Jaimes 1

Guadalupe Jaimes
Professor Ditch
English 113B
08 May 2015
Cultural Behavior Issues
A variety of cultures are within every human being. However, I believe there is one
culture with which we feel most comfortable expressing. The culture that I express every single
day of my life is my Hispanic culture. In this culture, I am expected to perform and meet certain
expectations that are set by it. My Hispanic culture contains a lot of gender expectations that I
have to live up to which is problematic at times. My Hispanic culture influences my way of
living and thinking which has led me to unfairly judge all women who do not perform their
gender the way I am expected to, even if they are a part of a different cultural space.
It is my job to act and behave a certain way to meet my Hispanic cultures standards.
Consequences such as being judged and being a disappointment in the family could be the
outcome of nonconforming to its rules and standards of gender performance. My Hispanic
cultures main concerns are seeing a women perform inappropriately. Professor of sociology,
Aaron Devor, argues that, Very young children learn their cultures social definitions of gender
and gender identity at the same time that they learn what gender behaviors are appropriate for
them (36). Devor states that, as children, we learn about our cultures appropriate gender
behavior and performance. In my Hispanic culture, I grew up with the beliefs that women that
are a part of my culture, must be polite, stay in at night, and be organized. I believe that if
someone in my culture doesnt change some expectations we are still going to be having the
same ones, as long as we keep obeying them.

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As previously stated earlier, my Hispanic culture has many rules and expectations that
should be followed in order to be rightfully respected in it. For instance, I have two cousins that
share my Hispanic culture which means they also have the same gender performance
expectations that I have. We are aware of what is right and wrong to do in our culture. As the
misfit or nonconformist, I dont always live up to my Hispanic cultures expectations. Since the
beginning of my childhood I have been taught to be polite while being in the presence of others.
Words such as Como se dice? (What do you say?), have been repeated to me whenever
someone gave me something. I was expected to politely say gracias. I remember when I was
young, I would do something impolite and my mom would always compare me to my cousins
and say why cant you be more like your cousins as if that would make me behave correctly.
The boys that are a part of my culture arent really paid much attention to. They are just expected
to behave in a manly way and be productive. By productive, I mean helping others, specifically
women, with anything they need to be done that they couldnt do themselves. Women in my
culture are definitely targeted and carefully viewed so that we abide by the cultures
expectations.
Now as an adolescent, I do believe that being polite is an important part of my gender
performance. In addition, my Hispanic culture believes that a womens role is to be polite and
that no man will want me if I dont act lady-like. At times I dont believe what my mom says, but
there are times when I agree with her. I do believe my mom, in this case, and communicate in a
courteous manner whenever I am in a presence of a man because I dont see why acting rude or
impolite would intrigue anybody. Likewise, if a man from my culture acts in an impolite manner,
they will also be seen as disrespectful and having no shame. I am proud of being a part of this
Hispanic culture because it has taught me the importance of respectfulness and the advantages it

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contains. Therefore, my Hispanic culture leads me to judge a woman when she is being impolite.
I tend to think negative of them. Judgments start to occur in my head. Does she not know how
bad she looks talking like that? Does she think it is okay to act that way in front of anybody?
Does her family or culture not teach her anything? Questions like these are what I ask myself
when I see a woman being impolite to someone. My Hispanic culture influences my feminine
gender performance which leads me to believe that all other women are supposed to act the same
way I am expected to act.
My mother is the main person who has influenced me on the Hispanic culture she was
raised in. She is expected to fulfill her motherly role in a Hispanic culture by influencing me with
all her knowledge. All these efforts are to direct me in the appropriate way so that I could be a
well-rounded feminine woman. One area in which she is expected to guide me away from is my
freedom. I may sound a bit dramatic or exaggerating, but I could never ask my mom permission
to go out with friends without her telling me that its not lady-like to be out in the streets, as
she would say, late at night. In Alisa Valdes-Rodriguezs article, My Hips My Caderas, she states,
Indeed, they will feel threatened, and will soon lose interest in hips that want to andar por la
calle come un hombre (carry themselves like a man) (75). Valdes-Rodriguez and I are treated
the same way when we go out, the only difference is that my mom is the one telling me that its
not right and safe for a girl to be out on the streets. Therefore, when I see women from my
Hispanic culture that go out at night, I think negative of them. I understand that not all mothers
are the same and not all are a part of the same culture that I was raised in, but none of that seems
to change my negative opinion of them. I hold the same expectations Im expected to follow, on
people that do not share the same cultural space as me. It seems unfair, but it demonstrates the
power my culture has over me by forcing me to judge people from a different cultural space.

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Equally important, organization is key in my everyday life. Being organized is a big deal
when it comes to my Hispanic culture because it says a lot about my persona, according to my
culture. I was raised with the thought that women and men perform an important task throughout
their lives. Women are the caretakers of the family and men are the financial providers. In Emily
Shirers article, Theres a Reason Women Clean More: Theyre Judged for It, she mentions
how, Women in general just have higher standards for cleanliness than men do (1). I can relate
to this quote because my Hispanic culture expects me to be organized and clean every day. If I do
not meet these standards I could come off as a lazy and useless woman. This may seem harsh,
but my Hispanic culture is really serious when it comes to cleanliness. Being organized and clean
is one trait that is important to show off to my opposite sex. Therefore, this leads me to judge
females that are unorganized as being lazy and having no shame. This is a trait that my mother
frequently advises me that I will not find a male that likes me because I am unorganized. For
instance, when I go to my girlfriends house, her house is a mess which is problematic for me
because I am not used to seeing a lot mess around a house. I respond to this negatively and judge
them because they arent organized as my Hispanic culture taught me to be so I expect every girl
to be organized. My cultural space affects other cultural spaces by limiting their expectations to
only be like mine.
Some people might say that I may just be a very judgmental person. I could be viewed as
a person that expects everybody to perform and behave the same way as I `do because I am a
conceited person. This of course, falls into the gender stereotyping category. However, I am
truthfully speaking about my Hispanic cultures influential power it has on me. In Jason Del
Gandios book, Rhetoric for Radicals, he claimed that we must get people to understand that all
norms are socially created (22). This quote explains how people have to acknowledge that they

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way we act or behave is due to the socially created norms we were raised in. In my case, the
Hispanic cultures rules and expectations of women are the norms that I was born and raised into.
To conclude, being polite, having a curfew, and being an organized woman are important
qualities that my Hispanic culture requires me to have. I cannot change the way my mind thinks
of women that dont share the same cultural space as me because it has been too long in which I
have practiced and performed these expectations. I will just have to keep dealing with the unfair
judgments since I will continue to perform what is expected of me in my Hispanic culture.

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Works Cited
Del Gandio, Jason. Rhetoric for Radicals. Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers,
2008. Print.
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender. Composing
Gender. Boston, Mass: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 35-43. Print.
Shire, Emily. Theres a Reason Women Clean More: Theyre Judged for It. XX Factor, 2013.
Print.
Valdes-Rodriguez. My Hips, My Caderas. MSNs Underwire, 2000. Print.