From Science Daily:
“When a recent documentary about U.S. Latinos featured two teen mothers in a 90-minute program, the Latino students in my classes thought it was an unbalanced portrayal of their community — and they were right!” said Marcela Raffaelli, a U of I professor of human and community development and co-author of a recently published chapter on Latino teen sexuality.
National surveys do show that Latino young people as a group are less likely than their non-Latino peers to use condoms and birth control and are more likely to become pregnant and have a child. But these statistics hide a much more complicated picture, she said.
For one thing, Latinos represent more than 20 different groups, and they live in very different situations in the United States.
“For example, Cuban immigrants who moved to the United States when Castro came to power tended to be very wealthy, and they created an entrepreneurial, successful enclave in Miami. Compare them with Central American immigrants who may be refugees from a civil war in the 1980s. Language, religion, and some aspects of culture are apt to be the same, but socioeconomic status is probably very different, and that’s a big predictor of early sexual activity and teen pregnancy,” Raffaelli said. Read more…
Love Isn’t Enough columnist Bianca Laureano comments:
This article popped up in my Twitter timeline as well as in my inbox. Folks began asking me what my thoughts were about the findings that Latino youth take more “sexual risks” than originally believed. There have been multiple articles about this one piece of literature. You can read the original that was published (not in full, but 90%) here.
The first thing that came to mind was the date of publication. The text this article comes from was published in 2009. That means that some of the research was conducted a while ago, if not a decade ago. Many of the citations that are used and some of the longitudinal statistics are from data that was collected over 5 years ago. So what does this mean? Well it means that we’ve known of this for a while, yet there are still problematic and ineffective programs and efforts being funded in various capacities that do NOT reach Latino youth for various reasons. It also proves that there is still this idea that all Latinos are the same without understanding our differences.
We’ve talked a lot here on LIE about how problematic it is to view, to quote commenter mgummere: “the continent of Africa as a unified monolithic landmass from whence all black Americans.” This same approach is problematic for all over the world. I actually do not like being lumped with a group of people because of our history of colonization, but that is just my preference, and I know there are more differences than similarities. Call me a Pan-Africanist and Pan-Americanist, but I recognize that some Pan-American ideologies are rooted in denying African identity and heritage, and, well, that’s basically denying all of me and I can’t do it. (And if anyone knows of a term that recognizes both pan-African and pan-American identities please let me know because my community of practice does not know of any such term).
My main issues of concern revolve around how assimilation/acculturation is discussed, gendered conversations, and the self-identified/voluntary disclosure/classification as “Latino.” I think of how limiting this term is and who is excluded in this term. I also have a problem with the fact that sexual assault and violence is not addressed in the article as one way that “sexual risk taking” may be higher for some Latinos. There is an assumption that all “sexual risk taking” is consensual and I just don’t think it is.
I’ll be writing more about this in a few places, either on my personal blog, in my Media Justice column, or on VivirLatino (or all three!). So check back to those sites for my latest and more extensive thoughts!
The lesson to me seems that ‘Latino’ is pretty much a useless category for assessing sexual behavior, especially if you want to try to create policies or programs to address the risky behavior.
Seems to me that basing it on socio-economic status, religion, and level of education (I’m assuming that the more real sex ed you get, the less likely you are to behave riskily) would be more effective.
Here’s a question, out of ignorance, based on your pan-African comment:
Is it the case that African-American families who’ve been in the US pre-Emancipation still differ in meaningful ways based on their national origin? Just thinking about other folks I know, who within three or four generations have eaten enough Wonder Bread and drunk enough Coke to be 99.5% genericized American mongrels.
Which begs the question – what’s the percentage split in African-Americans between, well, people who came here voluntarily and those who didn’t?
hi dersk. can you rephrase your question(s) because there is a lot there and I’m not sure exactly what you are asking.
I agree that there are varying degrees of sexual risks. Defining involuntary vs voluntary risks and serious vs minor risk taking would be much more meaningful. Creating those definitions should have been the first area of work in the study.
@dersk, Actually African Americans do still have some cultural differences due to African retentions. Some examples include the Gullah who retained traditions from Sierra Leone, Louisiana blacks who practice Vodoo which comes from Vodoun. I also know white people who have been here for generations who still speak their Europeans languages and practice their traditions – though this isn’t true of most whites who gave up their ethnicities to become white.
Yeah, that came out in a kind of strangled syntax. I was just wondering (haven’t tried Googling yet) if anyone knows how the population labeled “African-American” breaks down between people whose families immigrated voluntarily vs. those who are here via slavery. Just a random demographic question, really.
And the first question was: do any people whose US heritage goes back to before the Emancipation Proclamation really retain any nationally-specific traditions? That was specifically in relation to the comment quoted in the post.
@moth – Interesting – the only examples I can think of are the folks who have one Irish great-great-great-great-grandfather and claim Irish ethnicity every March. I suppose our family tradition of leaving out shoes to be filled with candy on New Years are probably some remnant from Holland or Denmark – never been able to find out where that one comes from.
Kind of strange to hear someone describe white as the absence of ethnicity. I’d use “mainstream American” instead – what I meant originally by Coke and Wonder Bread.
@dersk thanks for the clarification! for your original ? I would argue that yes some populations do, and that yes within and among those populations there may be something “new” or additional or even “post modern” (if that’s your thing). Some communities that come to mind include indigenous ones living in the US and even in parts of the US that were not considered the US at the time you mentioned.
for your 2nd ? I think that with the phrase “decedents of slaves” recognizes a level of “difference” (not sure if that is the right word) between the communities who are in the US in/voluntarily. Let us know if you find something else.
Here’s my shameless plug for the longer/more detailed discussion about this topic on my media justice column http://bit.ly/aeQYop:
Great article Bianca. You’re splendid writer.
You wrote:
“(And if anyone knows of a term that recognizes both pan-African and pan-American identities please let me know because my community of practice does not know of any such term).”
Would Afro-Latin American or Afro-Latino at least begin to qualify?
@bianca – Yeah, that’s what was behind the question. Then I realized I have zero idea how the population demographics break down.
Partially spurred by my wife (Anglo-Jamaican, grew up in Canada) telling me about being a bit annoyed as a child when she was told to talk about African heritage (when she feels Jamaican heritage).
@dersk – some examples of whites I know who retain their cultural heritage despite having been in American for many generations include a friend whose parents sent her to a camp for American kids of her ancestors’ national origin each summer and who speaks her ancestors’ language, another friend who has visited her ancestor’s country several times, whose family still cooks food from that country, and who also speaks the language. Also, keep in mind that in some parts of Louisiana the first language of whites (and black people for that matter) is French or Creole and there are heavy French retentions.
@Moth – interesting! I’d never heard of camps like that. I guess, thinking about it, there are also places like Holland, Michigan where they try to stay Dutch (although from what I’ve seen it’s a very cartoon version).
The article from the Science Daily entitled “Are Latino teens sexual risk takers?” was really great. Thank you.
Glad to see others see through the casual cliche to the racist root of such a question.