stereotypes | Adelina's Blog

If you ask Mariam’s friend Eli what the first words I said to him were, he’d reply:
“I’m Adelina, I’m part Puerto Rican and part Italian and that’s why I’m so beautiful”.
Yeah I know, I should’ve learned my lesson from the first guy (see Blog One: My Life is Awkward). However, you should know by now that I never, NEVER learn my lesson.

But that’s one of the many stereotypes pressed on me for being a Hispanic, idiocy. While applying for a Hispanic Scholarship at University of Miami, and they replied that my grades were too high to be considered a Hispanic. Like… WHAT. Studying and actually wanting to do something with my life doesn’t change the color of my skin. You wouldn’t think that people can be that ignorant, but I have heard my fair share of jokes about my skin color.
I once had a boyfriend ask me if when I showered, brown came off.

Yes, I wish I was joking, but no, I’m not xD The same guy later said that he liked it better when I was tan, because during the winter I look like… I’m half white or something. (For those of you who don’t know I’m half Hispanic half Caucasian). But in his defense, today my friend said that I looked like a white person dipped in chocolate.

But at least I can deal with skin color jokes, I mean looking back on them they’re pretty funny(laugh at my jokes! D: It’ll make me feel popular 😀 ). What I cannot, CANNOT tolerate is the stereotype that all Latinas are sluts. Ok sure, my aunt got pregnant at age 13 and then proceeded to have five more kids. However, my mom waited to have kids until she was in her late thirties and I seem to have SOME HOW not gotten pregnant for eighteen whole years of my life, yay!

If you type in latina into google images, you will find girls in various states of undress. And don’t even bother trying to type in boricua, Puerto Rican, or Hispanic into tumblr. What will you find? PORN. SO MUCH PORN. But anyway the point is that Latins are basically associated with sex. That is not cool, NOT AT ALL. I’ve had a lot of guys make advances on me thinking I’ll sleep with them like it’s nothing. My one friend’s first impression of me was that she’d never had a friend who wasn’t white so she thought I’d be a slut.

Yeah I know you’re thinking that I’m reading too much into the Hispanic thing, but when some guy sees you and turns to his friend and says “Ella esta caliente!” in the most gringo way possible, you can’t help but think people are racially profiling you. (BTW: saying I’m “caliente” means I’m literally overheated, no that I’m attractive…). Whether it be racially profiling Hispanics, Indians, or African Americans, America is still a very racist country. I don’t believe we will ever be able to break free from our stereotypes, because humans as a whole are hateful and elitist. If we don’t hate each other for different skin colors, it’s for different religions, or political thought processes. I won’t ask you to change your internal nature, but I will ask you to change the way you act towards others. Try and see beyond what you initially think about a person. Just because someone wears Sperry’s doesn’t mean they’re nice, and just because someone is ginger doesn’t mean they don’t have a soul. People are just people, no matter what they look like. Who knows? You might learn something new by letting someone different in.You never know if you’re going to have a moment like this:

I scrolling down my face book newsfeed, and came across a particular post that actually caught me attention. It read as follows:

“All this bullshit on the news talking about how they need restrictions on calorie intake for the school lunches and how celebrities are gaining too much weight is really getting on my nerves. This is why girls and guys have body image problems and have eating disorders. Everyone is beautiful no matter how they look. :l”

Now look down at yourself. Squeeze any fat you can find there. How much is too much? A pinch? A handful? There is no direct definition of “fat” and “skinny” but as a society, we force our own definitions onto others. There are many different body types, and sometimes the media forgets this. Take for instance, the difference between the Victoria Secret “Love My Body” campaign and Dove’s “True Beauty” campaign.

Both campaigns are missing major body types, and it is impossible to say which body type is more “beautiful”. When it comes to a point where girls look at the Victoria Secret models and start to throw up their meals or simply refuse to eat, you know there is something seriously wrong with the society’s standards. However, we also find girls who are just as skinny, but long to look like the Dove models, but can’t no mater how much they eat. Weight is largely determined by genetics, and there are certain diseases such as cancer or thyroid hormone imbalances that can cause a person to have a predetermined weight.
It is important to be healthy, but weight and body image is not equivalent to health. So stop judging yourself, don’t feel the need to confirm to the image that society demands you be. Be yourself, be healthy, and once in a while enjoy that creamery ice cream without feeling quite so bad about yourself. I guarantee you, you’re beautiful inside and out!

all images found on tumblr

Adelina's Blog

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