How people perceive someone's sex or gender is definitely personified in many aspects of culture, from the media to subcultural traditions and rituals. In the case of quinceaneras, young women are expected to dress up and become the queen of the ceremony for the day, effectively preparing them for their inevitable marriage and life as a subservient wife and mother. The cultural presentation of the quince, ostensibly the Latina transition into "womanhood," likens traditional ideas of what a woman should be and instills them into young girls by dressing it up in finery and giving them incredible positive attention. Culture, as expressed through media and tradition, definitely places a great emphasis on tradition and the "norm" while tacitly de-emphasizing the presence or the validity of the Other.
The media seems to be extremely concerned with perpetuating heteronormativity and cisgendered perspectives, showing transgendered people or others who fall outside the norm to be "abnormal" and "ill". Most movies and television shows depict normal, monogamous, heterosexual relationships between a naturally-born man and naturally-born woman; entire films are made on this subject, and it does not often waver from this particular perspective. The ritual of the quince is part of this; the traditional values instilled in women often revolve around the idea that a woman will be courted and prepared for marriage to a man, with whom it is their duty to bear children. "Even if she is at the bottom of the American heap, if the young Latina girl can believe the fantasythen she can bear the burden of her disadvantage" (Alvarez, p. 37). Media depictions of the Other, like transgenders and the like, are done with either tacit refusal to acknowledge their valid identity or a morbid, fetishistic curiosity, not unlike a circus freak show. This explains the obsession with seeing them turn into women, and learn how to be women - "These programs' concentration on trans people who undergo multiple medical procedures, or who take lessons to help them 'pass' as their identified sex, tends to make invisible the many trans men and women who 'pass' rather easily after hormone replacement therapy alone, or who choose not to undergo all the procedures commonly associated with transsexuality" (Serano. p. 397). By portraying transgenders as extreme examples far from the norm, it is easier to distance oneself from them and not have to worry that their strangeness can find similarities in your own behavior and attitudes.
As transgendered author Julia Serano explains, the depiction of male-to-female transgenderism in particular focuses squarely on the physical transformation in a clinical, fantastic way. "Clearly these shows were being made by and for people who did not identify with the trans person in the program and who were not contemplating sex reassignment themselves" (Serano, p. 392). Toward that end, those who watch it are peering in on something they will never experience, nor would they wish to - they simply find it a curiosity, something to be objectified and viewed at a distance. Because that difference is so major to them, it is the only thing they see that is remarkable or distinctive about the person, and is the only thing they are interested in seeing. Depictions of heteronormative relationships and individuals often need their conflict or defining nature to come from other places in order to be called "characters"; however, transgendered people in films and television are defined by their transgendered nature, and that is often the only thing they are concerned with.
The 'taboo' nature of many nontraditional ideas of gender and sexuality is often treated as either a brave secret or an implicitly bad thing. In the case of Alvarez and Serano, the taboo subjects on display are independent, nontraditional career and life paths for women and transgenderism, respectively. Not following through with either a quinceanera or the societal expectations it perpetuates is considered a taboo; the cultural implication is that one has a net negative life experience if they do not go through with this deeply ingrained ritual. People are often told broad generalizations that cannot be disproved in order to normalize the quince and make alternative life paths taboo, like "young girls who had quinceaneras didn't drop out of school, didn't get pregnant, didn't get in trouble" (Alvarez, p. 35).
Television is not just for entertainment; all media and art is able to convey a message and a subtext, no matter how unintentional or subtle. Even when the creator of a work is not intending a particular message, there are many messages that can be found if the work itself supports the theory - this is known as the "intentional fallacy" or "Death of the Author." As a result, it cannot be said that any depiction of the taboo or nontraditional is merely accidental or does not infer a message to its audience; the way gender and sexuality is portrayed in media normalizes what is shown, and fetishizes or sets apart what is deliberately portrayed to be nontraditional. This is evident in the desire to see the physical transformations of transgendered people, as it offers a way to safely define them as having a single "problem" that needs to be "solved." "After all, these people have to know that I felt uncomfortable as male, that it was a difficult and often miserable part of my life. So why on earth would they ask to see pictures of me from that time period?" (Serano, p. 393).
Television programming has become a staple of daily life for nearly everyone in America, if not throughout the industrialized world, and consequently has a huge influence on our popular culture. Television depictions of what attractive, fortunate and affluent people do often shape what we, as consumers and as trend-followers, wish to do and be. As a result, when minority perspectives on gender and sexuality are de-emphasized and marginalized, people who earnestly hold those perspectives can feel underrepresented, and think that they are 'abnormal' and therefore incorrect. This is a dangerous trend to have, as it can negatively affect those who are transgendered, or Latinas who do not wish to follow the path that their mothers and elders wish to set out for them through the quince. "Coming face-to-face with an individual who has crossed class barriers of gender or attractiveness can help us recognize the extent to which our own biases, assumptions, and stereotypes create those class systems in the first place" (Serano, p. 396).
This type of stereotyping of the "Other" in ways that set them at a distance and make them nonthreatening is found in many different things. Take, for example, the trend in pop culture and television to portray homosexuals as skilled at things typically considered feminine - hairdressers, makeup artists, cooks and fashion designers are almost always gay in media, and they are depicted as being "better than" women in that regard. One almost never sees homosexuals who are skilled, more so than heterosexual men, at traditionally masculine pursuits such as sports, cars or business. The implication is that it is okay for homosexuals to exist as long as they are marginalized into being feminine figures that do not threaten their sense of masculine superiority. "The subjects cross what is normally considered an impenetrable class boundary: from unattractive to beautiful, from fat to thin, and in the case of transsexuals, from male to female, or from female to male" (Serano, p. 394). The same can be said of homosexuals who occupy traditionally male fields and interests, as that class boundary is typically not open to them. These kinds of messages in media are interesting to me, because they perpetuate stereotypes of large groups of people, yet seem acceptable because they show homosexuals being good at things as the stereotype. However, the pattern of interests that are found with this particular trend is very telling once you recognize that they are a way to make heterosexuals feel better about the presence of homosexuals, since they dominate traditionally female fields and thus are less of a presence in the male life.
Whether it is wondering about the physical transformation of a man to a woman, or using money and clothes to turn a young girl into a Latina woman, cultural depictions of gender and sexuality are used to inject traditional lifestyles and values into the mainstream, while paying lip service to minorities and nontraditional perspectives. The result is a uniquely damaging world of media, where minorities are stereotyped while being ostensibly given "fair" and "honest" treatment, thus silencing further complaints about their lack of representation. Independent woman, who do not follow the rules of the quince, are depicted as mean-spirited, career-minded and aggressive shrews, while transgendered people are fetishized as circus freaks who are willing to go through uncomfortable and painful operations to fulfill their strange, ill-understood desires.
Works Cited
Alvarez, Julie. "Selections from Once Upon a Quinceanera."
Serano, Julia. "Before and After: Class and Body Transformations."
