Amidst this intense political climate, this Hispanic Heritage Month felt different than others. We are not only dealing with political issues, but another issue that we ourselves have perpetuated: the huge generalization of Mexicans — specifically those living in the U.S.
Now, more than ever, I believe we’ve been heavily stereotyped. This may be culture shock from leaving the valley, but it is very apparent to me that there is something very wrong happening with our image. We have always been stereotyped by others, such as the image of the “spicy Latina,” which has been getting a rebrand. Latin women in American media have long been portrayed as loud and feisty, and often heavily sexualized, think Maddy Perez from ‘Euphoria” or Gloria Delgado from “Modern Family.” Don’t get me wrong, they are both characters that I love — but we are much more than opinionated and “spicy.” This stereotype is what influenced the fetishization of Latin women and the reason why men always claim to want a “toxic Latina girlfriend.”
That is what we’ve been deemed as by the media, but real life is different. Mexican-Americans have been put into a box in the past few years. Girls are “Hot Cheeto Girls” often sporting lots of makeup and an accent. The guys are “Edgars” with sagging jeans and a specific haircut. Although many people from the RGV can be like this, as I myself love eating Takis, listening to Bad Bunny, wearing my gold hoops, but that’s not all I am. This stereotype is being perpetuated by us and Mexican TikTok content creators are negatively impacting these labels. It’s not only the image they are promoting, but they also promote us being uneducated and not speaking up for issues our people are going through. It is true that creators like Wendy Ortiz and Willito enforce these stereotypes because they profit off of this, but we are so diverse and not just this specific stereotype. We don’t have a specific look, we can be any shade and have all sorts of interests.
Our ancestors gave up too much for us to be here to just act the way America wants us to. In this current political state, of course they’d want us to stay uneducated and silent about what we’re going through. I proudly form part of the 30% of Latinos in the U.S who pursue higher education, despite our media currently normalizing us to do otherwise. We have to remember that we, or someone we love, left home in the pursuit of a better life. This Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s remember to always exceed the expectations put on us and remember that we are here because of the hard work of all of those who came before us.