Covering The Coverage: Page Six, Please Stop Referring To Latinas As "Hot Tamales."
There are quite a few clichés in journalism that we’ve always found a little grating: Lumping women who are both normal-size and overweight as “voluptuous,” “full-figured” or “womanly.” Describing, for that matter, every swell and curve on a woman’s body, but cutting straight to a man’s thoughts or resume. Barbara Walters. And, finally, referring to Latinos, almost exclusively, as either “brooding and mysterious” or “hot and spicy.” Case in point? Page Six’s description of Spanish actress Penelope Cruz as a “hot tamale:”
NOBODY can distract Bill Clinton from a hot tamale like Penelope Cruz - not even intimidating Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. Last Thursday, Clinton was seated next to Wintour and Queen Sofia of Spain at the Spanish Institute Gold Medal Gala on Park Avenue. […] The real highlight of the evening was watching the former president eventually forsake the editor of Vogue as a dinner partner and switch his seat with Mr. de la R so that he could be seated next to the movie star.”
That hot, steaming plate of mash potatoes, Bill Clinton. Also, heads up, tamales originated in Mexico (the name comes from the Nahuatl “tamalli” which, loosely translated, means “Not from Spain”), not Penelope’s country of origin. Now, if they had wanted to refer to her as a hot, fishy paella, fine. But not a tamal. And especially not a “tamale.”
PICKING PENELOPE OVER ANNA [Page Six]
15
- Managing Editor
Daniel Mauser
- Editor
Cindy Casares
- Associate Editor
Alex Alvarez
- Contributing Editors
Gabriel Caro - Camilla Rowan
- Video Editor
Marcelo Cunning
i guess we are like the asians now …. we all look the same so no matter what our latin origin is…we are all mexicans.
Posted by la roncha | December 04, 2007
should they have called her a hot falafel?
Posted by mare | December 04, 2007
a hot torta de carne asade with guacamole and queso fresco dribbled all over. damn. i’m horny.
Posted by chikidracula | December 04, 2007
mmm or a hot bacalao croqueta?
Posted by ponte | December 04, 2007
MMM… a hot enfrijolada con pollo quesito y cremita….
Posted by Erickson | December 04, 2007
jamon, jamon
Posted by el smrtmnky | December 04, 2007
penelope “tapas” cruz: petite, managable portions, yummy, and whatever you want them to be.
Posted by pocho_guey_al_norte | December 04, 2007
Damn. I’ve been known to describe myself as a hot tamale when my mood is either supersnarky or just all-out-pissed, but somebody wrote that with a straight face as if it were a compliment. Damn.
Which reminds me why I wouldn’t touch Page Six with a telephone pole.
Posted by csdiego | December 04, 2007
yeah, but “alcapurria” doesn’t have a ring to it (especially when butchered by the american tongue).
Posted by ivelisse | December 04, 2007
Chuleta!
Posted by chuleta | December 04, 2007
So, you find it grating when journalists use terms like “hot” and “spicy?” That’s interesting because you do the same thing on this blog. For example, consider the following:
“Guanabee is commentary on media, pop culture, and entertainment. SPICY coverage for the Latino in you.”
Satirical my ass! There are more intelligent and clever ways to blog about the sad state of affairs in this country.
Posted by Guana Bust A Nut | December 05, 2007
@ Nut: Do you understand what satire is? Because that’s pretty much a textbook example.
Posted by piruli | December 05, 2007
@piruli: My limited brain somehow manages to understand what satire is. Let’s consider what I said, shall we: “Satirical my ass! There are more intelligent and clever ways to blog about the sad state of affairs in this country.”
My point is: This blog is becoming the Carlos Mencia of the blog world. You criticize journalists for relying on tired stereotypes to describe Brown people, yet you use the same stereotypes on this blog on a regular basis. I understand that Guanabee uses these differently, to drive home a point and entertain their target audience. But it’s just plain lazy, just like Carlos Mencia. His attempt at humor, though also a textbook example of satire, is doing more harm than good.
Even the king of Ethnic comedy, Dave Chappelle, questioned whether he was contributing to the racism he was trying to critique. So, piruli, that’s what I’m talking about.
Posted by Guana Bust A Nut | December 05, 2007
@Nut: None-the-less, a media source has the right to be satirical or otherwise if that is their precise and stated intent. That this does not capture truth in its entirety is no hidden secret.
Posted by Manolo | December 05, 2007
Guana Bust A Nut-say why don’t you go and chew on a hot tamal. your comments are totally not bringing on the haha funny. they are also not in sync with the delicious comparisons of Pene’s sabrosura! go write something on your Myspace blog.
Posted by extracheeseporfas | December 05, 2007