LATIN BOY SEX AND LATIN MEN

Hispanic population in the USA

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, comprising 13.4% of the population, about 40 million people in 2003. Throughout the early 2000s the Hispanic population growth was around 2.4% per annum, faster than any other ethnic group in the United States. If this growth rate continues, Hispanics in the United States will number anywhere from 80 million to over 100 million by 2050.

Synonyms and antonyms

Often the term Hispanic is used synonymously with the word Latino (as in "Latino Boy"), and frequently with Latin as well. Even though the terms may sometimes overlap in meaning, they are not completely synonymous.

Latin, when not refering directly and exclusivly to the inhabitants of Ancient Rome, refers to any of the people related to, or descended from, the original Latin-speaking Romans, and includes all the Romance-speaking European nationalities, or european Latin peoples (Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium Wallonia, Italy, Italian and French Switzerland, Romania and Moldova), including their cultures, and their descendants worldwide. As it is patent, the main criteria here is a linguist one, since all the nationalities and cultures do not constitute an homogenous entity.

Hispanic, on the other hand, specifically refers to Spain and the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, as cultural and demographic extension of european colonial Spain.

Meanwhile, Latinos and Latino Men are only those from the countries of Latin America, whether Spanish or Portuguese-speaking (though, in this case, not so frequently and with some ambiguities).

These definitions are not consensual, though, since many define Hispanic and Latino as synonimous, and often restrict their use to spanish-speaking latin-americans. One should also note that these definitions are primarily american and have very different meanings, or none at all, for the people they are applied to (to the point that they might be considered negative or derogatory by many).

The confusion that arises is from the similarity between the words Latino and Latin, and between the concept of Hispanic and Latino. Latino is a shortened version of the Spanish noun latinoamericano and is used for the inhabitants of Latinoamérica (Latin America). In the Spanish language "Latín" (Latin) is the name of the language of the Romans, and as such is not confined solely to Hispanics and Latinos.

Thus, of a group consisting of a Brazilian, a Colombian, a Mexican, a Spaniard and a Romanian; the Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican would all be Latinos, but not the Spaniard or the Romanian, since neither Spain nor Romania are geographically situated in Latin America. Conversely, the Colombian, Mexican and Spaniard would all be Hispanics, but not the Brazilian or the Romanian, since Brazil was conquered and founded by the Portuguese, and neither Portugal or Romanian are extensions of Spain. The one exception for a Brazilian to be considered Hispanic is if his ancestry was Spanish rather than Portuguese. Finally, all of the above nationalities would all be Latin, including the Romanian.

Of course these concepts dismiss the enourmous importance of African and Native American elements in the cultures and ethnic origin of most Latin-Americans, and tend to homogeneize what constitutes, in fact, a world of social, cultural, ethnic and racial diversity. Along the same lines, one should note that the term Latino is never, or very rarely, applied to French-speaking Québécois of Canada or to a Portuguese-speaking african Angolan. These categories are social categories, and only make sense in the place or society they are used to socialy distinguish people, in this case, primarely the United States. As socialcategories they are not mutualy exclusive and without ambiguities and can not be seen as independent of social discrimination (socio-economic, ethnic or racial).

Aside from "Hispanic", "Latino", and "Latin", other terms are used for more specific subsets of the Hispanic population. These terms often relate to specific countries of origin, such as "Mexican", "Mexican-American", "Cuban", "Puerto Rican" or "Dominican", etc. Other terms signify distinct cultural patterns among Hispanics which have emerged in what is now the United States, including "Chicano", "Tejano", "Nuyorican", etc.

History of its US and Latin American usage

The usage of term Hispanic in the United States is believed to have come into mainstream prominence following its inclusion in a question in the 1980 U.S. Census, which asked people to voluntarily identify if they were of "Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent". However, the Spanish language equivalent of the term Hispanic (Hispano) has been in use since much earlier than in the US.

In Latin America,, although the term Hispano (Hispanic) is not as often used on the popular level in public discourse as a generalized ethnic label, an Hispano is commonly regarded to be any person whose ancestry and practiced culture both stem — whether in whole or in part — from the people and culture of Spain and to the contrast of the non-Hispanic populations of Latin America. Thus in the Latin American context, when speaking of any given nation's Hispanic population, those who are implied include creoles, mestizos and mulattos, and excludes indigenous Native Americans, the unmixed descendants of black African slaves, as well as excluding all other recent immigrants of various other races and nationalities now residing in Latin America. Also disregarded is whether or not those excluded groups now use Spanish as their first and only language — as is the case with all Blacks, most Native Americans and many recent immigrants.

This Latin American use of the term is more so evident in addresses regarding affairs of indigenous and African descended peoples made by government and minority agencies, where the creole, mestizo and mulatto collective majority and their culture, which is accredited as the national identity, is distinguished as Hispanic for purposes of contrast to the plight of national minorities.
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On its use as an ethnic identifier

In the US some people consider Hispanic to be too general as a label, while others consider it offensive, often preferring to use the term Latino (such as Latino Boy), which is viewed as a self-chosen label. The preference of Latino over Hispanic is partly because it more clearly indicates that those it is referring to are the people from Latin America, and not Spain. Different labels prevail in different regions, as well. In places like Arizona and California, the Chicanos are proud of their personal association and their participation in the agricultural movement of the 1960s with César Chávez, that brought attention to the needs of the farm workers.

Previously Hispanics were commonly referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-speaking Americans" and "Spanish-surnamed Americans". These terms, however, proved even more misleading or inaccurate since:

* most U.S. Hispanics were not born in Spain, nor were most born to recent Spanish nationals;
* although most U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, not all do, and though most Spanish-speaking people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g. some U.S. Hispanics by the fourth generation no longer speak Spanish, while there are many non-Hispanic of the Southwest that may be fluent in the language), and;
* although most Hispanics posses a Spanish surname, not all do, and while most Spanish-surnamed people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g. there are many Spanish-surnamed Filipinos, however, Filipinos are not Hispanic).

In the mass-media and in law enforcement, as well as popular culture, Hispanic is often used to physically describe a subject's race or appearance, sometimes with little regard for an individual's language or culture. In general, Hispanics are assumed to have traits such as dark hair and eyes, and olive or brown skin, and are viewed as physically intermediate between whites and blacks or Native Americans. Hispanics with mostly Caucasoid or Negroid features may not be recognized as such by many people, despite the ethnic and racial diversity of most Latin American populations. Latino Men and other people of Spanish or Latin American ancestry who do not "look Hispanic" may have their ethnic status questioned or even challenged by others.

Difficulties and criticisms on the U.S. application of Hispanic

Hispanic, as the term is defined and used in the United States, encompasses a very diverse population which often makes efforts toward creating a Pan-Hispanic sense of identity difficult. While in the United States Hispanics are often treated as a group apart from "whites", "blacks" and other racial groups, they actually include people who identify with any of the aforementioned racial and ethnic groups, as well as identifying as various others.

Some people argue that since Spain is in Europe and all indigenous Spaniards belong to the Caucasian race, they should not be included in the Hispanic category, being that in the United States, Hispanic is designated as a "minority group". However, others counter that Spain and the Hispanic American nations, despite their differences, are part of the same greater cultural sphere, and Spaniards may therefore face discrimination based on the assumption that they belong to a particularly discriminated Hispanic nationality.

In the United States, a great proportion of Hispanics identify as mestizo, partly because much of Latin America is of this mixed ancestry regardless of national origin and they constitute majority populations in most Latin American countries. Many other Hispanics may be of unmixed Spanish ancestry, predominantly those from Uruguay and Argentina; of Spanish mixed with other European ancestry (common in Argentina and Uruguay, especially Spanish-Italian); or of primarily Spanish ancestry with some Native American ancestry, not uncommon amongst Costa Ricans and Chileans. Some may also be of unmixed Native American ancestry, many of those from Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, and a noticeable proportion of those from Mexico, while many Hispanics of Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Colombian backgrounds may be mulatto or of unmixed black African ancestry. However, the presence of these mentioned races and race-mixes are not country-specific, since they can be found in every Latin American country, whether as larger of smaller proportions of their respective populations.

On occasions the demographics of certain nations may not mirror the demographics of their nationals in the USA. This is the case with Cuban Americans who are predominantely of unmixed or relatively unmixed Spanish ancestry, despite Cuba being a mulatto/black majority country. This demographic disparity between Cubans on the US mainland and those on the island is caused by most Cuban emigrants with the means to flee communist Cuba belong/belonged to the Cuban higher-middle and upper classes, which are predominately white.

To further the confusion, as a result of the very nature of its U.S. definition, a small minority of US Hispanics may also be of non-Spanish European ancestry, Middle Eastern or even Asian ancestry, including a Latino Boy. Examples of these would include Argentinian and Uruguayan-born Italians (around one third of their countries' populations); Colombian, Ecuadorian and Mexican-born Lebanese; Cuban, Puerto Rican and Panamanian-born Chinese; Chilean and Paraguayan-born Germans; or Peruvian-born Japanese. Many of these communities date back three or more generations in Latin America, and despite them being considered nationals of their respective countries of birth, they would never be regarded as Hispanics there. Yet, when these very same people migrate to the United States, they are regarded as "Hispanic", which only further confounds many common notions of what it means to be Hispanic in the United States.