The Latina Stereotype That is Alive and Well in Mefeatured

“You can’t use being ‘a latina’ as your excuse for everything,” someone close to me said mid-argument. I immediately felt flames engulf my body. I thought,”Why…why…yes I can. And I WILL. Every. Single.Time.”

The Overly Dramatic Latina stereotype is such an interesting one to analyze. Throughout history, women have been generalized as being overly emotional – just add on some expressive hand gestures and a passionate, loud tone to the mix, and you’ve got yourself a fiery, overly-emotional Latina. But instead of getting on a soapbox about how wrong this stereotype is (and how stereotypes in general are f’ed up), let’s lean into it for the sake of this blog post.

My family was never the best at communication, but I definitely learned how to express that I was mad at a very young age. Tantrums galore. It is something I have spent much of my life undoing. Learning how to regulate myself emotionally. I do the yoga, the therapy, alll the work possible. And we can unpack that some other time. I am here to tell you that the Overly Dramatic Latina in me still shows up from time to time.

She showed up recently after someone went out of their way to “disrespect” me by violating my expectation of inclusion within one of my core relationship systems. What the heck am I even saying? Fine, I was left out of something I thought was a group decision, and it felt like a deeply personal attack on my whole being. I was mad for weeks.

Until I wasn’t.

I learned that living up to the Latina stereotype would do me no good. It would only allow the stereotype to live on forever.

So, I decided it was time to do something about it:

Instead of just overreacting in my sad little corner by myself, I decided to share my truth with the “betrayer.” Instead of running to a confidant in hopes that they would understand how wrong the other person was and how right I was, I decided to face my fear of confrontation. Instead of choosing passive-aggressive tactics, I decided to organize my thoughts and feelings and present them in an evolved and mature manner.

And guess what?

I learned the disrespect was all in my head. And while that may be true on some level, it felt super real at the time of the breach of trust. My life context made it feel deliberate, mean, and so, so rude.

The only way to see my way through the stereotype was to deal with the issue in a radical, new way – or at least in a way that I was not accustomed to in my Mexican household.

So, next time you feel like an easy out is to fall back on an old belief, thought pattern, or stereotype, think again. It’s our generation’s duty to do better than the one before us.

Challenge stereotypes. Break cycles. Dare to do the work. Dare to heal. Dare to be more than what society expects you to be.

Love Deeply and Forever,