It's a gross misrepresentation for her to suggest Life Change is anything other than a tax shelter. That isn't charity, it's a redistribution of wealth between family.

As a Latina woman myself, I totally agree. But, like I mentioned in another thread, I can't help but be annoyed at her manufactured schtick. Her real name is Elizabeth Grant, and then she picks Lana Del Rey as her stage name because it sounds 'exotic'. I don't identify with chola culture, but this whole thing just…

As a Latina of mixed ethnicity who DID grow up within East L.A. chol@ culture, I do find this offensive. There was a whole set of social circumstances that surrounded the culture, and most of it had to do with class status. It's pretty annoying to realize that folks with privilege play dress up at this subculture…

I think this whole article and ones dealing with similar issues would be better if they focused on race AND class, possibly with more attention paid to the class than the race part and not just using the word appropriation and thinking the job is done. I think what's offensive about Lana Del Ray's shit is similar to…

I'm not offended by this per se. I am offended by the idea that our society which has a dominant white social structure might view cholo culture as a representation of Latino/Hispanic culture as a whole, which in itself is pretty amorphous.

I'm from Montreal and now live in the US, he may have just said "Middle East" because sometimes some Americans (Canadians and others too, don't shoot tomatoes at me!) really don't know much about other countries/cultures besides broad terms like "European", "Middle Eastern" "Asian" so its easier to use those terms…

"Anyway, I think it is sad that people assume you want to know where someone is from because you are an evil racist. Whatever."

"This guy has the emotional maturity and intellectual prowess of a freshman philosophy major"

I didn't, at any point, say that personal agency was obliterated. This is a strange comment. I did actually write directly about agency in my comment. Weird. Sorry if that wasn't really clear, though I was really careful to write "partially socially produced." I just don't think agency truly ever exists outside of…

I think you're totally write to say that "skimpy clothing can exist in a sexist context and also enjoy wearing skimpy clothing. Those things are not mutually exclusive." However, I think we need to be careful when we call any preference or taste "personal." We are born into cultures, webs of meaning that we did not…

How do you know you know people like her if you admit you don't know what she's like?

I didn't project anything. Rather, I cautioned against projecting because we don't have the context for the photo.

Maybe it's all the focus on the rings that she is over. Maybe she is not a happiness grinch, but this photo is all set up so that all the girls are pointing to the rings...not the girls in happy relationships.

You said it, but you still managed to project an entire type on her in the photograph. "I know a lot like her" is a simple rhetorical move that sets up a comparison.

Is that she's grumpy because of the wedding industrial complex or is it that she's grumpy in the picture because she's not engaged and/or being invited to a party that celebrates engagements might be annoying because she wasn't? The answer of course is that we don't 100% know. I would just be careful to project…

You are assuming a lot aren't you? Maybe she just wasn't in the mood for all the OMG's!

The point here is women already internalize these messages, know that it's their job to protect themselves from an attack. The problem with your argument about not getting drunk in situations where you're statistically likely to get raped (like your physical assault scenario), is that it means that women should,…

I mean, could it be exhausting to talk about whiteness as a social construct when you're white? Maybe. I'd think it would be way more exhausting to have to try to maintain your dignity and repeatedly prove your humanity while shopping, while asking for help, when driving, while approaching a police officer for help,…

Holy crap, never mind, read the full article- she wasn't flippant at all. The retelling on this article mis-characterizes the whole thing. She was professional at every turn.