How Latino men are represented in media

What's up caffeine addicts,

Yes, yet another video because videos are absolutely incredible when you find the right ones with useful information. This is another one from "Mitu" about how men are represented in the media and how it affects them.

https://www.facebook.com/wearemitu/videos/1760266704273764/

In this video, they ask the question about whether or not Latin men are naturally "machista," which is the equivalent of a male chauvinist. These are men who are incredibly aggressive and sexual and Latin men are pretty much always thought of in this way.

It's the same idea of being "exotic." Just like in class, where we talked about how Latin woman are oversexualized because they are exotic or different, Latin men are seen in a similar way. From movie to movie, these men are widely represented as criminals or drug lords. Even when they aren't pictured as aggressive, they are highly sexualized and seen as aggressive, sexy, a ladies man, and more.  This is a huge generalization though. It causes this idea that a Latin man who isn't like this is stripped of his heritage and sex just because he doesn't fit in this outrageous trope.

A fantastic book called The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao delves into this idea completely. Oscar is Dominican. And I can tell you from first-hand experience on how Puerto Ricans think of Dominicans that they are always seen as the type to show off, act pompous, be complete assholes, and womanizers. Oscar isn't like this at all. He is a comic book loving nerd that is deeply depressed because of no one, not even his own family, sees him as Dominican. It created a terrible situation in which he doesn't feel like he can fit in anywhere. Every group he tries to identify with immediately shuns him because he isn't man enough or Dominican enough. Honestly, Puerto Rican men are seen in the same way which just shows how sad it is that even Latin people stereotype other Latin people even though we are all lumped together by everyone else.

I have always really connected with the way Oscar Wao's story was told in the book. I was that kid in my family that was always seen as different. I was pretty chubby when I was younger, and I didn't have a girlfriend for a long time. Yet just because of those two reasons, my family never saw me as Puerto Rican enough, and it felt like shit that I couldn't fit in with my own family. I had to develop my own sense of what it means to be Puerto Rican, and now I am proud of my heritage and anyone who thinks of me as "not Hispanic enough," which happens all the time because of my white complexion, I dismiss as just someone playing into stereotypes and ignorance.

Stay Awesome.