The life, thoughts, feelings, and experiences of a new Latina, from the vane to the profound.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
EQUALITY ON LATINAS
Free expression is more than a right: it is a blessing. I value the opportunity to express myself freely and to have others expressing themselves freely about what I write. Some of my comments are totally irrelevant and trivial, and in other instances some words are expressions of what my heart feels.
Recently, I posted a silly article about men and big screen TVs, and the comments from a reader named Equality got me thinking about a few things. First of all, it is amazing how different humans are, and how differently we can interpret the same message. I thought Size Does Matter was a funny and meaningless article, but someone took it very seriously and personal. I do not know if the person took the article personal because of his desire to own a big screen TV, or because he already owns one, or because the whole analogy about the desire of owning one does or does not apply to him. I personally do not mind big screen TVs, but I do not have to own the biggest TV in the world: a smaller TV can perform just fine and meet the same needs, at least for me. Each individual has different tastes and preferences when it comes to buying electronics, though, and that is why there are hundreds of models and sizes of TVs out there to choose from. Apparently Equality takes electronics very seriously, and that is perfectly fine; people like him who are so serious about technology keep electronic businesses in business.
Now, here is one comment Equality posted in my blog:
“How would you like it if I generalized about Latinas being easy, which they are in the city that I live? See? You didn't like when I generalized about Latinas, so don't generalize about men.And by the way, I don't think any woman is easy unless she is a hooker and that is a profession that doesn't care about ethnicity”.
This comment is kind of confusing, so lets divide it by parts:
1. Latinas are easy where he lives: I do not know where he lives, but all Latinas should know that this is what he thinks about them. I wonder why he thinks this way. What is the definition of easy? And if a woman is easy, or in his opinion Latinas: aren’t the guys who have relationships with them easy too? I would assume so, because it takes two to Tango.
It is truly sad that a man (and I do not think all men feel or think this way, so I am not generalizing), would even say this, not about me, but about all Latinas or at least the Latinas where he lives, because that shows that there is still a double standard about men and women and their “right” to be engaging in a relationship of any kind, especially among the Hispanic community. Latinas where he lives should be aware of who he is, and I would advise them to stay away. That is the kind of mentality I would not like my son to have. I want my son to learn to respect all women, regardless of their nationality or their willingness to express themselves in any way. If my son ever makes a comment like that, it would gain him a visit to the first available dentist, since I would just break his mouth. I have never called any guy easy, and I don’t think the term should apply to either men or women.
2. Equality said I did not like the generalization about Latinas being easy: Well, I am very open minded and thick skinned, so the comment did not bother me for myself, but because it proved that there are some men out there that still apply the double standard to women. Women have fought very hard over history to find better places in society and change the lingering mentality about them. However, some guys still live in the “cave men” era, and still think less of women, and pass on and perpetuate their degrading mentality towards women. All women should be bothered by guys like Equality and comments like Equality’s.
3. After saying that Latinas are easy where he lives, he says that he does not think any woman is easy, just hookers of any ethnicity: I have to laugh first, and after I regain my composure I will keep writing, and I am laughing out loud, as the people who know me know I can do, so regaining my composure might take me a few moments...
So, are Latinas easy, or not? Are Latinas easy only where Equality lives? Are all women easy, or just Latinas? Are hookers the only easy women, or just Latinas where Equality lives and hookers of any ethnicity? This statement is confusing, so maybe Equality can shed some light and enlighten us with his thoughts and comments on this one. I guess if you are a Latina, but do not live where Equality lives, then you should not be bothered about what he thinks, you are in the safe zone. If you are a Latina where Equality lives, then you should know that you are easy, in case you were wondering. And if you are a hooker anywhere in the world, Equality thinks you are easy too, but that is your profession, so he cuts you some slack.
In conclusion, I have had a kick out of reading this comment. I do not know if I live where Equality lives, so I do not know if I am easy or not. I certainly hope I do not live where Equality lives, not because I don’t want to belong to the easy group, but because I would not want to share my precious space with someone who thinks that way. And back to the reason for this controversy, I did not know that some men take their electronics fascination so seriously; I guess they have some underlying reasons (that I will not even attempt to rationalize just because it’s not important) to want that big screen TV or not, and they don’t want to be put in the spot for it, even in a silly blog like mine. More profoundly, though, I hope Equality is not a Latino; to know that a fellow Latino would think and express himself that way about Latinas would make me very sad. I hope my son turns out to be a good representation of what a Latino is and that he treats all women with respect, Latinas or not, hookers or otherwise.
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Este escrito lo he vivido bien de cerca!!! Mi esposo es fanático de la nueva tecnología, es sumamente analítico y su trabajo de ingeniero en automatizacion, procesos y controles se lo requiere. Pero no se limita y le apasiona cualquier otro tipo de tecnología. En uno de sus viajes vió, acabados de salir, los famosos televisores "Wide Screen"en EU, obviamente, bien costosos como todo cuando sale nuevo. Para él representaba también el costo del viaje a Puerto Rico. Recuerdo que me mencionó que la resolución no era muy buena y que había dificultad al observar el TV de lado. Aun así lo que lo detuvo fue lo costoso. Se lo había comentado a uno de sus hermanos y cuando los TV llegaron a PR su hermano lo compró. Invitaba a todos (amistades cercanas y familia) a ver películas en su WS y obviamente, cambió todo para que fuera compatible con el WS. Se sentaban todos a comentar lo fabuloso que estaba y había que ver su cara de orgullo y satisfacción por el artículo que había adquirido. Con el control en sus manos mostraba a todos los atributos del producto. Esto fue tema de conversación por un buen tiempo. En varias casas observé la adquisición de estos televisores. Mi esposo, quien sabía para ese tiempo que la resolución continuaría mejorando, esperó. Hasta que un día pasamos por una tienda donde observó el tamaño que quería a la resolución que esperaba. No lo pensó mucho y allí mismo lo compró. Lo demás, ya saben, invitó a la familia a ver películas...etc, etc, etc , la misma historia( obviamente, las carteleras de boxeo y deportes importantes eran motivo para BBQ's en casa). Le gustaba mucho su "juguete nuevo" y se veía mas emocionado que su hermano. luego el vecino adquirió uno, y el otro vecino y se convirtió como en una epidemia. ¿Cual era la necesidad de tal tamaño, si yo entendía que el que teníamos era suficiente y tenía buena resolución? En algún momento dijeron que era como tener un cine en casa, pero todos sabemos que no es igual, además no dejaron de ir al cine por haber comprado los TV's . A raíz de este escrito en tu blog, le pregunté a mi esposo el porqué los hombres lo compraban, si era por estatus o porque si uno lo tiene los otros tiene que tenerlo también o si los hacían sentir poderosos y me dijo que por esas razones compraban las mujeres, que ellos lo compraban por la resolución, la imágen, entonces le pregunté porque su hermano lo había comprado si la resolución era pésima y no me supo contestar. Para mí, ésta compra fue como el microhondas, antes no me hacía falta pero una vez lo tuve no lo cambio por el que tenía. (...Pero no organicé una "reunión social" de amigas para mostrar la compra...) ...Bueno, esta es la historia, el comportamiento de los seres humanos es impredecible o debo decir ¿¿Predecible??...Juzgue usted.
Ahhh! al lector Equality, No imaginé que una comparación como la de Tangi afectara tanto los sentimientos íntimos de un hombre mas aún cuando mencionó al principio que era su forma de ver las cosas. Ninguno de los que leemos su blog tenemos el derecho ni la autoridad para decirle a ella lo que tiene, debe o en la forma que quiera presentar sus pensamientos. Sin embargo haces un comentario directo sobre la mujer latina y me invita a reaccionar. No tengo muy claro lo que representa para ti el comentario generalizado de ser una " mujer latina facil" ¿Fácil para vivir en una sociedad con muchos discrimenes o fácil para luchar y levantar una familia sola cuando hombres fácilmente disfrutan de un momento compartido y luego abandonan sus responsabilidades? o ¿Fáciles para decidir su lugar en la sociedad y establecer sus derechos mientras cumplen sus deberes? Oh no!! creo que te refieres a la facilidad para tomar control y asumir un derecho de elegir sobre su propia satisfacción sexual. Partiendo de esta premisa, en esta sociedad Americana entiendo que las latinas son las últimas en asumir estos derechos. Creo que tampoco estás hablando de la satisfacción individualizada. Por eliminación entiendo que hablas de una relación que necesita a dos, en la que una mujer tiene el derecho de acceder o no a los reclamos de un hombre. Donde acceder a satisfacer sus deseos de mujer la convierte en "fácil" frente a un hombre que obviamente también se quiere satisfacer. Entonces, si fuese así ¿Qué palabra podríamos utilizar para denominar al hombre que se envuelve en ésta situación? Hay un dicho que dice : "Lo que es igual, no es ventaja"
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