My first shock came almost immediately. I was on research step #1, and googled my subject. I was surprised when the tags that popped up before I even finished the word “teenager” implied, no, not implied, they screamed teen pregnancy. I found that these were based off of all the articles about Latino teens having the highest adolescent pregnancy rates. This, along with images and articles about crime, being involved in drug cartels, and taking drugs, did not make these teens’ single story very positive. I looked into TV shows and movies that both were based on teen Latinos and had such characters in them, and I found similar themes. A Hulu show, called East Los High, is one of these. The director said he saw, “rich stories that were just waiting to be told” about this social group. However, earlier in the article about this show was a list of these stories he mentioned, including sexuality, teen pregnancy, school, and drugs “wrapped up in time-honored soap-opera storylines revolving around cheating boyfriends, love triangles, dance competitions, and absent parents.”
I was disturbed by this negative view on these teens. I serve in the Young Womens in my ward, so I have had the opportunity to work with these kinds of kids and they do not fit with this single story. Another story of Latino culture includes the importance of family, as well as the expression of feeling. Perhaps a different take on the negative story, namely the teen pregnancy part, is that young Hispanics marry younger because of the importance of family. This may be incorrect, but I don’t think it is as incorrect as basing an entire social group’s character on a single story, and a very negative one as well.
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| My First Shock |
http://latino.foxnews.com/2014/04/09/hispanics
-have-highest-teen-pregnancy-rate-in-us/
I wonder why East Los High's director sees absent parents and cheating boyfriends as "rich stories?" Also, I think it would be interesting to know the race of the director himself.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question! I'll have to look into it.
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DeleteI really liked your analysis. It's sad how our society just assumes teenage latinos are linked with these kinds of things. Teenage pregnancy, drug problems, etc. happen no matter what race you are. How fun you get to serve in Young Womens! Your mission is happening every day!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your analysis. It's sad how our society just assumes teenage latinos are linked with these kinds of things. Teenage pregnancy, drug problems, etc. happen no matter what race you are. How fun you get to serve in Young Womens! Your mission is happening every day!
ReplyDeleteThat is really sad. I think teenage pregnancy is not specifically a problem in the latin culture, rather in all cultures. You have a great analysis based on your own personal experience. I love that!
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I went to dinner at a member's house on my mission (I served spanish speaking) and I saw a hispanic man outside his garage and got a little nervous inside as we was staring at us. I soon realized that this was the member who we were going to eat with and it made me feel a little ashamed inside that I judged him so quickly just because of his race.
ReplyDeleteMost Americans consider all latinos to be Mexicans (to love mariachi and know how to fix a car and eat rice and beans). I served my mission in Ecuador and discovered that the food and some ideals are very different from what we see as "latino culture". Thank you for your analysis!
ReplyDeleteNice observations
ReplyDelete