The media has a great influence on society, and their depiction of Latin women is detrimental to the careers of Hispanic actresses aspiring to work in film and television. In the case of the American entertainment industry, "less than five percent of actors in top Hollywood films are Hispanic," and the Latinas featured are the most likely to be shown half naked, if not fully naked, over any other ethnicity. The sexualization of Latin women plays into the stereotypical roles actresses are casted for. Rarely have I seen a Latina on screen that does not have long, dark hair, a thick, sexy accent, a voluptuous body, or is not obnoxiously loud. The depiction of such stereotypes causes controversy with type-casting, and showing viewers that Latinas are nothing more than their physical attributes, sets minority women up for limited opportunities within the industry. Hollywood's intentional type-casting of the Latin woman justifies their hyper-sexual display in film and television. Unfortunately, I cannot blame Hollywood entirely for their narrow-minded views on Latinas. Both, American and Latin American entertainment corporations depict Latin women as sexual objects, used solely for the purpose of increase in show ratings and public entertainment. .
Statistics have shown that Latinos are the most misrepresented ethnicity on screen, which only increases when those Latin individuals are females. In the top hundred Hollywood films of 2013, only 4.9 percent of actors were Latino despite the fact that 17 percent of the nation's population is Hispanic. Of the Latinos represented on film, thirty-eight percent of female actresses were filmed partially or fully naked, in comparison to the amount of white, black and asian actresses that appeared half naked on screen. The reason Latinas are being casted for such roles in the film industry is caused by stereotypes that encourage the notion of Latina, "sex symbols.
