Mid Term

When most people think of warriors, the first image is often times a good representation of the picture that comes to mind. However, as my paper will show, I am trying to break down this stereotype. A warrior and defender should not be limited to only be defined as a man. The second image shown, is a painting of a soldadera. As you can see she has her weapons on her hips much like a cowboy would. She is standing tall and she is not quivering away. When you look at other pictures of women, even in our society today, the media portrays us as week, timid, and harmless. In the painting the woman is not fading in to the back ground nor is she attempting to seem meek and mild, she holding herself up with dignity, and she look to be an equal among both the sexes. This image of the soldadera is what people should think of when they think of Mexican women in our history. It should not merely be restricted to the male sex. Something else that I have noticed about this painting, was that when most women show their strength and assertiveness often times people will try to take away their beauty as if to say that women can not be both empowered and beautiful. In this painting that is not the case, she is both strong and beautiful, but her beauty does not take away from her strength nor does her strength take away from her beauty.