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Don't Call Me a Hot TamaleJudith Ortiz Cofer

Award-winning poet, novelist, and essayist Judith Ortiz Cofer often writes.about her experiences as a Latina-a Hispanic woman-living in a non-Hispanic culture. In "Don't Call Me a Hot Tamale," she discusses how beingPuerto Rican has affected her life in the world beyond Puerto Rico. Notethat her examples illustrate the stereotypes she encounters from peoplereacting to both her heritage and her gender.

On a bus to London from Ot'ord University, where I was earninggraduate credits one summer, a youqg man, obviously fresh from aapproached my seat. With both handsover his heart, he went down onknees in the aisle and broke into an lrish tenor's rendition of 'Maria"West Si.de Story. I was not amused. "Maria" had followed me to lnndonreminding me of a prime fact of my life: You can leave the island ofRico, master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you'realatina, especially one who so clearly belongs to Rita Moreno'sl gene pool,the island travels with you.

Growing up in New Jersey and wanting most of all to belong, I lived intwo completely different worlds. My parents designed our life as a microcosm of their casas on the island-we spoke in Spanish, ate Puerto Ricanfood bought at the bodega, and practiced strict Catholicism complete withSunday mass in Spanish.

I was kept under tight surveillance by my parents, since my virtue aand modesty were, by their cultural equation, the same as their honor. Asteenagers, my friends and I were lecfured constantly on how to behave asproper sefrori.tas. But it was a conflicting message we received, since ourPuerto,Rican mothers also encouraged us to look and act like women bydressing us in clothes our Anglo schoolmates and their mothers found too"mature" and flashy. I often felt humiliated when I appeared at an Americanfriend's birthday party wearing a dress more suitable for a semiformal. AtPuerto Rican festivities, neither the music nor the colors we wore could betoo loud.

I remember Career Day in high school, when our teachers told us to +come dressed as if for a job interview. That morning,I agonized in front ofmy closet, tryrng to figure out what a "career girl'would wear, because the

1. A Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. She is well known for her role in the moviemusical West Side Sfary, a version of Shakespeare's Romeo anil Jaliet featuing Anglos andPuerto Ricans in NewYork Citv.

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COFER r Don't Call Me a Hot Tamale 637

only model I had was Marlo Thomas2 on TV. To me and my Puerto Rican girl-fiends, dressing up meantwearing our mother's ornate jewelry and clothing.

At school that day, the teachers assailed us for wearing'everything ats11gg"-6s41ing too much jewelry and too many accessories. And it waspainfully obvious that the other students in their tailored skirts and silkblouses thought we were hopeless and vulgar. The way they looked at uswas a taste of the cultural clash that awaited us in the real world. whereprospective employers and men on the,street would often misinterpret ourtight skirts and bright colors as a comeon.

It is custom, not chromosomes, that leads us to choose scarlet over palepink. Our mothers had grown up on a tropical island where the natural envi.ronment was a riot of primary colors, where showing your skin was oneway to keep cool as well ds to look sexy. On the island, women felt freer todress and move provocatively since they were protected by the traditionsand laws of a Spanish/Catholic system of morality and machismo, the mainrule of which was: You may look at my si.ster, but if you toach her I wi.ll ki,llyou.'Ilte extended family and church structure provided them with a circleof safety on the island; if a man '\rronged" a girl, everyone would close in tosave her family honor.

Off-island, signals often get mixed. When a Puerto Rican girl who isdressed in her idea of what is attractive meets a man from the mainstreamculture who has been trained to reactto certain types of clothing as a sexualsignal, a clash is likely to take place. She is seen as a Hot Tamale, a sex-ual fir-ebrand. I learned this lesson at my first formal dance when my dateleaned over and painfully planted a sloppy, overeager kiss on my mouth.When I didn't respond with sufficient passion, he said in a resenfful tone: "Ithought you I-atin girls were supposed to mature early." It was only the firsttime I would feel like a fruit or vegetable-I was supposed to ripisn, not justgrow into womanhood like other girls.

These stereotypes, though rarer, still surface in my hfe. I recentlystayed at a classy metropolitan hotel. After having dinner with a friend, Iwas returning to my room when a middle-aged man in a hrxedo steppeddirectly into my path. With his champagne glass extended toward me, heexclaimed, 'Evita!"3

Blocking my way, he bellowed the song "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina."Playing to the gathering crowd, he began to sing loudly a ditty to the tune

Star of a Lgl}-Tltelevision comedy about a young woman living on her own in New YorkCity.Eva Per6n, wife ofJuan Per6n, president ofArgentina in the 1940s and 1950s. She is thesubject of the musical Euita.

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Teaching TipRemind students toanswer all questions incomplete sentences.

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of "Ia Bamba"a-except the lyrics were about a girl named Maria whoseexploits all rhymed with her name and gonorrhea.

I knew that this same man-probably a corporate executive, evenworldly by most standards-would never have regaled a white woman witha dirty song in public. But to him, I was just a character in his universe of"others," all cartoons.

Still, I am one of the lucky ones. There are thousands of Iatinas withoutthe privilege of the education that my parents gave me. For them every dayis a struggle against the misconceptions perpetuated by the myth of theIatina as whore, domestic worker or criminal.

Rather than fight these pervasive stereotypes, I try to replace the6with a more interesting set of realities. I travel around the U.S. readingfrommy books of poetry and my novel. With the stories I tell, the dreams andfears I examine in my work, I try to get my audience past the particulars ofmy skin color, my accent or my clothes.

I once wrote a poem in which I called latinas "God's brown daughters.,'It is really a prayer, of sorts, for communication and respect. In it, latinwomen pray "in Spanish to an Anglo God/with aJewish heritage," and theyare "fervently hoping/that if not omnipotent, / atleast He be bilingual."

Focus on Meaning1. Cofer states her thesis in paragraph 1: "You can leave the island of Puerto

Rico, master the English language, and travel as fur as you can, but if you're aIatina, . . . the island travels with you." What does she mean? Restate this thesisin your own words.

2. What two worlds did Cofer grow up in? Why?3. What happened to Cofer on Career Day? What did she learn from *ris

experience?4. According to Cofer, why do latinas tend to "choose scarlet over pale pink' (6X5. How, according to Cofer, are the signals sent by dress interpreted differently

in Puerto Rico and "off-island" (fl? How does this difference create problemsfor her?

6. Why does Cofer consider herself "one of the lucky ones" (11)?7. Howdoes Cofertryto counterthe stereotypes she encounters?

Focus on Strategy1. Cofer begins her essay with an anecdote. Do you think this is an effective

ing strategy? Why or why not? How else could she have begun her essay?

4. A song with Spanish lyrics popular in the late 1950s.

COFER I Don't Call Me a Hot Tamale 639

This essay is directed not at latinas but at a wider general audience. How canyou tell?cofer closes her essay by quoting a poem she wrote. How is this poem relatedto the rest of her essay? would a more conventional conclusion-for example,restating her thesis and closing with a strong summary statement-be moreeffective? Why or why not?

Focus on the Pattern1 what examples does cofer use to support her thesis? Do you think she supplies

enough examples to convince readers that her thesis is reasonable?Cofer uses phrases such as "On a bus to London. . ."(1) and ..I rememberCareer Day in high school. . . ."(4) to introduce the examples that supporther thesis. Identify the phrases she uses to introduce her other examples. Doyou think she needs to add transitional words and phrases such as .,Anotherexample. . ." or "One more incident . . ."? Or, do you think her supportingexamples are clearly identified?

Focus on Critical Thinkinglr. Do you think there is anything Cofer could do to avoid the problems she

describes? Do you think she siauld do ar-rything-for example, change the wayshe dresses?Where in her essay does Cofer define the phrase hot tamale? What does thisterm really mean? What does it suggest? Can you think of other words orphrases that convey the same meaning?Do you think the problem Cofer identifies applies only to Iatinas or also to mem-bers of other ethnic groups? Do you think it also applies to latinos? Explain.Do you think Cofer should do more to "fight [the] pervasive stereotypes" (12)she encounters? What actions might she take?Do you think Cofer herself is guilty of stereotyping? Why or why not?

Writing Practice *1. What positive examples can you think of to counteract the stereotype of the

Iatina as "whore, domestic worker or criminal" (11)? Write a proposal to a tele-vision network in which you suggest the addition of several different Iatinacharacters to actual programs in which they might appear.What do you think Cofer can do to avoid being stereotyped? Give examples ofspecific things she might do to change the way others see her. In your thesis,state why she should (or should not) make these changes.Do you think others stereotype you because of your heritage-or because ofyour age, your gender, your dress, or where you live? Discuss some specificexamples of such stereotyping.

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