Read this story in Spanish here
In the tapestry of identity, where ethnicity, sexuality, and culture intertwine, media plays a profound role in shaping perceptions, self-image, and societal acceptance.
For queer individuals within the Latino community, navigating the landscape of representation can be fraught with challenges.
Julio Gálvez, a queer Latino, shares insight into the multifaceted relationship between media and identity, shedding light on both the empowering and detrimental effects of representation—or lack thereof.
“Facebook is a negative source,” Gálvez explained to Enlace Latino NC. “I remember the news, at one point was talking about giving gay people the right to adopt in Peru. I had a lot of cousins in the comments being like “This isn’t right, they shouldn’t do that!”
Navigating Family and Found Communities
Central to the Latino identity is the family. While the family model is integral in forming one’s identity and relationship with those around them, it can be difficult to do so as a queer Latino.
“Being queer and Latino is navigating supporting your family when your family might not entirely like some parts of you,” he said.
As a result of rejection in familial settings, queer people turn to “found families” as a source of comfort.
But this can come with conflicts as well for Latino individuals, wrote professor and author Laura M. Padilla. This is because it feels safer to discuss issues of discrimination among people of your own culture or with other people of color.
“White queer spaces are not friendly to queer people of color,” he said. “I have asked many people – would you rather be in a space with people of color over white queer people – and I would rather be in a space with people of color any day.”
Why do younger generations turn to the media?
While struggling to find validation in social spaces, youth are more likely to identify with the media to validate their identity.
The media we consume during our developmental years has an impact on how we identify and how we navigate relationships, explicó Padilla en su articulo.
Gálvez’s experiences with prejudice propagated through social media, including negative comments from family members, had a lasting impact on him.
“Things like that have not helped me realize that I was trans and bisexual sooner,” he shares, highlighting the insidious nature of internalized stigma.
Regarding queer Latinos, the lack of representation in media limits them to identify with media not tailored to them, but media that may still resonate with other parts of their identity.
For Gálvez, this was the anime, Naruto.
“The way queerness was presented in that show, it was always a joke but it was always underlined. This is because the only developed relationships in that show are between the men,” Gálvez said. “ Queerness was portrayed as a joke, but it was always present.”
Often, the media portrays queer identities as the “joke,” or fails to provide any queer representation at all. This creates harmful associations when Queer youth develop, exacerbating the exclusion Queer individuals feel when discovering their sexual identity, según un estudio publicado en el National Institutes of Health.
What is internalized Oppression?
The representation of queerness and Latinos in the media has a significant impact on self-perception, leading to what scholars term as internalized oppression.
“The worst part of domination is that the oppressed begin to believe what those in authority say,” explained Padilla on her article. “That they are subhuman, inferior, incapable of dignified tasks, and a burden to society.”
This, she reflects, ends up being internalized by individuals who “turn upon ourselves, our families, and our people.”
The importance of phototherapy
At the end of the interview, Gálvez discussed ideas for a photo shoot that would help him feel empowered in his identity.
Rosy Marting y Jo Spence, two prominent queer and feminist photographers, discuss how individuals feel empowered through photography in a therapeutic practice called “phototherapy.”
Phototherapy is a process through which clients reenact oppressive structures from their past, reclaiming agency and rewriting their stories.
For Gálvez, it was a chance to express his true self.
Gálvez was photographed skateboarding as he wore a soccer jersey from a Peruvian player. He chose these two items because he loved playing soccer growing up and skateboarding is another way he feels liberated in his identity.
“I remember one time my mom said, ‘You don’t want to get with a bisexual man, he’ll cheat on you’,” Gálvez reminisced. “Well, look what happened, you have a bisexual son.”
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