Oh Maria, Maria!

In the essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria,” Judith Ortiz Cofer shares her personal experiences of being stereotyped as a Latina woman all her life because of her physical appearance. She shares story after story of things that led her to feel boxed into a certain idea of who she is, based on superficial physical attributes. The author wants to show the readers that the common practice of stereotyping people for how they look can be harmful, offensive and humiliating, and it does not allow us to see each person as an individual because she lives through it. The common practice of media of using some humiliating words that refer not only some kind of food, but also to the sexual behavior of Latinas have created misconceptions. For example she shares, “…the Hispanic woman as the “Hot Tamale” or sexual firebrand. It is a one dimensional view that the media have found easy to promote.” (Cofer 58). Common sense tends to say to us that it is disrespectful to make comparisons between humans and food. However, many people assume that Latina women are easy just because they are constantly being compared to some food, using adjectives like “sizzling” and “smoldering”(Cofer 58). Unfortunately, the media, which is the most powerful way to reach the younger generation these days, employ these humiliating and offensive stereotyped words humiliating Latina women to help promote what they are selling, without any concern that they are sending a wrong message to their audience, directly or indirectly. According to Cofer, this kind of misconception also results in Latina women suffering sexual harassment in the workplace (Cofer 59). Furthermore, there are misconceptions regarding how Latinas dress being related to their sexual behavior. She states, “As young girls, we were influenced in our decision about clothes and colors by the women-older sisters and mothers who had grown up on a tropical island where the natural environment was a riot of primary colors…”(Cofer 58). Everybody knows that the environments where we live influence our lifestyle. People who live in colder areas wear long and dark clothes in order to keep their bodies warmer. Nobody is going to wear a miniskirt in Norway where it is freezing, but somebody would do it in a hot and tropical island like Puerto Rico. In warmer weather, people where less clothing, out of sheer practicality. This ends up being a part of the culture, even if the tropical person moves to a place that is not so cold. If the author would have grown up in a cold environment, she would prefer to wear clothes with dark colors and covering more of her skin in order to keep the temperature of her body warmer. The author emphasizes that it is part of her culture to choose bright color over pale colors because she grow up on a tropical island where people in general-not only women-wear light and bright clothes in order to keep the temperature of their bodies cool and look sexy (Cofer 59). Unfortunately, people without any knowledge of Latino culture believe that Latina women dress like that because they are always hot and easy. When people stereotype others, they are making assumptions and putting everybody who looks similar, has a similar language or accent or lives in a certain economic status neighborhood, together. Like Cofer says, “It is surprising for some of my professional friends that some people, including those who should know better, still put others “in their place”. Though rare, these incidents are still commonplace in my life” (Cofer 59). The author narrates how she was mistaken for a waitress in a social event, and also how her Chicana friend with a PhD had been sent to the kitchen assuming that is where she belonged (Cofer 60). The author suffered humiliation her entire life, and people assumed that she was just one more of the Evitas or Marias cleaning and cooking around the world. Do not take me wrong, there is nothing bad with the practice of these activities, but when somebody works really hard studying to become a successful writer, it is not fair to make wrong assumptions that the place where she belongs is just a greasy kitchen. She lost her individuality and became simply a faceless member of a group, because of stereotypes, and it humiliated her. Every culture in the world is different. Although it is true some cultures are similar based on ethnicity, language or geography, they are still very unique and different. For example, Central American culture is quite different than South American culture, but many people assume just because they speak the same language, with some exceptions like Brazil and Belize, they are the same. These common mistakes often lead to suffering embarrassing and humiliating situations for Latina women. When a person loses their unique individuality and becomes only a part of the mass of stereotype, they lose who they are. It is never nice to be stripped of your accomplishments, your unique beauty or what makes you interesting or special. There is nothing wrong with being a part of a group. In fact, our different groups can give us comfort, strength and support. Whether the group be, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic class, language, or whatever, there are many benefits to being a member of a group. It is a community that is special and may give you much pleasure in identifying with. But when someone who doesn’t know you, picks out some superficial thing about you, whether it be your clothing, your language or accent or your color of your skin, and they instantly categorize you and put you into a box, you have lost your individuality. And this limits that person’s ability to understand you and get to know you. This is a very sad and unfortunate thing for both people involved. This is what Judith Ortiz Cofer wants to convey to her reader. Take people for who they are on an individual basis. Understand that whatever groups they are a part of, are important to who they are as a whole, but it by no means defines them or explains them in whole. And if you don’t do it, you are losing a chance to really get to know another interesting person, at the same time that you may be humiliating them, causing them suffering and just being an all around ignorant human being.