LATINA POWER!

     Hey there again! I’m ready to delve into the information which Daniel and I have discovered through our research. We primarily researched representation patterns in the media of those part of the LGBT community, especially women within it, since we decided that our main character will be a woman. However the gender of our character is not meant to determine their personality and/or story -building the character solely on their gender would be counterproductive to our prospective theme(s). Nonetheless I would like our character to be a woman because queer latinas are not represented within mainstream media nearly as much as queer latinos are. In fact, while researching queer latinas I could not find any sources specific to that minority group. I could only find research on media representation of heterosexual latinas, which is still relevant information.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, latinos make up about 17% of the U.S. population. Although latinas make up a little over 12% of the total female population within the U.S. (according to HRSA) they deserve better media representation than the stereotypical tropes that are seen oh-so often within countless films and television shows such as Gloria from Modern Family. These stereotypical tropes include that latina women are “sexy, sassy, and spicy”  (loud, complaining, having a strong sex appeal) or a cleaning woman/maid (typically submissive and quiet).

In a report by the UCLA Williams Institute, they estimated that 1.4 million (4.3% of U.S. hispanic adults are a part of the LGBT community. In a study regarding LGBT representation within studio films by GLAAD in which they took data from seven major studios, they found that out of 102 films there were only 17 which contained LGBT characters. Only seven of those 17 passed the Vito Russo Test (which is similar to the Bechdel test). The test has “its own set of criteria to analyze how LGBT characters are included within a film”.

Daniel and I intend to not use the typical stereotypes and tropes which surround both LGBT characters and latina characters and give our character the unique personality and characteristics which she deserves, and which all LGBT/Latina characters within the media deserve.

Until next post, 

Nicole Abuid

Latimer, Brian. "Latinos in Hollywood: Few Roles, Frequent Stereotypes, New Study Finds." NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 22 Feb. 2016. Web. Website

"New Report: Estimated 1.4 Million Latino/a Adults in the U.S. Identify as LGBT." The Williams Institute. N.p., 2 Oct. 2013. Web. Website.

"Sexy, Sassy, Spicy: The Portrayal of Latina Women in American Television." N.p., 10 Aug. 2015. Web. Website

Simon, Rachel. "New GLAAD Study Finds That LGBT Representation in Movies Is Embarrassingly Bad." Bustle. N.p., 22 July 2014. Web. Website

"The Vito Russo Test." GLAAD. N.p., 21 July 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Website

"Women's Health USA 2012." US Female Population, Women's Health USA 2012. N.p., n.d. Web.

Levitan, Steven. Llyod, Christopher. 2009-present.  Modern Family [Television series]. ABC.