Stereotypes In Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Myth Of The Latin Woman

Stereotypes are “simplified and standardized conceptions or images invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group,” (Dictionary.com). They are often offensive and highly discriminatory. In The Myth of the Latin Woman by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Cofer denounces the American stereotypes of Latinas by establishing her credibility with personal experiences, manipulating the audience’s emotions, and employing imagery. Cofer begins her piece with the establishment of her credibility via ethos. She opens The Myth of the Latin Woman with a recollection, stating that “[I was] on a bus trip to London from Oxford University where I was earning graduate credits one summer,” (370). By making this the opening statement of her writing,

When explaining the discrimination she’s received for her culture’s fashion while at school, she describes “on that day at school, we were simply made the negative models by the nuns who were themselves not credible fashion experts to any of us. But it was painfully obvious to me that to the others, in their tailored skirts and silk blouses, we must have seemed ‘hopeless’ and ‘vulgar.’” (372). By including her own personal experiences of public embarrassment for the expression of her culture, Cofer hopes the audience will pity the burden that comes with being Latina. She also incorporates words with negative connotations, such as “negative” and “hopeless” in order to appeal to audience’s emotions even more extensively. Cofer also recalls an incident where during one of her poetry readings, she was mistaken for a waitress by a woman. She remembers, “Thinking (foolish me) that she wanted me to autograph a copy of my brand new slender volume of verse, I went over. She ordered a cup of coffee from me, assuming that I was the waitress,”(374). By mentioning this personal experience of hers, Cofer desires to fill the audience with shock and guilt due to the media’s influence on how we view Latinas. Because of the media, many individuals, just like this woman, are prone to assuming Latinas are often unsophisticated or low-income employees. Finally, Cofer, nearing the end of her

In order to debunk some common stereotypes, she states with imagery, “prospective employers and men on the street would often misinterpret our tight skirts and jingling bracelets as a come-on,” (372). This imagery used is to emphasize the fact that even the jingling of jewelry is a common issue that is misunderstood. Cofer wants to express that this tight clothing worn by Latinas are not for sexual intentions, but they’re worn because of cultural reasons. She also adds to that, telling “Mixed cultural signals have perpetuated certain stereotypes—for example, that of the Hispanic woman as the "Hot Tamale" or sexual firebrand. It is a one-dimensional view that the media have found easy to promote. In their special vocabulary, advertisers have designated "sizzling" and "smoldering" as the adjectives of choice for describing not only the foods but also the women of Latin America” (372). These words used to describe Latinas show the extent of the objectification of Latinas in the United States. By indicating that words such as “sizzling” and “smoldering” are used to describe both foods and Latinas, Cofer succeeds in exposing the absurdity of the discrimination of Latinas. Finally, Cofer stresses, “It is custom, however, not chromosomes, that leads us to choose scarlet over pale pink,” (372). With this simple statement, Cofer teaches the audience the reason for these fashion