1. Latina Stereotype
By: Skylar Smith & Jasmine

2. Your View
 How do you view Latina women ?
 What are some stereotypes you believe there are of Latina
woman?

3. Stereotypes
 Stereotypes persist because ‘‘they fulfill important identity needs for the dominant
culture’’ thereby maintaining the status quo and preserving hegemony
 An ideology of White Anglo racial superiority is maintained in part using stereotypes designed
to construct an ‘‘other’’ that is regarded as lesser than the declared and constructed ideal.
Stereotypes, ashegemonic tools, reduce individuals to a single, monolithic, one-dimensional
type that appears and is presented as natural and normal (read true and accurate) as they fit
into ideological patterns of representations that serve, among other functions, to establish
‘‘in-group categorizations of out-groups’’ (Ramierez-Berg, 1990, p. 294)
 Markers of sex and sexuality in Latinas posit them as ‘‘exotic, sexual, and available, and
as more in touch with their bodies and motivated by physical and sexual pleasure than
white women’’ (Beltran, 2002, p. 82)
 When stereotypical physical characteristics (red lips, big bottoms, large hips, voluptuous
bosoms, and small waists), fashion extremes (high heels, huge hoop earrings, seductive
clothing), sexual predation, and promiscuity (hot, exotic, experienced) are combined
with behavioral generalities, the Latina is constructed as ‘‘mixed signifiers of sexual
desire and fertility as well as bodily waste and racial contamination’’

4. “Hot Latina Stereotype”
 Carmen Miranda
 (1945) Was America’s highest
paid woman
 But her fame carried “fruit-
feted hats & an accent thick
as picante” (Merskin, pg. 136)
 Stereotypes rely on a lot of
repetition to perpetuate and
to sustain them
 Do you guys agree that the
“hot Latina stereotype is one
with great longevity”
(Merskin, pg. 134)

5. 3 Categories of Representations
1. Cantina Girl
 “Great sexual allure”
 Represented as a sexual object
1. Faithful, self-sacrificing senorita
 Starts out good but ends up bad by end of program or film
 Willing to protect Anglo love interest by putting her body
between bullet/sword/violence intended for him
1. Vamp
 Uses intellectual and devious sexual tricks to get what she wants

6. Different “Faces” of Eva Longoria
 Episodes of Desperate Housewives were de-coded
 On Latina body and behavior of Eva Longoria
 Method:
a) Examine Gabrielle character as a representation of the
dominant stereotype of Latinas
b) To see if her off screen, print, & commercial personae
reinforce the stereotype

7. Desperate Housewives vs. “Real-Life
Exposure”
Desperate Housewives “Real Life” exposure
 Cantina girl •Described as “Latina Temptress”
 Thrives on and feels validated •Behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs
by attention to her identical to Gabrielle
appearance
•Interview: “What’s the best thing
 Vamp
about being a woman?
 Promiscuity, passion, sex and •- “I love being a woman. I love
risk are her characteristics shopping. I love wearing dresses
and heels and jewelry. I love being
 Suffering Senorita
sexy and feeling sexy. But the best
 Promise or use of sex to thing about being a woman is the
manipulate and get what power we have over men.”
she wants (jewelry, cars, •“I’ll have Brad’s babies”
etc.)

8. “Real Life Exposure”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHwe49l2A9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRnykdJW90E

9. Question
 What’s wrong with being a
Latin Lover? Why is that a
bad stereotype? I consider
that a compliment.’’ Same
thing with Latinas always
being cast as the sexy girl.
It’s a good thing!”
 Could a positive stereotype
(hot Latina or Latin lover),
hurt or limit the overall
image of Latinos in general
or “is it a good thing?”

10. Question: Can anyone think
of movies that Latina
actresses are portrayed as
either the Cantina girl, Vamp
or the suffering Senorita?
Some where they break the
stereotype?

11. More Discussion Questions
 Would society be accepting if movies or TV shows
portrayed different images of Latina’s?
 Would you go see movies or watch shows if Latino women
were less sexually provocative?

12. References
 Merskin, D. (2007). Three Faces of Eva: Perpetuation of the
Hot-Latina Stereotype in Desperate Housewives. Howard
Journal of Communications (pp. 133-151). Oregon: Taylor &
Francis Group, LLC.
 http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3394/3197834925_76e42130d
0.jpg
 http://www.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/5922
6-eva-longoria-stuns-in-revealing-gown-shows-off-leg-in-
floor-length-black-lace-dr/1358126063_eva-longoria-
zoom.jpg