What Is Loose Woman By Sandra Cisneros's Empowerment?

Empowerment: the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights (4). In her childhood, Cisneros was set down a path to become a stereotypical Mexican housewife, but instead, she used her power to influence millions, especially with her well-known poem, “Loose Woman”.

In 1995, Sandra Cisneros published her arguably most influential poem, “Loose Woman”. The definition of a loose woman is a woman adulterer. Cisneros is not implying she is an adulterer, but that she will do what she pleases, and men will not hold her down. A theme of empowerment, and how intensely it is needed, is shown throughout the poem. She is strong and confident and refuses to let anyone tell her otherwise.

- All the same, when I open my mouth, - they wobble like gin.” Cisneros uses these metaphors to describe how men come at her and put her down. They criticize who she is and what she believes in. All the while, when she opens her mouth to criticize them, they become afraid and intimidated by her power. She is showing that she is not afraid to use her voice to show her beliefs. She is empowered, and will use her voice to make a difference.

“By all accounts I am - a danger to society. - I’m Pancha Villa. - I break laws,- upset the natural order, - anguish the Pope and make fathers cry. - I am beyond the jaw of law. - I’m la desperada, most-wanted public enemy. - My happy picture grinning from the wall.” Cisneros again uses satire to make her point. She mocks men’s fear of her. She upsets the natural order of men being over women. She is not afraid to use her voice. She is beyond the judgement of men. Beyond their ridicule. And they hate her for it. She mocks their ignorance with the use of satire.

Sandra Cisneros wants to share her power. The definition of empowerment is becoming strong and more powerful. In this poem, Cisneros is professing her strength. Her use of satire shows she is not afraid. She refuses to let men put her down. She is showing her strength, and that she is just as powerful as anyone

Growing up in a Mexican - American household with six brothers isn’t exactly easy. Her brothers were very controlling, and she often felt as though she had “seven fathers” (3). She was constantly expected to take on a “woman’s role”. Considering her Mexican heritage, gender, and impoverished state, Cisneros was constantly seen as below those around her (3). She grew up to realize that was just not true, and her stories needed to be heard.

“I am a woman and I am a Latina. Those are the things that make my writing distinctive. Those are the things that give my writing power. They are the things that give it sabor [flavor], the things that give it picante [spice]." (3). Cisneros felt that being Mexican and feminist was almost contradicting. She felt as though she was betraying the Mexican part of her by straying away from the norms of her culture (3). But though she loved her heritage, she refused to be seen as lower than men. Her empowerment and assurance in her beliefs shows greatly in her