Reading Reactions One of the interesting surprises about “The Latina Domestic” was that focus on Lupe Ontiveros who played a maid character approximately 300 times in film and television in her career. What was interesting about this, however, was not the fact that she could only really work basically within the confines of this stereotype but rather that she devoted herself to each one of these roles with a real passion because, in her words, she “gave her heart and soul every time she played the maid, as that is a job that many have to hold for a lifetime. She wanted dignity in hat character” (93)—and in the documentary Maid in America, she had the opportunity to set the record straight about the reality of Latinas in America.

The problem of Latinas in the mainstream media, however, is that the media often makes the Latina into a fetish and Latinas like Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan help to perpetuate the stereotype. Additionally, the Latina is seen as a threat—a sexual threat to men and women, in that she is viewed or represented as fiery, seductive, sultry, and exotic. In my experiences, these representations are not very realistic and are based on shallow...

Media houses tend to play it safe and in playing it safe they perpetuate stereotypes that are outdated and should be made extinct.
In the article by Nash and Grant on Lena Dunham’s Girls, the concept of post-feminism is explored and discussed in relation to Dunham’s hit series, which explores the relationships and lives of thirty-somethings. The show resembles Sex and the City in some ways but is clearly produced for the millennial generation whereas Sex and the City had more of an appeal for the Generation X audience. Dunham’s girls, in this sense, represent a post-feminist foray into the world of adulthood from a female perspective, where 21st century issues of identity, gender, sex, and relationships are encountered and portrayed with an eye to candor and realism.

The aim of Dunham’s series is to be…