I don’t see anything bad about being stereotyped as a Latin woman. We are yellers, we’re pretty, we’re sexy, and we’re scandalous. I am not scared of the stereotypes.
Sofia Vergara, of Modern Family, who maybe yells a little too much. (via newsweek)
Oh look, it’s a good thing I am typing this instead of, you know, actually YELLING at Newsweak.
Here is the thing: I can understand Sofia Vergara’s words, where she is coming from. Have I “used” the Latina stereotype to my advantage ever in social situations? Yes, probably. I mean, nobody is free from the social context where interactions take place. However, no amount of “making fun of our stereotypes” is ever going to fix stuff like this (from the article):
It’s a quality that DeGeneres poked fun of recently in a behind-the-scenes video for their first Cover Girl shoot, calling Vergara’s accent “phony” and claiming “to be sick of” Vergara’s struggles with the English language.
I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve had to smile politely while people made fun of my accent. We will only be truly free to embrace these stereotypes when we don’t have to deal with reactions like that. Meanwhile, no, I resent the fact that Newsweak implies we should all “exploit” it to our advantage.
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