As a young girl, I watched latin novellas on television with my grandmother and I looked at the screen and struggled to see myself. The women on screen did not reflect the authentic latin women in my family or in my community but a whitewashed version of them. Tan or dark skin stretching over a curvy physique was replaced with perfectly white skin and a svelte figure. This sent a message to not only me but all women—the ideal latin woman has tanner skin than the average caucasian but is still white, she has straight hair and a slight curve to her slim figure, exotic while still conforming to the American standards of beauty. She does not look like me with my dark tan skin, frizzy, wavy hair and baby fat at the young age of 9.
I come from a multi-racial family and my grandmother had curly, kinky hair, which she despised and felt shame about. She would tell me how I could be as beautiful as the girls in the novellas we watched. If I could only just keep my hair long and straight, watch my weight and stay out of the sun to protect my white-passing skin.
Latin television shamelessly caters to American- European standards of beauty and completely ignores real Latin women. The ones that are black and mixed race, who don’t see themselves among white Latins. The invisible Afro-Latina woman is not represented in Latin television and she cannot find herself in black television, so where can she go to find representation? It is already expected that no accurate representation of these women will be found in American television, but Latin television should be there to showcase these real women, to showcase the racial diversity of Latin countries.
Instead, the tv business is driven by centuries of racism and black oppression. In order to be on Latin television, you should be white, thin and tall with straight hair. At most a few women with indigenous features, or darker skin are included but stereotyped and used as “examples” of a diversity within the shows.
Curvier and plus size Latina’s feel body shamed in a culture that supposedly celebrates diverse and different bodies, one that believes fat is not a sin yet only showcases the thin, and acceptable “curvy” body. When an ideal latin woman comes to mind we think of Jennifer Lopez or Shakira rather than plus size model Christina Mendez or singer Chiquis Rivera, all women who are unafraid to celebrate their bodies, even if it doesn’t fit society’s preferred definition of what an ideal figure is.
Trans-women are virtually non-existent in latin television but violently murdered, marginalized and attacked outside the screen. These women symbolize something foreign, something many elderly Latins do not understand and they react with fear. But these women belong in our Latin communities, their stories demand to be told and Latin trans deserve a place on our screens, especially in our television. Fear creates violence and discrimination, but what if through an authentic representation of trans Latins we could help stop these fears, make people realize that although we are different we are all women united in one community. Proper representation saves lives, with proper representation of non-cis Latins we can break barriers. But we can’t do that if we’re standing still and not taking action.
This is not just an issue of proper representation but the devastating impact that only showcasing white, cis and slim Latin women has on our community. What we have now is not diversity, this is accepting Euro-American standards of beauty rather than embracing all Latin body types. Acting as if we are a culture that loves diverse, curvy yet denying those same bodies the attention slim women receive. This is erasing Afro-Latina’s because of the inbred racism in our culture instead of celebrating our differing skin colors. Ignoring our trans Latins women out of fear of what is different, what some do not understand rather showing their incredible light that deserves a place to shine in our community. Those who watch Latin television need to speak up about the women we want to see on screen, the reflection of our community, if not we will be at a stand still watching the same women represent our entire diverse demographic.
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