Oh, it’s a good day when I get to write about America Ferrera. Her messages on women’s rights and latino/a rights are both consistent and loud. So consistent that she’s become a well-respected voice for advocacy. Her advocacy earned her the role of the opening speaker at the Women’s March last January. More recently, she was interviewed about politics by New York Times reporter, Philip Galanes, along with none other than Hillary Clinton. America, you may remember, actively campaigned for Hillary for eight years. Most of the interview was spent discussing the problems most women have being heard. America also addressed dealing with Hollywood stereotypes of women and Latinas and how limiting that can be.

America Ferrera gets candid with Hillary Clinton about her struggle as a Latina actress.

The Ugly Betty star speaks with the former presidential candidate for The New York Times and opens up about the fears she faced in Hollywood as a minority.
“As a woman, as a Latina, I’ve always felt there’s a very narrow version of me that’s acceptable, that’s allowed to succeed. And if I stray from that, I’m not just failing myself, I’m failing so many,” Ferrera explains. “So, I’ve operated from a place of fear, not from my most-alive self.”

The 33-year-old actress also admits that she felt typecast as a Latina woman. “As an actress, the idea that women are relegated to certain roles, and Latina women are further relegated to hyper-sexualized objects, just to fit in, has completely limited my career and me as a human being,” she continues. “But I’m calling bull! Why should I have to compete with every other brown woman just because somebody says this is the amount of pie we’re willing to give you?”

Ferrera adds, “Women grow up in the same culture as men. We’re taught to hate ourselves with as many, if not more, messages every day.”

[From ET]

There’s little to add to what America said. Although I am neither and actress nor a Latina, I imagine she is dead right about how limited the roles are. That’s one of the reasons I like her role as Amy on Superstore so much, because she’s a realistic character that does not play to any stereotype. She’s also not perfect. And yet, she is no less sexy, I am quite invested in her romantic storyline. The comment that jumps out the most is, “just because somebody says this is the amount of pie we’re willing to give you?” That’s it in a nutshell, isn’t it? Hollywood likes to determine how much a person is entitled to based on their color, sex, size, age or outward appearance. It makes me so happy to see people like America sending that sh-t back and asking for a larger slice.

Later in the interview, which you can read here, America discussed how a woman is taught to make other’s feel comfortable and not threatened by her intelligence. One point she made is, “There has to be a space where women get to be angry, where we get to call things what they are.” Oh my God, please raise your hand if you are so tired of getting upset about something only to have someone ascribe your justifiable anger to some other “condition” that usually revolves around your cycle. The second point is something America said right before that line which is, “I’m troubled by this notion that change has to happen when everyone is ready for it.” How many gun-control conversations got tabled because it was “too soon” to discuss after a gun tragedy? Or carbon footprints were ignored because we hadn’t had a tragic weather event for a while? I agree with America that we should all be troubled by this notion and like America, ready to step outside our comfort zone to address it.

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