Strong Latin Women

My grandmother was a single mother who raised eight children and defended her family against burglars by firing gunshots in the air in 1960's Mexico. She is central to my personal myth that Latin women are strong even, at times, stronger than men and capable of doing anything they need to in order to protect and take care of their families. This image of the strong Latin woman is perpetuated throughout society and has become an indelible part of the modern concept of Latin women. Strong Latin women in movies, such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, master their men and call the shots. Strong Latin women in the music world, such as Mariana Montalvo and Bello Velloso, portray Latin women as both lovers and warriors (de Barros). Strong Latin women in books, such as the characters in Mexican literary queen Angeles Mastretta's novels, are audacious and defiant in the face of traditional female roles:

Those characters are courageous and disorderly in a world that is constructed for them to be obedient, timid and quiet. They're women who don't transform reality, but they do transform their reality. They decide their own destinies. The stories are like photographs taken of the women at that instant in which they do precisely that (Santiago).

The strong woman in any culture is generally a paradox, because gender typing assigns women the role of subservient and compliant underling to the man. However, the failure of men to perform their own role as head o

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Category: Psychology - S