Stereotypes: 3
Hi Friends!
Welcome to Issue 29 of this newsletter! It’s the third week of our Stereotypes series, and this week we focus on the Latinx community. Do you know the difference between “Hispanic” and “Latino”? What about “Latino” and “Latinx”? Today we start out by unpacking these terms, then dive into some common stereotypes, archetypes and media depictions. While American pop culture confuses Puerto Ricans for Mexicans and Colombians for Brazilians, the Latinx community spans over 33 countries and 2 continents with various cultures, dialects, histories, religions and motivations for immigrating to America. Let’s get into it!
Key Terms
Hispanic: Hispanic refers to people who speak Spanish or who are descendants of those from Spanish-speaking countries. In other words, Hispanic refers to the language that a person speaks or that their ancestors spoke. For this reason, people who are Hispanic may vary in their race and also where they live or originate.
Latino/ Latina: Latino refers to geography: specifically, people from Latin America including Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Like being Hispanic, being Latino says nothing about your race; Latinos may be White, Black, Indigenous, Asian, etc. A person who is Hispanic may also be Latino, but this is not always necessarily the case. For example, a person from Spain would be Hispanic but not Latino because Spain is a Spanish-speaking country but not a Latin American country.
Latinx: A gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina. Only about 3% of the population it is meant to describe use this term.
Let’s Get Into It
The Latinx Community
When we say “Latinos” or refer to the “Hispanic community”, who are we talking about? It’s multifaceted and a little complex, so let’s break it down:
While the terms Hispanic and Latino have existed for centuries, it wasn't until they were introduced into the United States Census that they became more popularized.
During the 1960s, Mexicans on the west coast and Puerto Ricans on the east coast experienced a lot of discrimination. The joining of these communities across the nation to address these issues led to a new perspective and a new method of categorization. The 1980 census was the first to include a question asking respondents if they identified as Spanish/Hispanic as part of their ethnicity. Respondents could also identify their race (e.g., White, Black, Asian, American Indian or Pacific Islander).
Remember, your race is largely based on how you phenotypically appear based on skin-color, features and hair (Black, White, Asian, American Indian, Pacific Islander) . Ethnicity divides people into smaller social groups based on characteristics like culture, ancestry, language, history or country of origin (Hispanic is the only one listed on the US census due to the lobbying mentioned above, but Italian, Irish, Swiss, Nigerian, Somalian, Dominican are all ethnicities too). Nationality refers to the country in which you are a legal resident.
I’ll use myself as an example: I am Black, Latina/Hispanic (specifically Puerto Rican and Dominican), American. I am both Hispanic—because my ancestors were colonized by Spain and speak Spanish—and Latina—because geographically my ancestry lies in the Caribbean.
Unlike last week’s newsletter on the Black community, the Latinx community is comprised of a massive population from over 33 countries and 2 continents with different reasons for immigrating to the United States. This was a big pain point during the 2020 elections because the media continued to lump all communities from Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean together. These countries have different languages, histories, cultures, religions and traditions.
Common Archetypes
Cholo: Historically the term was used by European colonizers to refer to full or mixed indigenous populations in South and Central America, but in the 1960s was reclaimed in the US by working-class Mexican Americans and the Chicano Power movement as a way to flip and empower a term that had historically been used to denigrate them. Eventually, this term became synonymous in American culture with drugs, gangs, poverty and illegal activity and gained a negative connotation.
Illegal Alien: Latinos are frequently seen as the "others" in the US despite their large percentage of the population. The otherness becomes a lens in which to view them as foreign or not being American. That mentality creates the illegal stereotype and the concept of job stealing. Donald Trump’s constant racist rhetoric further fueled this idea.
Fiery/Spicy/Fiesta Latina: Most Latina’s portrayed in the media are sexy, sensual and emotional. In 1922, Mexico called for an embargo on American films because Mexicans were portrayed so badly. By 1933, this started to shift when President Roosevelt created The Good Neighbor Policy and Mexicans started being portrayed differently, though not necessarily more accurately. One of the most popular icons that emerged from this policy was the Brazilian dancer, Carmen Miranda. She was so much the symbol of Latin culture that the United Fruit Company created Chiquita Banana in her likeness to sell their “extotic” and “tropical” fruit. Today we see this image continue of Latina women being portrayed as light-skinned with long wavy hair, hourglass figures, accented voices and explosive personalities.
Racial Bias in the Media
Latino Americans represent approximately 18% of the US population but only 0.6 to 6.5% of all primetime program characters and 1% of television families.
Research shows that on English-language news media networks, during the 1990s, negative attitudes started to arise against Hispanics-and-Latinos. This began after voters approved California Proposition 187 in 1994. Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a California-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal aliens from using non-emergency health care, public education, and other services in the state. The proposition began a spur of negative images and claims associated with Hispanics and Latinos in the US.
In a study that the National Hispanic Media Coalition did a study with 900 non-Latinos across the United States and found:
71% see Latinos in criminal or gang member roles very often or sometimes
64% frequently see Latinos as gardeners
47% hardly ever see Latino attorneys or judges on tv or film
38-40% agree Latinos have too many kids
36-44% agree Latinos take jobs from Americans
42-48% agree Latinos refuse to learn English
Nearly half (49%) think Latinos are welfare recipients
The Latinx community is multifaceted and it’s relationship with America is complex and varied. This community has been reduced to one homogenous wash of housekeepers, gardeners, sexy women, gangsters and illegal aliens. While some Latinos are gardeners and maids—like any other ethnic group has gardeners and maids—they are also human beings, parents, friends, citizens of their communities. Next week we will dive into Asian stereotypes. See ya there.
