This past week saw an unusual number of news stories covering the “sexiness” of Latinas to sell both products and/or news stories. Yes, sex sells, we all know the concept, but there is real news out there about Latinas that doesn’t involve sex or the curves of their Latina bodies. From Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, Selena Gomez, Naya Rivera, the Latinas in the Miss Universe competition to the new Miss Universe Venezuelan Gabriela Isler, the sexier the words and/or images of these Latinas are, the better it seems.
Here are just some of the more blatant examples of what I mean.
Sexy Latina Headlines and Stories
These crowd pleasers at the Huffington Post Latino Voices were featured in the most popular section:
- Naya Rivera Sizzles On Rolling Stone Flip Cover Featuring The Latin Hot List 2013 (PHOTO) from huffingtonpost.com
- Michelle Rodriguez sandwiched between these two stories
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Get To Know The Latina Contestants For Miss Universe 2013 (PHOTOS) from huffingtonpost.com
And these two headlines about Selena Gomez from Huffington Post’s entertainment section:
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Selena Gomez Lounges In Sexy Lingerie For Flaunt Magazine from huffingtonpost.com - Selena Gomez Takes The Plunge In Ultra Low-Cut Dress from huffingtonpost.com
Even though Sofia Vergara will appear in a series of ads alongside her family as the new face for Head and Shoulders the matter of her body was still raised.
- Sofia Vergara Is Head & Shoulders Above The Rest With New Campaign from perezhilton.com “Sofia Vergara’s shiny, glossy hair is almost as famous as her bouncy bosom, so why not exploit it for more dough???“
- How Many Body Parts Can Sofia Vergara Monetize? from latinheat.com
Then Focus on the Missing Curves of the Jennifer Lopez Barbie from Mattel
- J. Lo Barbie throws fans for a curve from nbclatino.com
- J.Lo Barbie Seems To Be Missing Something… (VIDEO) from huffingtonpost.com
- Please note that both these articles actually pose valid questions and points despite the headlines. How can a Latina not have curves and shouldn’t that be news?
Latina News
There is substantive Latina news out there that doesn’t require teasing seductive headlines or sexy photos. For example here are 10 stories from last week from business to culture to politics and more that represent Latinas in the news and paint a better picture of Latinas in the world.
- The rise of Alicia Menendez, a voice for the millennials fromwww.washingtonpost.com
- Connecticut Latina Teen Eloisa Melendez Elected To Common Council from ctlatinonews.com
- Are Hispanic girls hitting puberty earlier as a result of childhood obesity? from voxxi.com
- The Lylas, Bruno Mars’s Sisters, Try To Escape His Shadow With New Reality Show – Jaime, Tahiti, Presley and Tiara Hernandez from huffingtonpost.com
- Southwest Detroit voters elect 1st Latina council member – Raquel Castaneda-Lopez from freep.com
- Trio Ellas: Mariachi Meets The Andrews Sisters from wbur.org
- Latina Researcher Deborah Parra-Medina Wins ‘Health Promotion’ Award from saludtoday.com
- LULAC Selects Milwaukee For Its 2014 Women’s Conference from hispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com
- How Publishers Are Reaching Latina Audiences in English from adage.com
- Latin American Women Face Harsh Penalties for Minor Drug Offenses – Between 2006 and 2011, the female prison population almost doubled in Latin America from 40,000 to more than 74,000 inmates from globalvoicesonline.org
This story from the New York Times prompted me to write this piece. Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy – an Exaggerated Vision of the Female Form
Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy http://t.co/gB5Nx9WmrF
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 7, 2013
