In this short story, "The Myth about Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria", Judith Cofer offers us an inside perspective on latin women, their assigned stereotypes and how people project negative appreareances onto them. She also indicates that this has not only happened to here in America, where she grew up, but it also happened to her in London where she attended graduated school. Cofer begins her story by recalling a scene on a London bus where a drunk guy reneacted a scene from "West Side Story". He sang her a song in which the main charaters name is "Maria". Everyone on the bus found it funny and amusing, but Cofer was quite irritated by his actions. Cofer continues the story by taking us back to her hometown, an urban sprawl in
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She continues to describe her cultural experience on career day at school. "Though I do not recall the precise details of my Career Day outfit, it must have been a composite of the above choices, But I remember a comment my friend (an Italian-American) made in later years that coalesced my impressions of that day. She said that at the business school she was attending the Puerto Rican girls always stood out for wearing "everything at once." (234). Cofer is clearly pointing out differences in clothing between two cultures that makes them a target for stereotypes. She further demonstrates the steoretypes among Latin or Hispanic women by explaining the "'hot tamale or 'sexual firebrand" (234) designators. This further promotes culture bias and makes it acceptable for men to mistreat or sexually harrass women. Cofer states that stereotypes not only occur to the general public but also to people with a higher level of education. She recounts an incident at a "Classy Metropolitan hotel" (235) in which she encounters a man and his
She continues to describe her cultural experience on career day at school. "Though I do not recall the precise details of my Career Day outfit, it must have been a composite of the above choices, But I remember a comment my friend (an Italian-American) made in later years that coalesced my impressions of that day. She said that at the business school she was attending the Puerto Rican girls always stood out for wearing "everything at once." (234). Cofer is clearly pointing out differences in clothing between two cultures that makes them a target for stereotypes. She further demonstrates the steoretypes among Latin or Hispanic women by explaining the "'hot tamale or 'sexual firebrand" (234) designators. This further promotes culture bias and makes it acceptable for men to mistreat or sexually harrass women. Cofer states that stereotypes not only occur to the general public but also to people with a higher level of education. She recounts an incident at a "Classy Metropolitan hotel" (235) in which she encounters a man and his