Photo Essay - Bianet Echeverria by Bianet Echeverria

La Virgen de Guadalupe

beche003_ — 2023-11-27 21:13:40 UTC

Growing up in a Catholic household, I've always admired my religion as a Catholic and found myself idolizing La Virgen de Guadalupe since I was a kid. I understood that she is the mother and protector of Mexico who represents faith, discipleship, and safety to those who believe and need support. In my teen years hitting puberty, I dealt with insecurity, anxiety, and overall not being confident in my own body, especially with social media's "expectation" of girls my age to look a certain way such as having large breasts, small waist, blonde hair, and being skinny. Sandra Cisneros also felt this way in her reading "Guadalupe, the Sex Goddess", she points out how she questioned whether La Virgen had these "expectations." And later on stated, " A goddess who makes me feel good about my sexual power, my sexual energy..." As an adult now who's found self-love among myself I see and feel this because La Virgen de Guadalupe now reflects my strength and independence as a woman no matter what people think of me.

Feminist Vision Board

beche003_ — 2023-11-27 21:16:57 UTC

I made this vision board in my room to motivate myself as a woman to push forward through life no matter the challenge while embracing my flaws. All my life I've seen women be mistreated and overlooked which infuriates me because women from all over the world deserve to be acknowledged for their hard work. We are not a man's object, nor we are owned by men. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk "We Should All be Feminists", she discusses the struggle of growing up to be a woman because humans lived in a world where physical strength was the most important attribute for survival making men the leaders in every scenario. However, nowadays a person's leadership is determined by intelligence, creativity, and courageousness. This means that you no longer have to be male to accomplish this, we have evolved yet our ideas of gender didn't which is very sad and unfortunate.

Family Matters

beche003_ — 2023-11-27 21:18:18 UTC

Mexican culture always values family and the reproduction/expansion of our Mexican lineage. Like my grandma used to say, "Your goal in life is to get married at a young age and have kids to build a family, then you'll feel at ease and purposeful to your husband and your kids." My grandma had 12 kids them being my aunts, uncles, and my father. In my teen years, it was even an off-putting slang for teenage boys to say, "You can't look at a Latina without getting her pregnant." Growing up I knew that a woman's most precious gift is the ability to give birth to a son or daughter and I had never known that this was easily taken away from innocent women around the 1900's. The documentary "No Mas Bebes", discusses how women were fighting for reproductive justice in hopes of ending eugenic laws. It's completely disgusting to me how healthcare professionals participated in forced sterilization among minority women of color just because they were seen as "unfit."

Quinceanera Doll

beche003_ — 2023-11-27 21:20:58 UTC

In Hispanic culture, every teenage girl who turns 15 is expected to throw a huge Quinceanera party in celebration of transitioning into womanhood and later marriage. I had my Quinceanera about 4 years ago and was surrounded by music, dancing, food, and the luxury outfits of guests besides myself with a huge puffy, and sparkly blue dress. The photo I posted is a doll that represents myself which is dressed as me and gifted to me for all guests to view. The doll symbolizes the leaving of childhood toy possessions and instead focusing on adulthood priorities

Flowers of Gratitude

beche003_ — 2023-11-27 21:22:41 UTC

The importance of receiving flowers from a loved one is not only showing a gesture of kindness but also reminding us that we are enough, that we are valued, and that we matter. This is so important to us because we already live in a society where men already have that unfair advantage of simply being a man therefore they are ahead of us. Unfortunately, I did grow up in a toxic masculinity household where my mom, sisters, and I had to always do the cleaning, cooking, and staying at home whereas my father worked and provided for our finances. Every dinner I would help my mom cook and hear her say, "Sirve a tu papa y hermano." Meaning serve your brother and father. However now with me working and going to school and being less at home, I feel a sense of freedom from being treated as a servant. In Byron Hurt's, "Feminist Men", he discusses how men should free themselves from the stranglehold of traditional masculinity because when men hurt women, they hurt themselves, and end up hurting the community of women.