La latina de hoy!

 

The stereotypical Latina has been in the American mind for many decades. The book The Dirty Girls Club by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez, has defied the views that others have of Hispanic women. Each character had a specific situation and of course a role in the story. One main theme that each girl had was that they had overcome obstacles to ahead in life. Meaning that for some reason life was not easy. They had to be tough or be a doormat at home just to have a known position in the real world. In her book, we see all sorts of women who happen to be close friends and all Latinas. Each one of them represents a stray from the typical Latina.

 

One character that caught the most attention to me, was the one married to the white guy who was a trying to get his doctorate in Sociology. Well for starters she was married to a white a guy. She was the head of a Magazine. She was quiet at home but outside she was powerful. Mmm… is a little hard to believe that the woman was quiet. She can stand being in a cold house. She really liked her husband in the beginning, but now she can’t even stand him. What an ugly life. In a sense it makes me think what other women settle for. Each woman had to put up with certain things from home or even from home. We did discuss in our class that the book manage to convey the message of women helping women. That message is a positive, all in all good to all women of course.

 

In the end all of their lives seemed resolved. All were happy endings and content with the new endeavors. That’s not bad to look at life to be positive.

-RA

Cliques & Stereotypes

     Today in schools I see alot of clique problems. White people only hang out with white people, hispanics with hispanics, and so on. I think that’s wrong. Everybody has a diferent background. Not everyone likes the same food or the same music, but does that mean we wouldn’t be able to get along?

      Every culture has something intersting. It’s a shame  we miss  because how we look or what’s the skin tone of the person. For example… I think a lot of White people don’t know that not all Hispanics like Duranguence or don’t like Ranchera in music genre. Another example is that a lot of Hispanics think all White people have it easy,because they are Americans and they have money for big cars and even bigger houses. The truth is that everybody has problems, and that money doesn’t solve problems. White people think that all blacks are gangbanger or mobster, but truth be told they are perhaps the most loving and caring people on earth. They stick up for each other and anybody they know. Alot of group think that all people from the middle-east are terrorist, but they’re not. They’s racism because people are stereotypeist. They look at presidents or figures. You can’t judge people by their leaders, because no one is the same.

      Alot of people are trying to change that. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, Bob Marley, President Abraham Lincoln etc. Most of these people were killed. Dr. King was killed by white James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee. President Lincoln was killed by John Wilkes Booth. Bob Marley died of cancer in his lungs and brain, but he was in the leg two day before a concert. Two day later he went on stage and sang. When a reporter asked him why he did it and why he didn’t take the day of he said and I quote “If the people that are trying to make the earth worse are working how am I going to rest.”

Angie

“The Dirty Girls Social Club”

Well this book is definitely something else.  It is probably the most entertaining book I’ve read in a long time.  It’s about 6 friends that went to college together and they have made it a point to meet twice a year and have a night of drinks and catching up.  They call themselves “sucias” which means dirty, but they don’t mean they are actually dirty, it’s just their nickname.  They are all Latina women that have been very successful at what they do.  Their careers range from reporter to housewife, musician, writer etc…

 The book deals with many different issues like the value of friendship, loyalty, feminism and even work ethic.  I bring up work ethic because the girls in the book seem to know how important it is.  They dress appropriately  for their jobs and they are professionals for the most part (of course they are human).  As far as their friendship goes, I don’t see it possible for all 6 of them to truly be best friends and of course we see as we keep reading the novel that there are clicks within the click.  At points they even seem highly critical of each other, it almost seems as if they don’t like each other sometimes.  It does make me wonder if they truly are friends. 

 Overall it seems like these women have an incredible bond, especially since they seem to keep meeting up every year twice a year.

NV

Hombres víctimas de abuso físico

La semana pasasda en clase se habló de lo que es tema común dentro de los sistemas sociales de todos los tiempos; el maltrato físico del que son víctimas las mujeres en manos de sus parejas (por ejemplo el caso de Sara que era abusada por su esposo Roberto en el libro de Denise Chávez titulado The Dirty Girls Social Club). Después de discutir las causas por las que las mujeres toleran semejantes situaciones, de pronto surgió la pregunta: Que tan raro o común será el caso contrario, el hombre abusado físicamente por la mujer? Fué una pregunta controversial y difícil de contestar ya que todas estuvimos de acuerdo en opinar que lo más probable sería que, aún habiendo la posibilidad de que esto fuera más común de lo que pensamos, el problema es que los hombres por verguenza o machismo no quieren denunciar los hechos. Dicha pregunta se quedó dando vueltas en mi cabeza y llegando a casa me avoqué a buscar información al respecto. Es así como encontré, entre varias otras notas, ésta que parece ser una en la que finalmente un grupo numeroso de hombres en una localidad de Perú se atrevieron a denunciar.

La Noticia Perú: Mujeres golpean a sus parejas en provincia de ChupacaDomingo 4 de Marzo de 2007
15:04
AP
LIMA.- Los varones de la provincia de Chupaca suelen ser golpeados por sus parejas. Así lo demuestran las denuncias de hombres por maltrato doméstico, las cuales superan a las presentadas por las mujeres.Según un informe del diario El Comercio, las mujeres de esta provincia golpean fuertemente a sus parejas y hasta los echan de sus hogares por ser irresponsables con la familia, por estar desocupados o ser infieles.Mientras sólo hubo cinco denuncias de mujeres maltratadas entre la primera quincena de enero y fines de febrero, en ese mismo periodo se registraron 22 denuncias de hombres que acusaron a sus parejas por maltrato físico y psicológico, además de haber sido expulsados de sus casas, señaló Rosa Rodríguez, jefa de la Defensoría Municipal del Niño y el Adolescente (Demuna) de Chupaca.“Se lo tienen bien merecido, y todavía tienen la desvergenza de denunciarnos ante las autoridades, cuando deberían aprender la lección y rectificar sus errores”, manifestó Carmela Baldeón, pobladora de Chupaca, provincia ubicada en el departamento de Junín, a 297 kilómetros al este de Lima.El dirigente de la Asociación Cultural Shapish de Chupaca, Honorato Córdova, a pesar que cree que en estos casos “debería primar el diálogo”, justifica la acción radical tomada por estas mujeres.“Creo que se lo merecen por ser unos irresponsables. Además de beberse el dinero que ganan, llegan borrachos a sus casas y maltratan a sus hijos y compañeras”, opinó.Otro dato que tiene la Demuna, es que entre enero y febrero se han presentado 14 casos en que los hombres solicitan pensión de alimentos a sus esposas, cuando en el resto del país son cientos las mujeres las que hacen esta misma solicitud ante las autoridades.La gobernación de Chupaca informó que no se ha recibido solicitudes de garantías personales por parte de los maridos maltratados. Esto se debe a que la Demuna, que busca el bienestar de las familias, trata de que las parejas en conflicto puedan conciliar.Según señala El Comercio, las mujeres de Chupaca mostraron su temple y espíritu de lucha hace más de un siglo, durante la Guerra del Pacífico (1879-1883), con Chile.

Fin de la Nota.

Como tema de reflexión solo me queda sugerir que insistamos en nuestras familias y núcleos sociales sobre la necesidad de educar a la población desde temprana edad a tener relaciones mas sanas de pareja a traves de una buena comunicación ya que la violencia, mas allá de resolver problemas, solo genera más violencia y, aunque parezca insólito, el género de el individuo no es una limitante, todos, hombres y mujeres están expuestos al abuso tal y como lo muestran las siguiente imágenes.

Angie.

   

dejalas hombre!

To me it seems that more and more gay Latinos are out and about. Yet lesbian Latinas still to make their stand in society. Some of my closest friends are gay. It was not until 2 years ago that one friend from church decided to be a lesbian. She was 24 years old, Mexican, and also Catholic. She had one boyfriend before. She simply said she felt more attracted to women, she could relate more. From what I could gather she had not been heart broken by a guy. She later started to go hang out with lesbian friends, soon she got a girlfriend. Now she moved from Texas to California just to live with her. She was not able to be upfront with her parents, some of her siblings know about her sexual orientation. They accept her in the thinking that it is her choice to do what she wants. But none the less, the siblings make fun of her.

Some may be afraid of being judge too harshly for their sexual preference or even to disappoint the expectation others have of them. Maybe that’s why some lesbian Latinas do not come out to their parents or society. It can be typical for someone to be living a double life. True in general, society has been more accepting of people whose sexual preference is other than heterosexual. But in the Latin culture both the men and the women have a very strict role to fill. To break away well it can to break away from the people you love and admire. The mentality of some is that people are only heterosexual beings and don’t understand that people can be happy otherwise. Since this happens then relationships will mess up. Then the more conscious we can be that sexual preference does not mean some kind of disease then we can be a more together society and exists in harmony. Ok maybe not that extreme utopia, but we can sure be more accepting and well our people will be who they really are.

 

-RA

A Lesbian President?

Before I say anything, I want to first state that I am a Hillary supporter.

Anyway, as I was doing my research on candidates, I came across a great number of websites dedicated to delivering the rumor that Hillary Clinton is in fact a lesbian. The rumor is being used as a smear campaign against her.

Some of the things I read on these websites amused me. One website claimed that the proof was in her strength as a woman. They claimed that strong women are always lesbians….I consider myself a strong woman and I assure you I am not a lesbian. Proof also lies, they say, in the book that Bill Clinton’s ex-girlfriend wrote, in which Bill Clinton supposedly admitted to her that his wife was indeed a lesbian.

I don’t know if this rumor has any truth to it, and I really don’t care either. I don’t think a person’s sexual preferance says anything about how effective a president they will be. It makes me sad to live in a world where invalid stereotypes can affect a person’s career.

I doubt this rumor will hurt her campaign, but the truth is that there is a stigma attached to lesbians. Discrimination in the work place, and in society in general, all due to the public fear of accepting that lesbians do not differ from straight women in terms of strength, intelligence, competence, morality, and integrity.

-LG

Lesbian Love

Today it is much easier for a lesbian couple of a gay couple to live their lives together.  I would say that being gay is not completely accepted by society yet, but I do think a lot of progress has been made.  Something I wanted to point out is that I think society is more accepting of a lesbian couple over a gay couple.  I’ve just never heard of a lesbian couple getting as much grief.  A trend that I’ve recently noticed is bisexuality, there was even the first show on bisexuals.  The name was A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.  I watched that show religiously just like I’m sure so many other people did.  The show was about A bisexual woman that was not sure if she wanted to be with a man or a woman.  The picture below is of Tila Tequila.

 

Tila Tequila

From what I know there are two kinds of lesbians, there is the butch lesbians and lipstick lesbians.  A butch dresses more masculine and the lipstick is more feminine.

NV

Quien Detiene Palomas Al Vuelo?

Mujer Contra Mujer                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Nada tienen de especial
dos mujeres que se dan la mano
el matiz viene despues
cuando lo hacen por debajo del mantel
Luego a solas sin nada que perder
tras las manos va el resto de la piel
un amor por ocultar
y aunque en cueros no hay donde esconderlo
lo disfrazan de amistad
cuando sale a pesar por la ciudad
Una opina que aquello no esta bien
la otra opina que que se le va a hacer
y lo que opinen los demas esta demas
Quien detiene palomas al vuelo
volando a ras del suelo
mujer contra mujer
No estoy yo por la labor
de tirarles la primera piedra
si equivoco la ocasion
y las hallo labio a labio en el salon
ni siquiera me atrevere a toser
si no gusto ya se lo que hay que hacer
que con mis piedras hacen ellas su pared
Quien detiene palomas al vuelo
volando a ras del suelo
mujer contra mujer
Una opina que aquello no esta bien
la otra opina que que se le va a hacer
y lo que opinen los demas esta demas
Quien detiene palomas al vuelo
volando a ras del suelo
mujer contra mujer                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   - Mecano

La cancion, Mujer Contra Mujer, trata de una relacion lesbiana entre dos mujeres. En 1988, cuando salio el disco de Mecano Descanso Dominical, esta cancion causo mucha controversia. La communidad hispana parecia no estar preparada para escuchar de una relacion asi. En una sociedad a donde la religion y los valores familiares estan tan profundamente inculcados, muchos dirian que causo un gran escandalo. La Biblia lee, “Si alguno se juntare con varón como con mujer, abominación hicieron; ambos han de ser muertos, sobre ellos será su sangre” (Lv 20:13). En una sociedad que para los estadares mundial es todavia muy conservativa, la palabra de la Biblia es ley. Tuvo que pasar muchas pruevas de la censura. En Mexico, la cancion en un principio fue vetada. La cancion llego a ser de los hits mas grandes de los 80s despues de las batallas para legalizarla en Latinoamerica. Esta cancion hizo que miles volvieran a considerar el tema en mano: la homosexualidad, el lesbianismo. En varios paises, ya es un estilo de vida acceptado. Como en Estados Unidos, artista Ellen Degeneres, salio de “el closet”  en su programa de television. En el 2003 en los MTV Awards, Britney Spears y Madonna hasta se besaron en la television publica. El resto del mundo aparenta tener ideas mas liberales a la sexualidad. En Latinoamerica, cada cabio y paso para acceptar esta nueva realidad ha sido lento. Pero como quien detiene a palomas al vuelo? Como se puede prohibir el amor? Como se puede regular legalmente la sexualidad sin incluir la religion. Cada quien es responsable de formar su propia opinion. Pero para el cambio o para enseñar como acceptar, progresso tiene que continuar.

-Angie