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haryilove2learn-blog · 7 years ago

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Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post Four: Connection to Popular Culture

Jane the Virgin: Revising the Binary

The goal of this assignment is to search how TV shows, movies, comics, songs, etc. depict stereotypes and gender roles of Latina women in popular culture. In addition, the goal was to also explain how the artifact chosen either retells, revises or rewrites the binary. From the very beginning I knew I wanted to focus on the Latino community since I, myself am a Latina. I thought about focusing on Latina women in the workplace and analyzing the show, Ugly Betty but it wasn’t a topic that I really connected with. I chose to focus on how Latina women are portrayed in the media and after thinking about it, I decided to look into Jane the Virgin. I picked this artifact because I know that it is a show in which the main character is very family oriented and the storyline is based on the life of a young Latina woman who faces a variety of difficulties such as family expectations, family issues and an unplanned pregnancy. I also know a lot of people who have seen this show including my friends, my sisters, my mom and myself. To provide a brief summary about the show, it is about the life of a pious, hard working 23 year-old Latina woman who is artificially inseminated by accident. This life changing event changes her timeline and the way she had her life planned out. The show, Jane the Virgin revises the binary by destroying Latino stereotypes and challenging expectations that are placed for women in society.

After getting artificially inseminated by accident, Jane is questioned by her family about her promise to stay a virgin until marriage, including her grandma, Alba, who is very passionate about God and Jane. Alba has always been very strict and straightforward with Jane, especially when it comes to her virginity. She gives Jane a white flower and says to her, “look at the flower in your hand Jane. Notice how perfect it is. How pure. Now, mija, crumple it up. Crumple the flower Jane.” After doing so, Alba tells her to try to make it new again but Jane is unable to do so. Very satisfied Alba tells her, “that’s right. You can never go back. And that’s what happens when you lose your VIRGINITY. You can never go back. Never forget that, Jane.” This first scene is very important because it plays a very important role in the life of Jane throughout the show, especially because she has been in a relationship with her boyfriend, Michael, for over two years without any sexual relations. As the audience, we can tell that even though she feels the pressure that as a woman she has to sexually please her boyfriend, she decides not to abide to these expectations. Instead of abiding to these expectations she focuses on her education and the goals she has set for herself. Doing so, encourages the audience, to ask questions such as is the binary useful? Is it appropriate? According to chapter five of Gender Stories, “such questions revise the binary by raising questions for the audiences about the system in which they have been participating” (121). Jane’s commitment to staying a virgin and not allowing herself to fall under these expectations and pressures as a sexual being helps the audience criticize how women (Latina, white, or black) are portrayed in the media, as overly sexualized.

As I mentioned above, Jane’s boyfriend Michael, plays a significant role in Jane’s life. Although, as he says, he would love to have sex with her he still respects her decision to save herself until marriage and that’s something that Jane loves about him. In episode one, Michael proposes to Jane before finding out she was artificially inseminated on accident. As soon as he finds out he backs out and explains to Jane that he can’t be with her if she decides to have ‘it” because it is not his child. When Jane chooses to have the baby and then give it to the baby’s biological father, Rafael Solano and his wife Petra, Jane knows that she wants to spend the rest of her life with Michael, the love of her life. She unexpectedly surprises him in the office to propose to him. She goes up to him and says, “so instead of telling you the reasons why I love you, I’m gonna tell you the reasons why I don’t. I don't love you because you’re smart and kind. I don’t love you because you’re hard-working and competitive and way too defensive (the other officers laugh). I don't love you because you’re incredibly sexy (the officers laugh again). I love you because you’re my best friend. And I want to grow old with you. And right now, I’m confused about every single thing in my life… except you… (the officers applaud and cheer). What is so special about this scene is the way everything is set up. Michael is an officer and as soon as Jane walks into the office the audience can see that every single officer in the room is a man. This scene makes me question why there isn’t a single women in the room except Jane but at the same time it also makes me realize how confident Jane is walking into that room as a Latina woman. Seeing the way she walked into the room, in front of all those male officers encourages me to be confident as a woman. Not only that but she also motivates me to contemplate the binary by the way she challenges it. By proposing to Michael, as the woman, she, “suggests that there are multiple ways of being a man and a woman- ways that expand the prescription of the binary” (124) according to Gender Stories. Not only that but she also sets an example to all the male officers by showing them that a woman is capable of anything, such as being able to walk into a room full of men and proposing to the love of her life.

It is very important to know that Xiomara, Jane’s mom had her at a very young age. After letting her baby’s father know she was expecting, he leaves her and is out of the picture until he decides to come back. In episode two, Rogelio de la Vega, Jane’s father also a very famous telenovela star wants to finally meet her. After many nonstop calls and very pushy demands to let him meet Jane, Xiomara has a hard time telling him no, that it is not the appropriate time. Rogelio not only questions her role as a mother but feels like he has the right to demand her to introduce them after he has not been a father figure in Jane’s life since she was born. On top of that, he decides to show up at their house, at a very bad timing, without asking Xiomara if it was okay for him to be there. Xiomara tired of him not being understanding but demanding has had enough and is finally able to stand firm after he once again, very angrily, tells her that he want to see Jane right away. After being too nice and way too patient she responds to him with, “no you won't, because being a parent means that you put your kids interests first and right now, Jane is overwhelmed, and she needs some part of her life to not change, and so you’re gonna back off until I tell you she’s ready. And don’t ever question me as a mother again, got it?” Very scared, Rogelio backs away and tells her that he will wait. Xiomara’s response makes the audience question what Xiomara’s anger is all about. In some way it questions the binary. In Gender Stories, we learned that “best sellers also offer you gender stories that revise the binary- stories that stretch or modify it in some way. The binary stays in place, but it is challenged and expanded in these revisionist narratives” (121). Xiomara’s response is the appropriate response because she didn’t have a choice but to take the role of a mother and a father from a very young age, while Rogelio very easily walked away. He left her alone with their baby and didn’t help raise Jane emotionally or financially. This lets the audience see how despite doing it alone, Xiomara, as a young Latina mom was able to to raise her daughter without the presence of a man. She was a strong, independent woman and that is something that women need to be given credit for more often. Xiomara did not let Rogelio control the situation because she cared so much about Jane that she was not afraid to stand tall and give him a firm response. If she had not done so, Rogelio would have still kept calling her non stop, demanding everything from her while still having the audacity to call her a bad mother.

To conclude, Jane the Virgin revises the binary by destroying Latino stereotypes and challenging expectations for women. First, Jane the Virgin encourages the audience to question the binary by pushing them to ask questions about the way all women, Latinas and non-hispanic alike- are portrayed. Jane is committed to saving herself until marriage and this depicts how TV shows don’t always need to portray women as sexual beings. Jane is allowed to exhibit a nuanced sexuality, embracing her desires while still managing to stay true to her personal wish to remain a virgin until marriage. This is an example of how it is not necessary to over sexualized women like the media is so used to doing so. Second, women are capable of anything, this include doing things that according to society, are usually meant to be done by men, in this case proposing. Jane is a ray of sunshine with the yellow dress she is wearing in this scene. As soon as she walks in, she fills the room with confidence and that is clearly seen even when the room is all men. Third, though Xiomara had Jane as a teenager, she is not a one-dimensional, Latina teen mom stereotype, and her pregnancy has not defined her life. She was shaped by having had her daughter at a young age, but it’s hardly all there is to her. She is a strong, independent woman who is not afraid to be firm and stand up for her family and herself. Analyzing this series in a more deeper level has made me realized how much I missed out on the first time I watched it. Rewatching these episodes made me realize how Latinos are portrayed. Not only that but it also made me realize how much I connect to this character at a personal level. Some of the same expectations Jane had are some of the similar expectations that I saw play a role in my life while I was growing up. One of them being how important it is to stay a virgin until marriage. This is something that my parents focused on so much throughout my childhood. Not only that but they used religion as the major reason as to why I had to stay a virgin and hearing the same reasons over and over again was something that I got tired of listening to. Not only that, but I also had to learn to be confident as a Latina women everywhere I went. I still have to do that now. Being a Latina woman in today’s society is not easy. This show taught me that I don’t have to fall under society’s or my parents’ expectations. I am going to focus on my education, my goals, and my happiness because I learned that it is okay to do that. I don't always have to do what other people want me to do and I don’t have to please others. It is okay to focus on myself and do what makes me happy.

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haryilove2learn-blog · 7 years ago

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Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post Two: Connection to Foundational Course Concepts

Immigrant Latina Women: Gender Roles in Modern Society

Latina Woman have a lot of expectations to fulfill when it comes to family, education, and other responsibilities. These high expectations for women are a result of the social construction of gender which lead to the creation of gender roles. Gender roles are culturally prescribed emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that men and women are expected to uphold, according to Christopher Liang, Elisabeth Knauer- Tuner, Carin Molenaar and Erin Price. All four of these researchers explored the experience of Latina College students in regard to gender, ethnicity, and culture. What is so interesting is that women may experience gender roles differently. This has to do with the idea of intersectionality in which individuals perceive and experience simultaneous social constructions of identity (race, culture, gender, ethnicity, etc.) and oppression. It is important to know that although gender roles have been in existence for a very long period of time, but for immigrant women, their migration experience may introduce a shift in gender roles. According to Tetiana Havlin, migration experiences reinforces the transformation of gender roles which initially are not only distinct but also unequal.

I had a hard time choosing a topic but I knew I wanted to focus on Latina women since I first heard about the project. Being Latina is a big part of my identity and I feel that I have not taken the time to really learn about myself and my cultural identity. I took this as a great opportunity to do that. Ever since I was a little girl, I saw how many “mom responsibilities” my mom had to handle everyday. Whether it meant making breakfast, driving my siblings and I to school, going to our school meetings, picking us etc. Some of the articles I came across, including the ones studied by the researchers whose names I’ve mentioned above, mention, the gender roles in the Latino culture which usually consist of the following: the father is the provider of the family and he works everyday from morning to late at night, the mother is the caregiver and she stays at home, cooks, cleans, looks and takes care of the kids. Gender roles never really crossed my mind when I was younger but the older I got the more I realized what a great deal sexism and gender roles played in my family and the Latino community (not necessarily only Latino communities). I also noticed that my sisters and I would always have to cook and help our mom clean while my brother was too busy playing video games and the only chore he had to handle was to take the garbage out. In addition, my brother was able to go out and stay out late while my sisters’ and I were interrogated before going out and then had to be home at a certain time. This made me aware of the unfairness my sisters and I were facing as Latina women, from a very young age.

The article, “A Qualitative Examination of the Gendered and Racialized Lives of Latina College Students,” by Liang, Knauer- Tuner, Molenaar and Price talk briefly Latina College students developing in the context of the economic challenges which may lead to the renegotiating of gender roles within the family (152). I did not realize how true this quote was until I reflected on it. I find it very interesting that both my older sister (27 yrs. old) and I (20 yrs. old) were very young bloomers when it came to getting a job and having money to take our parents out or having enough money to shop for our clothes when my older brother (22 yrs. old) didn’t start working until a very late age. Yet, I couldn’t understand why he had so much privilege when we were so far advanced in certain part of our lives at different age levels. To have a full understanding of the sexism that is in my family is not an easy thing to do, as Latina women we are raised to not question anything our parents say, especially our dads. We have to keep our mouths quiet and accept what our parents say even when it is unfair. The most important reason why I chose this topic is because of the fact that my parents’ grew up in Honduras and their lives were completely different to mine growin up in the United States. Immigration is a very big and complex topic as well as education but as someone who has a very meaningful and deep connection to these topics, I just had to focus on them. At the end of the day I know my parents’ only want the best for my siblings and I but at times, nowadays, being a Latina college student with parents who were raised differently and with different beliefs can be very challenging. Even though gender roles and expectations can be very stressful and at times misconceiving to others about my beliefs as a Latina college student, I know I am not alone and that there are others who have to face similar difficulties.

The first article, “Shift in social order- shift in gender roles? Migration experience and gender roles,” focuses on the idea that migration is a multidimensional process in which it can result in either an increase in inequalities by establishing traditional roles or bring changes by challenging them. Dr. Tetiana Havlin, is a female sociology professor of the University of Siegen (Germany), the study is on families of East-European immigrants (from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia) in Germany. The investigation was done through semi-constructed biographical interviews with female immigrants to Germany conducted by the author in 2012-2014 (185). Although, this research doesn’t study subjects that are of Latino or Hispanic culture, according to the article, there are worldwide commonalities that show interlinks between local and global trends. (186). The results demonstrated that all the more gender inequalities and inconsistencies within the migration process, immigrant women are more likely to be involved in the decision making process and positions them as the breadwinner. It also challenges male migrants to compromise with the restructuring of family and gender roles as immigrant women undertake the communication functions with official institutions. The researcher concluded that, “migration can accelerate restructuring of the gender relationship, and the new social order imposes on migrants a demand for greater flexibility in gender roles within the family and for diversity in household strategies.” (Havlin, 190) It is believed that the there is a link between greater egalitarianism and the post-migration period, thus, there are families who experience a more egalitarian approach in their home when it comes to family decision process than they demonstrated prior to immigration. This, according to Havlin, the migration experience mis-balances previous sets of gender roles which could possibly may not be efficient in the new surrounding. There could be a reshaping of gender discourse, which is portrayed in her study (190).

The second article that matched so perfectly with this topic is “A Qualitative Examination of the Gendered and Racialized Lives of Latina College Students,” by Liang, Knauer- Tuner, Molenaar and Price. These researchers are professors at Lehigh University, a private research University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. To summarize the research, multiracial feminist argued that the study of gender must acknowledge the role of ethnicity, culture, and discrimination in the lives of Latina/o communities (150). This study does a great job of doing that. According to the article, much of the research on gender roles focuses on a specific ethnicity- White American women and men but this sets limitations because of the generalizing research on white Americans to Latina/o groups, something that shouldn’t be done. This research studied the unique effects of intersection of gender and ethnicity on the experience of women of color in the USA. Like me, many Latina/o are born in the USA but many are also immigrant or are children of immigrants and this can lead them to experience acculturative stress. The negotiating of differing cultural values can very challenging especially when it comes to negotiating their identities within the context of social and cultural expectations (151). Latina college students have to learn how to balance that by gaining independence in order to be a successful college student but also knowing how to keep the value of familismo- which stresses the importance of family in one’s identity. The research states that this is a particular salient stressor for a Latina college student because of the difficulties they face in balancing between academic success and also having to fulfill the roles within the family. The research consisted of consensual qualitative research: open-ended, semi-constructed interview processes were utilized to gather information. These methods were “chosen in order to allow for a richer exploration of the experience of Latina college students in regard to gender, ethnicity, and culture.” (Liang & Knauer- Tuner & Molenaar & Price, 153) The results demonstrated that, domains such as gender role socialization, stereotypes, current gender role ideology, ethnic discrimination, sexism, and coping with discrimination shape the experience of women of color in consideration of various factors such as culture, ethnic discrimination, social class, and patriarchy. According to the researchers, further research would require further quantitative and qualitative examination of the intersection of social identities needed. This means that further studies would require more questions on ethnic discrimination. In addition, all but one of the participants identified as heterosexual so future research could explore how queer identities intersect with the various factors studied.

According to Christie Launius and Holly Hassel, authors of the book, “Threshold concepts in women’s and gender studies,” Social construction of gender is defined as the way that gender norms are expressed, communicated, and reinforced in present ways throughout our lives (52). In the latino community, this is seen through respeto, marianismo, hembrismo, and sexism. As I already mentioned, respeto refers to the idea that emphasizes respect for parents’ rules and upholding responsibilities influences how Latina college students view their role in the family (151). The concept of marianismo, is a norm that calls for women to be devoted to their family by cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children. In addition, in the latino culture there is also the idea of hembrismo, in other words “superwoman.” Although this has a positive connotation referring to strength, confidence, perseverance, endurance, resiliency, and having the ability to overcome any obstacles it can also have a negative connotation linked to it. Hembrismo can lead women to a negative experience with it while trying to fulfill multiple roles even if it means at home or outside of home. Having to meet these high expectations leads to stress emotionally, mentally and physically. Last but not least there is also sexism. Women can experience this in a variety of ways including, employment, health services, harassment, athletic sexism gender sexism, and in economic and political ways. Sexism overall, is a way that allows high class, white, privileged men to oppress women of all kind, butit is a lot more easier to do so towards a Latina women due to other parts of their identity like gender and race: in other words intersectionality. Overall, social construction of gender in the Latino culture, such as the factors I talk about above, are rules that have been established by society to be followed by parents to teach their kids. I personally have a lot of issues with these norms that have been followed for generations because even though my parents did a great job at raising me and disciplining me, there were many times were I could see how their high expectations of me fulfilling and following these norms was unfair and very stressful in many occasions.

Launius and Hassel also talk about the idea of agency: idea of having choices and options which can be restricted by public policies, individuals, and cultural norms. This is exactly what one of the participants did in the Liang, Knauer- Tuner, Molenaar, and Price study. The third domain in this study was the current gender role ideology which reflects the participant’s current thinking about gender. It included a category of independence which as the researchers mentioned, helps to underscore agency the participants developed from being around strong women in their life as well as resistance to the restrictive messages they received from more traditional men in their lives. These participants did what a lot of woman can’t do which is, “the ability to critique and resist feminine and/or masculine beliefs, values and expectations that were shaped and reinforced by family members, peers, and society.” (Liang & Knauer- Tuner & Molenaar & Price, 159) I can see this in my family. My older sister did something that my parents never saw coming which was her moving out of the house after she graduated and got hired at a very good paying job. My siblings and I know that my parents want the best for us, but for them it was a shock that my sister was moving out, as an independent woman before she was even married. My sister was scared to see how our parents would react but she thought about all the beautiful things in life she could enjoy and do, which were things that she probably wouldn’t have been able to do if she still lived with our parents. She was independent and broke out of that norm that you have to have a man in your life and be married in order to survive. She proved those who thought she was crazy wrong and she’s currently doing great. She inspires me to be like that and it makes me want to work hard and focus on myself so that I, just like her can grow to be an independent strong Latina woman.

To find this article I used search terms such as immigrant women, gender role, immigration and from those search terms there were 20 research results. It was very hard to think of search terms that could help me find scholarly articles that had to do with my topic and the results were not really what I was looking for. Some of the articles were focused on Latina women but didn’t have anything to do with the idea of immigration and gender roles. I was only able to find the second article because the first article mentioned it which brought a huge relief. Both of these studies focused on gender roles and the impact that it can on women. Even though one focused on East-European immigrants and the other one on Latina college students, both cultures still have the expectations of having to fulfill gender roles based on what society expects from both cultures. Another similarity in these studies is the methodology used, researchers used questionnaires and interviews to assess their research question with the participants. It’s great that both research studies considered ways in which they could further their research and even though were different in various ways it is awesome to see that they are thinking of ways to better their research results.

In conclusion, the study my Dr. Havlin, answers the question of does gender matter in context of immigration. The results of the research study show that migration experiences reinforces the transformation of gender roles and new social order imposes on immigrant women a demand of greater flexibility of gender roles in the family and for diversity in household strategies. This allows immigrant women to a certain liberalization of the role of women in the migratory context- women become a more active part of the world population and the opportunities of employment has decreased their economic dependency on men. The second study, by Liang, Knauer- Tuner, Molenaar, Price explores how Latina college students perceive their identities and intersections in their own lives. Challenges like achieving a balance between academic success and fulfilling their roles within the family as well as receiving a good education and living up to parents’ expectations for success in the US, and having to meet expectations while trying to fulfill multiple roles in and out of home are resulting salient stressors and emotional distress that Latina college students have to learn to deal with on the daily basis. The study concluded that gender role socialization, stereotypes, current gender role ideology, ethnic discrimination, sexism, and coping with discrimination shape the experience of women of color in consideration of various factors such as culture, ethnic discrimination, social class, and patriarchy. I hope to learn more about my identity as a Latina woman in college and how I can find a way to balance my expectations at home and outside-in the real world as a Latina.

References

Euro Sci Network, The co-operative learning platform. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.eurosci.net/news/guest-

tetiana-havlin-eu-migration-policy

Havlin, T. (2015). Shift in Social order - shift in gender roles? Migration experience and gender roles. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 3(3), 185-191. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2015.53229

Liang, C., Knauer-Turner, E., Molenaar, C., & Price, E. (2017). A Qualitative Examination of the Gendered and Racialized Lives of Latina College Students. Gender Issues, 34(2), 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-016-9163-8

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haryilove2learn-blog · 7 years ago

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Immigrant Latina Women: Gender Roles in Modern Society

References

Euro Sci Network, The co-operative learning platform. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.eurosci.net/news/guest-

tetiana-havlin-eu-migration-policy

Launius, C., & Hassel, H. (2015). Threshold concepts in women’s and gender studies: Ways of seeing, thinking, and knowing. New York, NY: Routledge: Taylor and Francis.

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