Anthropology researcher Juanita Carmelita Gonzalez and her dog Ari — Juanita is the one in the turquoise stretch pants — walked the streets of Hollywood Monday. You won’t believe what happened next!
PREVIOUSLY ON JUANITA CARMELITA GONZALEZ:
Mas…Not just gringas, not just NYC: A Latina walks in Hollywood (video)
Several years ago, I was driving through the backwoods of central Florida trying to find the home of a distant cousin. Desperately lost, I called my mother, but my abuela answered the phone.
I asked her, “Hey, do you know Annita’s phone number? I’m trying to find her house.”
My grandmother’s response: “Go home. A woman shouldn’t be driving alone.”
I can’t help but feel my grandmother’s Old World values have a residual grasp on modern society — the notion that a woman’s role is in the private sphere, that she should not be out in public.
Often while walking the streets of Manhattan I’m subjected to stares that deem me guilty of a crime: guilty of walking with ovaries.
Mas…Women beware: You might be guilty of ‘walking with ovaries’
The first time a man made a sexual advance to me – some random guy on the other side of the street – I was 13. Yes, although I hadn’t even started shaving my legs, I was already trying to figure out how to deal with sexual weirdos. Such tender memories.
If I recall correctly, his exact words, or sounds, were something like “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!!!”