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I identify as a Woman and my pronouns are she/her. I am a Mexican-American woman part of the Latino community. I was raised in a close-knit family by a single mother and with this have come struggles but for the most part valuable lessons. Being raised by a single Mexican mother has been hard economically and emotionally but through my mom I learned how strong and capable women are. My culture has taught me that family is one of the most important things I have and that getting ahead in life is a priority. Being Latina in the US was hard, when I was small, because I never really fit in with my classmates, and looking different, speaking a different language, and having different beliefs felt wrong to me at the time. Teachers would mispronounce my name and correcting them was embarrassing so I would stay quiet. Now I look back to those moments and am proud of how far I have come in owning my identity and background.

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Growing up in Latino culture one is taught that women belong at home tending to their families and never to themselves but growing up my mom never instilled this belief in me. My mother always believed women were just as capable as men and she was never the type to put a man before herself or her goals in life. My mom always prioritized getting ahead in life by herself on her own terms without the help of a man. I think that growing up with a single mother who showed me she could be my mother and father in one made me value and admire my mom and women so much more. In my family, my mom always received backlash for not having the same ideas as everyone else and because of this she and my family aren’t very close. My mom’s experience reminds me of the reading “Why Young Women Get the Willies” by Lisa Marie Hogeland which touches upon why women are afraid to be labeled feminist for the fear of not being accepted or the fear of having to go against an oppressive system. When I think of feminism my mom comes to mind and it makes me proud to have a mom like her.

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As a Latina woman, I have some color in my skin and I had never really cared if I was darker or lighter than my friends but there was an incident that happened on my grad night at Disneyland that made me uncomfortable enough to still remember it. I had asked a woman at Disney to please take me and my friends picture who is clearly lighter than me in skin color and when the lady took the picture she told my friend she loved how light her skin was and that we should switch Mickey ears because since I was darker, purple would stand out more against my dark skin. I am not sure if she had ill intent but the comment made me a bit uncomfortable. My situation reminded me of the reading by Judith Ortiz Cofer titled “The Story of My Body” because the author mentions never having paid attention to her skin color but when people started pointing it out she became more conscious of it.

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Back in high school, there was a time when I questioned my sexuality because of the way people perceived me. I had a friend who I was very close to and we were always together to the point that people started to question if we were together and labeling us as lesbians. I never understood why they thought this of us because I considered myself to be undeniably straight so I began to question if I was. At first, this was a scary thought because in my culture being anything other than straight can sometimes be seen as bad and I feared I would have to deal with how my family would view me. This situation reminded me of the reading by Lisa M. Diamond titled “Having a girlfriend without knowing it” where the author talks about how female friendships can be passionate emotionally and not necessarily sexually or romantically. I realized that the bond of our friendship was so strong people questioned if our love for each other had an underlying motive. I asked myself if I had romantic or sexual feelings towards my friend but I never did and I just had love for her.

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The experiences in my life have shaped me into who I am today and who I want to be in the future. I came to UCR to pursue a career in which I can be an educator for the future generations. I want to be able to celebrate people's differences and create an environment where everyone's cultures and backgrounds are welcome and admired. I want everyones sexuality, ethnicities, and ideas to be respected and encouraged. No one should grow up in an oppressive environment and I hope that through my experiences and education I can become who I want to be.