From algorithms to real life: stereotypes of Latinas

The Latin American woman as an exoticised object on social media not only shapes digital perception of her, it also conditions her daily life, limits her access to spaces and perpetuates stereotypes rooted in colonialism which still exist today. The Prisma Series “Fetishisation of Latinas in the UK”.

Sara Piquer Martí

In March 2026, the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) published the study Voices of Young Latinas: Peer Research on Online Abuse and the Impact of Fetishisation which revealed how TikTok and Instagram amplify a hypersexualised image of latina women. The report concluded that this representation directly affects the self-esteem, identity-building and social participation of young latinas in London.

The Prisma interviewed the study’s authors, Melissa Munz (co-ordinator of the LAWRS youth project) and Lorena Piedrahita-López (member of the Advisory Board). Some of that conversation was published in the first part of our series “Fetishisation of Latinas in the UK”. This week, Melissa and Lorena speak in more depth about the consequences of digital violence. They both say that one of the most worrying effects is how stereotypes go beyond the screen and affect real life.

Consequences beyond the screen

Another of the consequences highlighted by both Lorena and Melissa is the effect internalisation of the stereotype can have on young latinas’ public lives. One of the accounts collected in the research describes how a participant saw a TikTok video in which a man said he wanted to go to Notting Hill carnival to “find a latina girlfriend”. This comment, which on the face of it could be inoffensive, had a particular impact.

The young woman explained that videos like that made her feel she could not attend the festival without being treated as a sex object.

“There are places latina women cannot go for fear of how people will treat them”, Lorena explains, remembering the case.

For Melissa, this example shows how online abuse can be translated into the real world. “This is a good example of how violence perpetrated on social media has real-world consequences.

It doesn’t just stop there; it is something which affects self-esteem, social life and decisions over which spaces to use”, she asserts.

A stereotype with colonial roots

Although TikTok and Instagram reproduce the stereotype of the latina woman, the objectified image is not new.

“Its roots are in colonialism and how the Spanish colonisers treated African and indigenous women”, explains Lorena.

The researcher details the importance of the comparison of these African and indigenous women to white, European women in the context of colonialism. While the former were considered ‘female’, but not women, the latter were seen as ‘pure’. “This legacy influenced the production of media later on, especially in the USA”, Lorena continues. This logic extended later to popular culture, especially US cinema and music.

“In 1990 we saw what is known as the latin music boom where the US media began to focus on music by artists like Selena and JLo. They were famed for their lyrics, which mixed Spanish and English, and the media acted as though it had discovered these artists. And, instead of focusing on their music and talent, the media concentrated more on the latina women’s bodies which were considered strange but desirable”, Lorena explains.

The means of broadcast have evolved but the stereotype of the latina woman with a curvaceous body, passionate, quick-tempered, subservient, who can dance and who is always available sexually has found a new way to reach the minds and identities of the young: social media.

The ‘toxic’ and ‘jealous’ Latina

Although it is mostly men who perpetuate the stereotype through videos in which they talk of latinas as objects for their personal enjoyment, Lorena points out that there are also women who use the image of the exotic and argumentative latina as a “personal brand” to generate more presence on social media.

An example of this is the influencer Lele Pons, who has accumulated 33 million TikTok followers. She became very popular creating videos entitled “crazy latina girlfriend”. She appears in these videos as a jealous, controlling, quick-tempered woman who also loves dancing and cooking and is very passionate.

Lorena quotes one of the participants in the interviews who spoke about the latina women who reinforce the stereotype through their content: “Sometimes I feel it’s quite sad that they have to build a platform based on these fetishes and stereotypes to make money in their social media careers”.

However, Lorena stresses that this cannot be interpreted in a simplistic manner. The researcher emphasises that these stereotypes are so normalised that sometimes one internalises them when living in a society that constantly dictates how you should be.

“I don’t blame these women because I understand that sometimes in this society you are part of a marginalised community and at times you have to use the stereotypes to be in society. What’s more, they are so normalised that sometimes women see themselves through the stereotypes”.

A generation’s activism

Despite the harshness of the findings, the report is also evidence of collective resistance.

For Melissa Munz, the fact that a group of young latinas has researched this topic through the lens of their own experience has a very significant political value.

“They are taking on the role of activists from a starting point that could be very vulnerable, which is their first-hand lived experience, but they are doing it to work together and become strong”, she highlights.

The report includes recommendations directed at three key actors: the education system, the public authorities and the digital platforms themselves.

Among them are educational programmes about gender violence and racism in schools, better mechanisms for moderating social media and public policies that recognise the specific experiences of migrant women.

“They are not alone”

For Melissa Munz, the most important message for women who suffer this kind of abuse is that there are support networks.

“To a woman in this situation I would say that she is not alone”, she says. Organisations like LAWRS offer legal, psychological and community support to Latin American women in the United Kingdom, regardless of their immigration status.

Further, YWAB’s work shows us a reality to which we must pay attention. No young woman should have to build her identity based on stereotypes that reduce her to an object designed for the enjoyment of somebody else’s eyes.

Behind each apparently inoffensive video, which in a humorous tone shows us a “crazy latina girlfriend”, there could be a young latina who feels that is what her reality must be reduced to.

For this very reason, research like that of the Young Women’s Advisory Board (YWAB) seeks to increase visibility of the consequences ignoring the perpetuating of chauvinistic, racist and colonial stereotypes can have.