Myth of the Latin Woman

Myth of the Latin Woman

I like the way "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I just met a girl named Maria" by Judith Ortiz Cofer begins: the young man on the bus singing the lines from West Side Story to the Latina girl who is trying not to show him any encouragement. It is a very true to life beginning: one part youth filled with exuberance and love, happy to be getting on a bus out of Oxford, expressing that happiness in song when inspired by the looks of a girl; one part anxious youth filled with self-awareness, desperate to fit in and surprised to find that she still stands out. It has all the makings of a romance story -- but this is no romance.

In fact, Cofer's narrative quickly turns saddening as she relates her tales of Americanization from childhood -- being dressed as a Puerto Rican by her mother, being told to come dressed as a career girl by the nuns at school, being confused as to how to conform. Mixing Catholicism with secularism for a young person can be quite overwhelming. But even her Catholicism is baffling to her: at once they are telling her to hold onto her Puerto Ricanness by going to a Spanish mass, and then they are telling her to abandon in it in her dress! I can understand her annoyance. It is in fact painful to hear her say, "The way our teachers and classmates looked at us that day in school was just a taste of the culture clash that awaited us in the real world…" (Cofer, 1993).

Cofer then describes how on the Island a woman never indulged a young man's ardor on the streets -- which explains her response to the young man on the bus. Then she gives us the humiliating story of the old man and his offensive singing. This was a bit shocking, but Cofer's handling of the situation was tactful and dignified. Yet, she remembers an episode from her younger days when she went to give her first poetry reading in a cafe and a woman seated took her for a waitress. It embarrassed and angered Cofer, and she says she later "punished" the woman by demanding her full attention. I don't doubt that the woman gave Cofer her full attention -- but I do doubt it was punishment. Cofer in this instance reminds me of the youth in Dostoevsky's a Raw Youth -- bitter and annoyed that others don't recognize him for what he is -- yet himself unaware of whom he really is. As Cofer makes plain, her identity is made up of fractured pieces of other cultures, confusing even to herself.

2: The Bachelor: Whiteness in the Harem

Rachel Dubrofsky's (2006) essay "The Bachelor: Whiteness in the Harem" makes a significant if not amusing point at the very outset: "Over the course of the first season of American Idol in the summer of 2002, more people voted by phone to help select a winner than voted in the 2000 U.S. presidential election." Her point is well-taken: Americans are tuning into "reality programming" and tuning out reality. Dubrofsky's thesis is that the reality-romance show the Bachelor is "raced," a point that is not hard to see.

According to Dubrofsky, the Bachelor is a twist on the Asian harem-paradigm. Here, the white man is surrounded by women of different ethnicities -- and only he is allowed to find love. The women are there only for his amusement. The show is obviously self-centered, self-serving, and offensive to good taste. Nonetheless, it is televised and, what is worse, people are watching it. I am not surprised at Dubroksky's outrage. I share it!

Most revolting is how the show masquerades as a sort of matchmaking service, yet, as Dubrofsky notes, "Thus far none of the bachelors have married the woman they selected [and] only two of the seven couples remain together at the time of this writing (season eight has not ended yet)."

Interestingly, Dubrofsky reveals how women of color on the Bachelor rarely make it beyond the first few rounds of competition -- and even then only serve as framing devices for the feelings and reactions of the white female contestants. All this means is that reality programming like the Bachelor is as superficial and far-removed from reality as anything can possibly get -- and that it also reinforces negative stereotypes about women, whether of color or not.

3: Is Capitalism Gendered and Racialized?

Joan Acker's "Is Capitalism Gendered and Racialized?" does not shock me at all, although it takes a look at the different ways "economy" can be conceptualized. Her essay is a bit difficult to process as it uses many abstract concepts to convey a meaning. But her main point seems to be that women provide economic support even if they do not receive payment for it -- which leads her to believe that if "economy" is perceived with this in mind, women who work domestically will be seen as part of it and thus deserving of recognition.

Acker also raises some issues regarding capitalism, which seem legitimate to me. The hypocrisy behind capitalism is that it sees production as a means of profit, while families see production as a means of provision. Families are supposed to be responsible, but in a capitalist society, capitalist organizations do not share the same responsibility mindset: they are not out to provision, but to profit. The question Acker poses is this: How can women who provide unpaid services provide financially for a family as well? The system wherein a male-provider secures the financial means for a family while the female provides domestically is a model that does not suffice today -- hence, the welfare status of many. But can this last long? Acker makes some interesting points.

4: Race as Class

Herbert Gans argues in "Race as Class" that despite what biologists and sociologists have been teaching, lay people continue to propagate the idea of race as something of defining value. It is conveniently used as a stereotype for determining how strangers or "others" are to be viewed: whether with acceptance or suspicion. For example, Gans cites a white person's fear of a dark-skinned person until the dark-skinned person proves through actions that there is nothing to fear.