Latina Body Image

Latina Body Image 

The Bloguera: Latin Body Image podcast was extremely relatable and nerve touching. They introduced the topic of Latinas and their "abnormal" amount of body hair. This is a stereotype we've all heard before and I dont know about everyone else,  but I'm frankly over it. When Patricia Valoy talked about her experience with her body hair it was like a flashback. She talked about how her fiance's family (Egyptians), told her she needed to shave her whole body, including her face. They were finding hair she didn't even knew she had and they wanted it all gone. 

Valoy's story brought back the last ten years of my life. Ever since I moved to the United States when I was 10 I was always teased for having "too much hair". I even had too much hair on my head for some poeple 

It really affected my self-esteem and it led to me potentially ruinning my hair because I would be constantly straightening it. I also have very hairy arms and was always teased for it. I used to work at white castle and you know when you work at a fast food restaurant you're required to wear hair nets so that there's no chance of hair getting on the food. I had a manager there who would constantly tell me I needed hair nets for my arms and I would just have to laugh it off because what else am I supposed to do right?

Another big thing is one's weight. Like Kassandra Pena said now a days there are so many unhealthy and harmful trends that force girls to meet a certain body image. And then we also have the entire family telling you "mija as subido de peso", "mija si sigues comiendo asi vas a rodar". This is something that seriously needs to be worked on in the Latinx community. This toxic behavior can easily lead to eating disorders that can potentially lead to even more serious mental illnesses. 

The point is that all of these beauty standards and body images placed on Latinas are extremely damaging and harmful for our self-esteems. Especially when you're emposing them on children who are still growing and learning to get comfortable with their own bodies. It can easily create bad cases of body dysmorphia. We need to break through the beauty standards and stablish healthy habits.