In modern society, a trait that people can’t seem to shake off nor leave behind is judgement. The lack of acceptance has gotten to such an extreme that, instead of being okay with the way others look and how they identify, we instead judge and persecute them.
I, along with many others, have been told by people close to me that “if only my skin was lighter, my hair wasn’t so dark, and I had blue or green eyes”, I would look prettier. They made these comments not knowing that they only meant I wasn’t good enough for those individuals. In reality, those words only cause me to doubt myself. Being a young Mexican woman, I get judged because I don’t have curves, a big butt, or big boobs. According to those people, I’m not Hispanic if my body does not look a certain way. This comes not only from white and non-Hispanics, but from people who share my culture and heritage, my skin color and my language. They automatically tag me as “not good enough”.
I’ve been in situations were I get rejected by people who are part of the Mexica/Latinx/Hispanic community just like me, but since I don’t dress, look, or act a certain way, they ignore me as if I don’t exist. One of the closest people to me has told me to my face that I’m too white to be Mexican because my clothes are too white and sophisticated, I like to skim through Vogue magazines, and I read literature. Because I don’t speak or sound like a Latina, I am not allowed to identify as one. This is in no way correct, safe, or justified.
It enrages me that people, both strangers and those close to me, assume and think it’s okay to comment on my life as if they have the right to strip me of my identity.
It’s not okay to judge and presume that I am not enough of a woman because I am auto-sufficient and am able to change my own lightbulb, set up my own furniture, and fix my own things— without the help of a man. Choosing to wear a tool belt and to cut my hair does not make me any less of a woman. “It makes me independent.”
Instead of creating requirements of what makes a person and how a Black, Brown, Hispanic, Latinx, woman, man, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, etc… person looks, acts, dresses, and even sounds like, we should begin to accept who they are and what they choose to identify as. These stereotypes only hurt as they perpetuate within our society even more. We come in different shapes, sizes, and colors.