Everyday, stereotype is used in the society. Sometimes, when people use stereotype on other people, they don’t even recognize it because it’s so common and is ignored by the society. It’s a way to judge people through their common believes based on ethnicity, gender, skin color, appearance and language of the people who are being judged. For example, when people see a Vietnamese woman in her 20’s, 30’s and 40’s just migrated to America, they would assume that she will be working in a nail salon and flirt with some rich guys to get married with. Being stereotype is difficult deal with, and it’s really offended and hurtful. “The Myth of the Latin woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan share some common and different stereotypes that they had to go through. In the story “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I just met a Girl Named Maria”, Judith Cofer wrote about her experiences being stereotyped as a Latin woman. In “Mother Tongue,” Amy shared her personal experiences being stereotyped with her language’s barrier. Even though the two female authors shared the similarity for being stereotyped by the society, they faced different situations on the way they were stereotyped.
In “The Myth of The Latin Women”, there are numerous stereotypes that Latin women are judged for. Being a Latin woman, Cofer was judged falsely. Clothing in the Latin culture is a means of expression. Cofer explains that woman and girls often wear brightly colored outfits, specifically dresses and skirts. The clothing that Latin women wear also has an influence on how others might see them. Cofer describes that, “As young girls, it was our mothers who influenced our decisions about clothes and colors,” Unfortunately, the media twisted this tradition, making it translate into “Hispanic women as the hot tamale or sexual firebrand” (245).
Another stereotype that Cofer experienced was that of the level and rate of her maturity. Latin