We Won’t Be Invisible
If you’ve been following along with me on Instagram these last few days, you know how tired I am of the lack of Latinx representation in the media. This is a huge issue that’s been weighing on my heart for as long as I can remember and it’s finally come to a point where I just won’t stay quiet anymore.
To begin, I want to thank everyone who has already taken the time to be part of this conversation, for those who will be jumping in, and for asking how you can help. I am tired of being angry in private, so I’m going to keep fighting, because I know I’m not the only one affected and because we need real change.
Scroll down to read more about underrepresentation of the Latinx community in the media.
The September 2020 issue of Cosmopolitan Mexico features a non-Latinx influencer on its cover. This blatant show of ignorance and disrespect breaks my heart and really strikes a chord with me. The underrepresentation of Latinxs in the media is something I’m going through on so many levels. I am so frustrated and angry about feeling invisible. And I just lost it when I saw this cover.
CosmoMX is supposed to be one of our own, a magazine we can go to knowing we are represented and respected within our community. They are not supposed to be a magazine who endorses a person who has done nothing to champion the Latinx gente (Spanish for people). This lack of representation, and specifically this kind of representation, misses the mark. CosmoMX is sending the message to Latinxs around the world that we are not enough and we don’t deserve to be on their cover.
I’ve received many questions about why I’m so fired up about this, so please read this Daily Front Row article where I explain my frustrations, as well as offer a few suggestions for how we can do better. I offer my own nominations of just a few of the many women who are more than deserving of being on the cover, such as Monica Style Muse, Dulce Candy, Iris Beilin, Gaby Gomez, and Desi Perkins.
I wanted to have a conversation surrounding this issue of Latinx invisibility in the media, so I spent an hour on IGTV talking about this topic with some truly wonderful women: Sherly Tavarez, @latinamadenotmaid, and Sophie Ross. As a journalist, the goal of this conversation was to hold the media accountable. This isn’t necessarily about CosmoMX, this is a worldwide problem. To watch our in-depth conversation, click here. And then go and follow these powerful, brave, and intelligent women on social media!
Follow These Powerful Women
I reached out to CosmoMX but received a totally unacceptable response with complete lack of accountability or empathy for our community. And it has me asking questions.
How can we push these magazines to create more opportunity for the Latinx community?
How do we want to be seen and represented?
What can these magazines/companies do to make this better?
How can our community come together to create change in the media?
Follow me on Instagram as I continue this solution-oriented discussion with y’all to create real change and show our power as people and consumers.
