The Myth of the Latin Woman

Cultural conflict as a Hispanic American female is fueled by multiple complex variables. For a typical Hispanic girl living in America the choice of food, clothing, customs, and beliefs are fueled by family traditions and often twisted by American media. Traditional Hispanic girls, speak Spanish, eat Puerto Rican food, confess their sins to a priest every Saturday and going to their church every Sunday. The environment of the tropics inspire colors of clothing while the climate impacts that amount of skin that is often shown. In many ways, traditional Hispanic culture is very strict in terms of how a young girl should behave. Traditional Hispanic females are expected to be unpretentious, to dress modestly, and in every circumstance show respect and honor the family. The misconceptions that society often holds with respect to Hispanic culture and women in particular stem in part from wide range of socio, cultural, and environmental differences. Never the less, the misconceptions and stereotypes that surround Hispanic females have long ranging impacts that are emotional, social, financial, and political in nature.

The purpose of Judith Ortiz story is to explain how hard, and at times uncomfortable it is to be a Latin woman, because of prejudice and stereotypes regarding their dress. Latin woman, are usually taught to dress in a “mature way”, which many times is confusing to both a Latina and the larger American culture. To a Latina, it is ok to dress sexy, and wear lots of jewelry, and accessories such as tight clothes, bangles, and big hoop earrings on different occasions. This style of dress however, becomes problematic particularly as it is what is taught in the culture as being formal and too often confused with being professional. For Ortiz’s generation, it was ok for woman to wear their best party clothes as she mention, to go and flirt with the boy they like in the park because they were protected by the extended family and traditional Catholic