Stereotyping

You ever have one of those light bulb moments? Oprah deems them the, "A-ha" moments.

My a-ha moment came when I realized how much my soon-to-be ex not only used other people's negative feelings about women to gain allies, but he also used my race.

See, he is white and I am of Latin heritage. I live in a predominantly white state and because of that, a lot of people have some misconceptions about different racial ethnicity's.

Add to that the fact he came from a redneck background and most of his friends were either racist or really raciest and than mix that with obvious misogynistic overtones....

...and there you have it, a dumbass.

All Latina women are supposed to be fiery and have tempers. They rule the house, right? Wrong.

Close to 25% (that's 1 in 4) of Hispanic women have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime. Because of the cultural embracing of "machismo", this number is most certainly higher because of under-reporting.

48% of Latina's in one study reported that their partner’s violence against them had increased since they immigrated to the U.S.

Here's is the actual breakdown: In Latin culture, the term “Machismo” refers to excessive masculinity and most machistas believe in conservative gender role ideas (e.g., opposing a woman ’s right to work, participate in sports, or pursue other traditionally male roles in society).

The female equivalent is “Marianismo”, a term derived from Catholic beliefs of the Virgin Mary as both a virgin and a madonna, as well as the personification of the ideal woman. This ideal woman is emotional, kind, instinctive, whimsical, docile, compliant, vulnerable, and unassertive. She has a higher status in the community if she has children and is a caring mother. She is also pious and observant of religious laws.

It would be nice if all of you non-Hispanic people would set aside your racial stereotyping and help the victims of domestic violence.

Putting it another way: All white women aren't sluts. All Asian women aren't docile. All black women are crack heads. And all Hispanic women aren't fiery. 

Just because she looks different than you or has darker skin than you, doesn't mean she deserved it.