Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBIL2sdfoVc
It's a TED talk called "The power of seduction in our everyday lives by Chen Lizra. The purpose of the talk is to recast seduction as a positive tool that can be used to improve one's own self confidence and one's ability to obtain their goals in life. I could just critique this talk based on how it shifts the focus from a communal view on the world to a selfish view on the world, but what flustered me more was how she portrayed Cuban culture in an exotic and superficial manner. One might say, "Raymond how do you know, you're not Cuban." Well Cuban culture, while definitely unique, has many ties with Puerto Rican culture and Latin culture in general. The description she gives of Cuba as a hub of self confidence where men "peck" at women with patriarchal dominance as women take the role of well intended succubi is one that glosses over the huge sexist structure that currently exists in Latin culture and also portrays women as being more than happy to engage in a clearly patriarchal system. To think that somewhere in an entire country there aren't women who are tired of men being incredibly forward about their desires to dominate them is ludicrous. This ridiculous conjecture is manifested in Lizra's description of Rumba, which comes off as an aggressive struggle rather than a graceful exchange. She depicts an illusion, where women are in control through the power of seduction, but notice that the woman in the dance is relegated to a passive role, where she serves as a lighthouse garnering ship, only to be reached by a boat that ravages her shore line. Whether this is true for rumba is beyond me, but I can tell you that dances like bachata, salsa, merengue, while all still male dominated (the man typically leads in these dances) aren't violent struggles for dominance, but instead expressions for a range of emotions.
The reason the speaker is able to get away with this crap is because she has an accent and people are more than happy to accept an image of a Latin American country that indulges in hyper sexualization, feeding the stereotype that Latinos are just hopeless hot blooded romantics who can only express themselves in blunt and candid emotions. In the minds of everyone in that audience who believed her, Cuban women attract men with their flirtatious physical gestures and not their intelligence, kindness, wit, etc. Cuban men are alpha wolves who must convince the woman of his choice to be with him by being unyielding in his affection and his own sexual bravado. In her own words she described this as turning maybe's into yes. But there is an alternative to this that doesn't require this archaic macho courting process. Dating has for awhile given people the opportunity to get to know each other and mutually decide whether their maybe might be a yes or a no. One might argue seduction puts your foot in the door and that may be true, but in the world of the speaker seduction is the entire window of opportunity and you just need to use it to climb through it.
Finally her explanation that Cubans are much nicer about body image is something I find equally dubious. Sure advertisement has been a source of body image problems in the world, but social expectations of body images still existed before advertisement was widespread and popular. If one thinks for a second that Cubans are accepting of all body types and images, then you are also exoticizing Cubans into some other worldly people. It sounds like that rhetor only heard what she wanted to hear from mothers and friends. Which makes sense she probably only engaged at the side of pools and other leisure areas. But I wonder what discussion she'd find in the middle of a mother combing her daughter's hair or them going out to buy a dress together. I suspect the conversation will not be a million "Que linda's".
Latino culture is unique and complicated and I would never write a post saying "this is what Latino culture is", but I can certainly tell you what it isn't or at least when someone is removing its depth and instead providing a shallow cardboard cut out. Please stop it with the ongoing trope of Latinos being emotional and sexual deviants, who indulge without any restraint. Latino culture also doesn't have an unlimited well of self confidence, where everyone is ok with their bodies. Latino culture like most other cultures is Multi-faceted.
It's a TED talk called "The power of seduction in our everyday lives by Chen Lizra. The purpose of the talk is to recast seduction as a positive tool that can be used to improve one's own self confidence and one's ability to obtain their goals in life. I could just critique this talk based on how it shifts the focus from a communal view on the world to a selfish view on the world, but what flustered me more was how she portrayed Cuban culture in an exotic and superficial manner. One might say, "Raymond how do you know, you're not Cuban." Well Cuban culture, while definitely unique, has many ties with Puerto Rican culture and Latin culture in general. The description she gives of Cuba as a hub of self confidence where men "peck" at women with patriarchal dominance as women take the role of well intended succubi is one that glosses over the huge sexist structure that currently exists in Latin culture and also portrays women as being more than happy to engage in a clearly patriarchal system. To think that somewhere in an entire country there aren't women who are tired of men being incredibly forward about their desires to dominate them is ludicrous. This ridiculous conjecture is manifested in Lizra's description of Rumba, which comes off as an aggressive struggle rather than a graceful exchange. She depicts an illusion, where women are in control through the power of seduction, but notice that the woman in the dance is relegated to a passive role, where she serves as a lighthouse garnering ship, only to be reached by a boat that ravages her shore line. Whether this is true for rumba is beyond me, but I can tell you that dances like bachata, salsa, merengue, while all still male dominated (the man typically leads in these dances) aren't violent struggles for dominance, but instead expressions for a range of emotions.
The reason the speaker is able to get away with this crap is because she has an accent and people are more than happy to accept an image of a Latin American country that indulges in hyper sexualization, feeding the stereotype that Latinos are just hopeless hot blooded romantics who can only express themselves in blunt and candid emotions. In the minds of everyone in that audience who believed her, Cuban women attract men with their flirtatious physical gestures and not their intelligence, kindness, wit, etc. Cuban men are alpha wolves who must convince the woman of his choice to be with him by being unyielding in his affection and his own sexual bravado. In her own words she described this as turning maybe's into yes. But there is an alternative to this that doesn't require this archaic macho courting process. Dating has for awhile given people the opportunity to get to know each other and mutually decide whether their maybe might be a yes or a no. One might argue seduction puts your foot in the door and that may be true, but in the world of the speaker seduction is the entire window of opportunity and you just need to use it to climb through it.
Finally her explanation that Cubans are much nicer about body image is something I find equally dubious. Sure advertisement has been a source of body image problems in the world, but social expectations of body images still existed before advertisement was widespread and popular. If one thinks for a second that Cubans are accepting of all body types and images, then you are also exoticizing Cubans into some other worldly people. It sounds like that rhetor only heard what she wanted to hear from mothers and friends. Which makes sense she probably only engaged at the side of pools and other leisure areas. But I wonder what discussion she'd find in the middle of a mother combing her daughter's hair or them going out to buy a dress together. I suspect the conversation will not be a million "Que linda's".
Latino culture is unique and complicated and I would never write a post saying "this is what Latino culture is", but I can certainly tell you what it isn't or at least when someone is removing its depth and instead providing a shallow cardboard cut out. Please stop it with the ongoing trope of Latinos being emotional and sexual deviants, who indulge without any restraint. Latino culture also doesn't have an unlimited well of self confidence, where everyone is ok with their bodies. Latino culture like most other cultures is Multi-faceted.
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