Arambula 1

Erica Arambula
Professor Ditch
English 113B
17 February 2015
Becoming a Non- Conformist
The variations between both my feminist culture and Latina culture have a tremendous
amount of influence in the way I perceive myself as an independent individual. While I operate
in different spaces, either at work, home, school, or hanging out with friends, I feel a sense of
judgment because my cultural background and feminist culture seek out expectations for me to
perform differently. In the Latina culture, the traditional domestic roles that have been performed
by most women include an expectation to stay at home rather than being out independently,
while the feminist culture has more of a dominant non- conformist approach. As a Latina, I have
become more consciously aware of who I am when encountering both cultural space but I do not
want to (simply) hope for one day to combine both cultures but genuinely perform both Latina
culture and feminist culture together in every day-to-day encounters throughout my life rather
than having the need to perform differently in each culture.
Culture can be defined with infinite amount of variables. Race, ethnicity or gender all of
which may be an acute description of ones culture therefore, giving one self- identity. There are
far more norms that one may describe within their own culture, a feminist norm is a chunk of my
culture. In this norm of mine, I refuse to follow the traditional roles that have been practiced by
women for a significant amount of years within the Latina culture. I want to expose my feminist
culture more upfront other than trying to hide in while performing in my Latina culture.

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I watched my mother play the traditional role of being a stay at home wife, then realizing that
this was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She wanted to become independent
and show her daughters that one does not need to rely on someone for both financial and
emotional support (my father). While she broke this role she influenced me in the way who I
wanted to become. She influenced me to brake the traditional barriers and rise with both my
feminist and Latina culture. Although some may have found it oppressing or rather how my
grandma furiously said, Eres una desgrasia a esta raza; you are a disgrace to this race.
Furthermore, my grandmas point of view is that Latina women should follow the traditional
roles, and if one does not, then therefore one could and should not self-identify themselves as a
true Latina because one is not performing the traditional role that has been played out by many
women in the Latina culture.
Both in the Latina and feminist culture, I have played out a different role in each. In my Latina
culture I perceive more of a constriction of not being able to perform in the socially constructed
norm that only men are seen in participating in activities such as playing football, going to car
meets, or playing video games. In my feminist culture I tend to perform as a go getter. I do not
allow the Latina culture to limit me from doing what I want to do. Thus far, buying my oldie but
goodie dream car which is a mustang that has deliberated me to go above and rise far from the
fragile line between my feminist and Latina aspects. Having to perform different in certain
cultural spaces, Valdes-Rodriquez explains in My Hips, My Caderas that I dream of the day
when bicultural Latinas will set the standards for beauty and success, when our voluptuous
caderas will not bar us from getting through those narrow American doors (Valdes Rodriquez
3). Valdes has to perform different while operating in her American culture and Latina culture,
thus exposing the transitions she makes upon encountering both cultures, for one day dreaming

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that Latinas should not feel the need to present themselves being inconsistent in the
environmental changes. I want to be able to combine both my feminist and Latina culture,
hoping that other rising non-conformists take a step forward and carry both cultures tall and
proud and not be afraid of the sexist stereotypes.
Furthermore, communication, connection and understanding between environmental spaces
cultivate self-identity in a way that I have developed a way to connect and present myself with
both cultures with non-verbal communication. In the readings of Self Identity and
communication, the authors state, How you view yourself is heavily influenced by how you
view others and how they view you (Jackson, Glenn, and Williams 120). For instance, in high
school, no one other than males played a huge instrument called a sousaphone. As I observed my
peers at an environmental space; my school, I noticed that not one female wanted to play such
instrument because many of them thought it was only for men. If a man can do it why cant a
female? Grabbing the sousaphone and marching down the football field, turned heads with point
blank faces because they could not believe who was proudly holding the sousaphone. Many
traditional Latinas would not have approved of this act of astonishment, but I started a new
culture throughout my schools band, but most importantly among other females from any race,
that they too can perform revolutionary and radical actions. They can break the stereotypes and
communicate with others by using non-verbal communication such as performing acts that are
just being seen rather than explaining why a girl is doing stuff that is typically seen just for
males.
There should not be a division between getting treated differently because one is a certain race
or in Floya Anthias argument, getting treated different because of gender. There is more to just
being a certain race as Floya Anthias explains in Beyond Feminism and Multiculturalism , It is

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important to see why ethnicity matters but without treating it as an adequate means for pursuing
various social and political ends. Moreover, uncovering the hidden ethnicity of the dominant
groups is as important (Anthias 1). Exposing ethnicity and race is one thing, but going beyond
the sexist stereotypes society has brought upon women of not being able to perform in a
masculine way, has yet to be discovered. If one digs deeper into their race or ethnicity there is a
likelihood that there can be things done by women to perform feminine and masculine in their
ethnicity culture without having to worry about judgment among others from the same or
different race. As Judith Lorber argues, It is the ubiquitous division of people into two
unequally valued a way that many cannot interact with others in transitioning into different
environmental changes. Many undergo from being discriminated because of ones ethnicity and
gender but to my understanding, by not conforming to this social structure one can pursue and
perform in the same way as the opposite gender and not be afraid to conquer the beliefs that
being a certain gender or race can deprive one from performing the way one wants. categories
that undergirds the continually reappearing instances of gender inequality (1).In other words
society has constructional structure gender performance and therefore women and males become
divided in
As Marisa Meltzer from New York Times, pointed out how Andy Zeisler, a founder of the
feminist pop culture magazine Bitch, Zeisler explains how the singer Beyonce, publicly
grappled with feminism and found her own path to it thats the right way to do it, rather than
denigrating it, which is what happens with these sound bites.(Meltzer, Zeisler 1). Finding a way
in which one can pursuit a culture through ones owns beliefs rather than being told or following
others is the right way to do it. I found a way in which I can now perceive myself with others

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while non- verbal communication has been an effective method that I use, identifying myself and
to others the way I grasp my feminist and Latina culture.
In conclusion, culture and self-identity both play out roles to which one has a cultural identity
and in other cases having multicultural identities. Having multiple cultures identifies one as of
who they are and how they convey throughout every day encounters. Every day I try to combine
both my feminist and Latina culture together, meaning I bring both cultures together rather than
having to conduct them differently throughout environmental changes. I am and will no longer
be afraid of exposing both cultures at the same time, but rather I will perform as a whole. These
cultural aspects seek out the importance of identifying myself as a non-conformist and
revolutionizing my raza and feminism.

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Works Cited

Anthias, Floya. "Beyond Feminism and Multiculturalism." Women's Studies International

Forum, 25.3 (2002): 275-286
Glenn Cerise L. Williams Kesha Morant, and Jackson Ronald L. Self- Identity and Culture 18
February 2015. Print.
Meltzer, Marisa, Who is a Feminist Now? New York Times. New York Times, 21 May 2014.
Web. 18 February 2015.
Valdes- Rodriguez Alisa. My Hips, My Caderas. 18 February 2015. Print.
Lorber, Judith. "Using Gender to Undo Gender: A Feminist Degendering Movement." Feminist
Theory, 1.1 (2000): 79-95.