feeling over dressed at Americanized birthday parties, but at a   Puerto Rican festivity nothing was ever too much. While in high school on career day her class was asked to dress as if they were coming for a job interview. She noticed that the Hispanic girls were overdressing as if they were going to a party rather then a office setting.   She had trouble deciding what to wear because she had no models besides Marlo Thomas to base her decision on.   Later on a friend of hers commented   on the way Puerto Rican woman dressed at the business school she was attending. She stated they over accessorized. She felt the culture crash is wait awaited her in the real world and people would misinterpret the tight skirts and jingling bracelets as a come on. She then talk about Hispanic women being objectified by being called a “Hot Tamale.” She feels the media portray not only the food but ht elating women as “sizzling” and “smoldering.” She remembers conversation from her family when they were pressured to give into sexual advancement or they would be fired by their employer. She also explained the contradiction. Puerto Rican women go out in their best outfits and dance in front of the men they like it is natural for man to respond to them.   She goes on to talk about how the Hispanic culture is looked upon as people that work at factories or as house maids and mispronounce words. This...