Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States

Stereotypical representations of Hispanic and Latino Americans can be manifested in United States mass media, literature, theater and other creative expressions.

White U.S. Hispanics and Latinos, Asian U.S. Hispanics and Latinos, and Black U.S. Hispanics and Latinos are often overlooked in the U.S. mass media and in general American social perceptions, where being "Hispanic or Latino" is often incorrectly given a racial value, usually mixed-race, such as Mestizo or Mulatto, but it is actually an ethnic grouping comprising many different races while, in turn, mixed-race and white U.S. Hispanics and Latinos are overrepresented and admired in the U.S. Hispanic mass media and social perceptions.

News media and crime

In 2003, Serafín Méndez-Méndez or Diane Alverio of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists reported the following findings:

• Latino-related stories make up less than 1% of all the stories that appear on network newscasts, even though Latinos make up more than 13% of the U.S. population.
• Crime, terrorism, poverty and welfare, and illegal immigration accounted for 66% of all network stories about Latinos in 2001.
• The arrest of suspected terrorist Jose Padilla, for allegedly plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb", occupied a central role in the coverage of Latinos in 2002, with 21 network stories or 18% of all stories that aired on Latinos.
• "The number of Latino-related crime and youth gang stories in 2002 was grossly excessive when compared to statistics on crimes involving Latinos."
• "Illegal immigration continues to be an important focus of network news coverage of Latinos."

EthnicMajority.com, a minority empowerment organization, states: "Who we see, hear and read on television, radio, newspapers, and in movies has a great deal of influence on shaping the attitudes of all Americans. How African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans are portrayed in these mediums often stereotypes and reinforces negative images of each ethnic group."

Progressive media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) points out that in contrast to the media's over-representation of minorities as criminals and drug users is their under representation as experts and analysts. FAIR's studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s documented that 92% of Nightline's U.S. guests were white, 90% of the NewsHour's guests were white, and 26 out of 27 repeat commentators on National Public Radio over a four-month period were white.

Female Hispanics

Sexual and racial stereotypes of Latinas are often demonstrated in the U.S. mainstream media. The women of this ethnic group are often portrayed as being overly sensual, passionate, curvaceous, olive-skinned women. The sexualization and fetishization of Latina women is exemplified by the attractive and often Puerto Rican mami in hip hop.

While at times Latinas are shown in an overly provocative manner, in some instances they are illustrated in an opposing way: virginal, religious, conservative and family-oriented. One such example is Colombian actress Sofia Vergara, who has often been asked to alter her appearance to fit the Latina stereotype in her on screen roles.

See also

• Stereotypes of groups within the United States
• Hispanophobia
• Racial profiling
• Stereotype threat
• Stereotypes of Argentines
• Colombia in popular culture
• Chicano and Nuyorican

Further reading

• GalleryBlog on Latina/o Stereotypes. This blog serves as a constantly updated resource for Tex(t)-Mex, a University of Texas Press volume (2007)
• "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria" by Judith Ortiz Cofer[1]