"My Eyes Are Up Here!" Hypersexuality and the Male Gaze in the Representation of Latinx Women
- hakobyanl
- Dec 9, 2021
- 5 min read
Sam Barnhart
December 9, 2021
It’s no shock that when Hollywood attempts diversity, it frequently portrays an inaccurate or offensive portrayal of many cultures. When films highlight a diverse cast, they’re still plagued with whitewashing, eurocentric beauty standards and laced with stereotypical tropes. In recent years, diverse casts and crews have broken barriers and gained critical recognition. However, Latinx women in film are still represented infrequently and are treated poorly or exalted for the sole purpose of their curves and serving men on-screen. Our perceptions of Latinx women become negatively skewed when viewed through the male gaze and a lens of hypersexuality. For young Latinx women, the influences of this representation can be adverse. Raised is an essential question on the treatment of Latinx women in film. How can we see the effects of hypersexualization and the male gaze on Latina bodies in the media and translate it to the dynamic lived experiences of Latinx women and adolescents?
From Jillian Baez, author and professor specializing in Latinx media and transnational feminisms, who has spent an abundance of time researching and interviewing Latinx women, here is one glimpse into how the perceived hypersexuality of Latinas and their bodies from the media can be exemplified:
Ana, a Puerto Rican graduate student in her midtwenties, was wearing a brown suit underneath a short black puffy jacket. As we talked about her upcoming job interview, a car sped up behind us, and several young men shouted, “JLo butt!” at Ana. Seeming somewhat annoyed, Ana looked at me and said, “That isn’t the first time that’s happened.” She then recounted the many times her body has been likened to Jennifer Lopez’s physique, even though she bears little actual resemblance to the actress/singer/dancer. (Baez 82)
Being an immensely successful actress and Latina woman, Jennifer Lopez is reduced to just one feature of her body in this anecdote. At the same time, the sexualization of such is projected onto Ana as she is catcalled on the street. It is not hard to imagine the discomfort this brings women and how “[m]ost Latina audiences perceive that these hypersexual depictions cause mainstream, non-Latina/o audiences to view Latina bodies as inferior and sometimes deviant” (Baez 112). Especially for younger Latinas, this can be particularly damaging.
Latinx women are not often afforded the space to be people independent of societal barriers and boxes to check for their peers and families, both in film and every day. Suppose they reject the stereotypes of being submissive or spitfires, exhibiting voluptuous figures perpetuated by the media and the male gaze. In that case, it is not only with great difficulty, as these ideas are found deeply ingrained in popular culture (think of Sofia Vergara’s role on Modern Family and the many other portrayals like this), but they are then perceived as wannabe good-girls or not fulfilling expectations of their societal roles or family duties.
It is difficult enough to deal with to-pop-or-not-pop your first pimple, navigating friendships, academics, and figuring out who you want to be in this world. Trying to do this with the additional weight of knowing because of your racial and cultural identity, the greater population has the propensity to have certain notions about you and your body can lead to exacerbated measures of self-worth and sense of identity.
In film, we see Latina youth try to deflect this hypersexualization and other stereotypes thrown onto Latina women (like the concept of doing “women’s work” or not pursuing higher education).
Real Women Have Curves (2002) follows Ana, a high school senior, on her journey to pursue higher education and reject a familial expectation of working in a clothing factory. While we see Ana struggle to meet the expectations of her family, herself, and her academic pursuits, the notion of this film is overall positive, with a resolution where we see Ana embarks on her collegiate journey on her own.
Nevertheless, in the case of many real-life Latinx women, we see the additional pressure faced in these situations. One study presents that “adolescent girls with higher levels of internalized sexualization have lower grades and standardized test scores than their peers with lower levels of internalized sexualization” and the “findings suggest that internalized sexualization is linked to academic orientation among racially diverse girls in the United States” (McKenney and Bigler).
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