Dan27287
I can’t speak for Italians, but I can speak for Latinos at least from my own perspective. Some ‘positive’ Latino stereotypes are as follows: ‘The Latin Lover,’ ‘The Lambada Dancer,’ ‘The Wealthy Plantation Owner,’ ‘The golden-throated pop star,’ ‘the fiery, voluptuous woman,’ ‘the talented flamenco guitarist,’ etc. Well, I can’t dance, but I do pretty good in a mosh pit. I sing like a toad, and I can’t even strum a ukelele. What I’m saying is that such positive stereotypes set up a sort of ‘expectation effect’ that most average Joses can’t live up to. There’s a girl who lives in the middle of Idaho who would be shocked that I can’t mutter love poems in Spanish (well, I can talk trash in Spanish), dance Salsa or sing like Marc Anthony. I know that most folks know these are mere generalizations, yet I’ve been suprised quite a few times by peoples’ pre-programmed expectations.