Verified Document

Latinas In The United States Term Paper

However, the most common, and often most explosive, clash occurs between the Latina and her parents. Living in such a restricted environment, when her peers are not, often leads to rebelliousness, culminating in exactly the Latina's parents' worst fears. This restrictive culture stems from the virginity myth. The virginity myth states that only by remaining a virgin can a girl get a good husband that will take care of her.

The most fallacious part of this statement is that women can rely on men to take care of them, when in reality they cannot.

To combat this, young women should be taught to value themselves in other aspects then merely as sexual objects. They should be taught, through example, how to be loving and respectful without succumbing to the patriarchal legacies that keep women obedient and dependent on men and that sexualize their self-worth. This sexualized self-worth means simply that in the traditional Latino culture, a woman is highly defined by her sexuality. If she is not a virgin at the time of marriage, has sex with multiple men, enjoys sex, or is a lesbian she is valued less in the culture. This reflects on her own vision of her self-worth, and has nothing to do with the facets of her that should really matter, such as her kindness, her intelligence, her caring, or her hard work.

However, in traditional Latino culture, it is the idea of virginity that keeps females oppressed. By keeping...

This results in female oppression.
In order to help young Latina women find a balance between their old and new cultures, it's important to first recognize the values of each. Talk with her about the values that she sees as traditional Latino values and those that she sees are American. Then decide from the lists of both which are important to her personally, regardless of a preconceived notion by either culture.

Personally, I have experienced a similar struggle with bridging a cultural gap, when I was younger. My grandparents were quite important to me, but the generational cultural gap that divided us became more and more apparent as I grew older. They thought it was quite inappropriate and disrespectful that I had moved out, during college, and was living with my boyfriend. When I was finally married, they could not understand how we didn't want kids right away. To them, a woman's place was in the home, much like the Latino culture, raising children and keeping house. To forego family simply to further my career was selfish in their eyes. They knew times had changed from when they were young, however they were determined not to agree with it.

References

Garcia-Preto, Nydia. "Latinas in the United States: Bridging Two Worlds." Therapy with Different Populations. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Sources used in this document:
References

Garcia-Preto, Nydia. "Latinas in the United States: Bridging Two Worlds." Therapy with Different Populations. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

United States and Russia After the Cold
Words: 1123 Length: 3 Document Type: Research Paper

United States and Russia After the Cold War After taking oath of office in January 1989, President George H. Bush was determined to strengthen the new found relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. His administration reviewed the United States policy towards the countries of the Eastern bloc. In 1991, he met president Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia in Moscow to sign the Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II)

Hernandez Vs. Texas: Importance to Latinos in the US
Words: 3756 Length: 12 Document Type: Research Paper

Hernandez vs. Texas and its Importance to Latinos in the U.S. Studies conducted in the past have clearly indicated that some racial groups are overrepresented in the U.S. criminal justice system. There have been claims that some stages of the criminal justice system disadvantage some groups, with some of the disadvantaged groups being Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans. This text largely concerns itself with the U.S. Supreme court ruling of Hernandez vs.

Cultural Differences of Adolescent in the United States
Words: 4157 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Cultural Differences of Adolescent in the United States The United States, ever since the time when its history began, has been an accumulation of different cultural patterns who took refuge here for independence in expressing the thoughts. Resiliency or adaptability is featured as a phenomenon of fruit yielding adaptability in spite of difficult or intimidating surrounding. In this paper we shall analyze the cultural differences among adolescents in the country. In

Immigrants and the US Military
Words: 4601 Length: 14 Document Type: Research Paper

Immigrants Should be Allowed in the US Military and Granted Citizenship One of the major issues that have faced the U.S. Department of Defense is on permitting illegal immigrants to serve in the U.S. military. This issue has become relatively controversial in the recent past because of immigration issues and the need to enhance homeland security. In this regard, there are questions on whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to serve

Latina & AIDS Hispanic Population;
Words: 1617 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

The colorful and rich culture and heritage should be used to counter such menaces by the community or non-governmental organizations working for the prevention and awareness of AIDS/HIV. Ethnicity Latino is a large group comprising further sub-categories like Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, people born in the U.S. Of Mexican descent that identify as American and other Indian civilizations. Each group cannot be targeted with the same message. These different groups have different

Latina Women and Positive Self Image
Words: 706 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Latinx Women Reclaiming Their Bodies and Self-LoveAccording to Stokes, Clemens, & Rios (2016), historically Latinx women have been assumed to embrace a more positive body shape and image than their Caucasian counterparts. Much like African American culture, Latino culture has been thought to be more accepting of a fuller, more voluptuous figure. However, this acceptance may have been overstated and does not fully embrace the complexities of how Latinx women

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now