15 Latino Stereotypes that Need to Go Away Already!
It’s 2019, and we are all for learning to break free of stereotypes and educating others on who Latinxs really are
Photo: Instagram/@latinostereotypes
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Latinas Are “Spicy” Curvy Sexpots and All Latinos are “Latin Lovers”
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Latinas are people — not hot sauce! Considering that fact, it’s pretty accurate to say we’re not spicy. This has been a long-held stereotype that is often used to describe our appearance, attitude, and apparent bad tempers. Another falsehood is that all Latinas are curvy sexpots. It’s ridiculous to assume we all have the same body type when we range in size and shape.
Then you have the stereotype of the Latin lover, that assumes all Latino men are good looking, sexy, sexual, have thick accents, and spend their time winning over women.
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We Don’t Know How to Control Our Temper
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Latinas are often stereotyped as being loud, hot-tempered, and volatile — like Sophia Vergara’s character on Modern Family. It feeds into the “spicy Latina” narrative, making us appear emotionally and mentally unstable — as well as violent. Latino men are often given the stereotype of domestic abusers and individuals who are quick to get into fights. It’s unfair, highly problematic, and incredibly harmful to put these negative associations on us.
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We All Have Huge Families
Not all Latinxs have 12 tios and 50 cousins, and it’s silly to think so. The truth is, some of us have smaller families. Whether that means less or no siblings or not as many aunt and uncles. Oh and get this, we aren’t all parents — shocker! Latinx families aren’t always huge and it’s dangerous to assume being Latinx means you’re a family of 500.
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Latinos Are Mainly Janitors, Maids, and Gardeners
The stereotype that the majority of Latinxs living in the states work as janitors, maids, and gardeners couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s also one of the most harmful Latinx stereotypes that’s constantly being reinforced by Hollywood. Needless to say, there are Latinxs living in the states of all occupations whether it’s doctors, lawyers, computer engineers, artists, journalists, bankers — you name it. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with domestic work. It’s honorable and respectable employment but Latinxs don’t only work these kinds of jobs.
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All Latinos Look the Same
Newsflash: there are Afro-Latinxs, Asian Latinxs, Mestizos, and blonde-haired and blue-eyed Latinxs. Since Latino is not a race, you could essentially be of any race and still be Latinxs at the same time. This makes for people of all shades and colors — not just the dark hair, dark eyes, light skin example that is always pushed by Hollywood. It is for this reason that so many Latinxs that don’t look like Jennifer Lopez or Salma Hayek find themselves having to defend their identity and they shouldn’t have to.
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Latino Intelligence is Judged on Our Competency in English
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English is a difficult language to learn. Seriously, what is it with all the silent letters and random rules? For some reason in the states, when someone doesn’t speak perfect English (or English at all), some take that as a lack of intelligence. While a person may not speak English perfectly, they may be fluent in their native language — as well as several other languages. It’s ignorant to assume because someone isn’t fluent in English that they aren’t smart or educated. Just remember all those people who took Spanish or French in high school, versus how many can still speak that language today. Not so easy, huh?
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All Latinos are Machos
While machismo and toxic masculinity are issues that are still very much alive in the Latinx community, there are just as many men who are against this way of life. There are so many great Latino men, who are great boyfriends and husbands, solid parents, treat women as their equals, and are not male chauvinists, sexist, misogynous, alcoholic, or abusive. We harm our community by feeding into the narrative that ALL Latino men are machista. Not to mention, misogyny is not exclusive to Latino men or men of color. Let’s not forget that.
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All Latinxs Have a Limited Education
Latinxs are not all high-school dropouts that don’t care about going after higher education. They also aren’t all teenage moms. In fact, 28% of Latinos in the United States, aged 25 and up, have earned an associate degree or higher. Close to 3 million Hispanics are enrolled in college. We anticipate this statistic to keep increasing.
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All Latinxs Are “Illegal”
Let’s start with the fact that no human being is illegal. Then, let’s get into the other fact that so many immigrants are crossing over into land that was once their land —Mexico! Besides these glaring facts, it’s also true that Latinxs are all different, and have different life circumstances. Many of us were born and raised in the United States, and are United States citizens. Many of us have been in this country since childhood, or have spent several years calling America home. While others only recently migrated here. Let’s not lump all of us Latinxs into one truth, because it doesn’t work that way. And let’s not shame people for not being documented. That doesn’t take away from their worth as humans.
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All Latinxs Are Loud AF
I’m not going to lie. There are a lot of us that are loud as it’s often embraced in our culture. But there are also Latinxs that don’t speak loudly at all. Not to mention, the loud people out there who aren’t Latinx at all. Regardless, it’s not okay to assume all Latinxs are loud. It’s unfair to the naturally quiet, introverted, and shy Latinxs who are made to feel “less Latino” just because they don’t subscribe to some outdated stereotype.
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All Latinxs Come From Poverty
Hunger and poverty are huge issues that affect the Latino community, as well as other communities. It is something we should work towards erasing ASAP. But the assumption that most, or all Latinos are poor, come from poverty, and only live in the hood is not only harmful but incorrect. In fact, “the poverty rate declined overall in 2017 but the rate among Hispanics had one of the largest year-to-year drops across demographic groups and was the lowest since poverty estimates for Hispanics” since 1972.” And there are many Latinx billionaires and millionaires to disprove this overall assumption that all Latinxs are poor.
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If You’re Latinx, You’re Mexican, Right?
Some people don’t care to learn beyond what they know, and what they think they know. Since Mexicanos are the majority of Latinxs in the country, many people make the assumption that we are all Mexican, and that is obviously not true. To make matters worse, there are those who think Mexicans and Latinxs “speak Mexican.”
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Latinxs Are Criminals
We can directly point the finger to Hollywood — both the television and film industries — for at least perpetuating the terrible stereotype that most, or all Latinxs are criminals. A study showed that half of the Latinx characters you see on television are portrayed as criminals. That’s a huge problem as it feeds into another stereotype that is damaging, dangerous, and totally inaccurate.
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We Are Either Hard Workers or Lazy
It’s funny when two stereotypes of the same group contradict each other, no? Take these two, for example. How can all Latinos be both super hard working and lazy at the same time? You can’t which further proves how ridiculous these stereotypes are. You can’t lump millions of people, with different life experiences, into any stereotype regardless of if it’s good or bad.
