Latina women coming to the United States from less than
optimal economic backgrounds can, if they play
their cards right, wind up meeting a
male of substantial economic means.

William Javier Nelson

A very attractive woman paraded herself before us, with a great deal of self-admiration, as she boarded the airplane (we were all loading the airplane so we welcomed the diversion). Most of us stopped what we were doing to stare at her, all the more so as she seemed to be of Latin American origin. I lazily glanced up, took note, and resumed working.

"What would she be in the Dominican Republic, Javier?" one of my buddies asked me.

"A five."

We all chuckled. So concluded a ritual, which no doubt other Latino guys (like me) have participated in. You see, Latina women, in case one hasn't heard, are extremely attractive and a trip to the Dominican Republic (my home) or Brazil (yours) yields an array of stunningly beautiful women. Fortunately (for men in those countries), that counts for great opportunities of meeting winsome females—unfortunately (for women in those countries), it means competition from other stunningly beautiful women. However, Latina (Brazilian, etc.) women can take heart. If they can somehow get to the United States things will look up considerably, for the secret has long been out: Latinas are in.

Criolla women compare quite favorably to gringas in terms of beauty. Maybe it's the mixture of bloods, maybe it's the permanent tan, maybe it's the sensuality. I don't know. What I do know is that I have seen gringos falling for Latina women in the U.S. who wouldn't turn a head in Santo Domingo, Bahia or São Paulo. If that alone doesn't translate into a favorable situation, there is also this thing called the Marriage Gradient, which makes romantic liaisons with Latina women much easier than for Latino men.

The Marriage Gradient stands for a custom quite common in the United States: Men habitually marry women of a lower economic and/or occupational status than them. This means that it is quite acceptable for a male engineer to marry a female secretary. But it is rare that a female lawyer would marry a male gardener. What this all means is that Latina women coming to the United States from less than optimal economic backgrounds can, if they play their cards right, wind up meeting a male of substantial economic means. Sociologists have long commented on this phenomenon, noting that Latino men in the U.S. are usually far more alienated from the U.S. mainstream than Latina women.

Moreover, intermarriage between Anglo-Saxons and people of Latin American ancestry is higher than almost every other combination—and the great bulk of those marriages involve Latinas and gringos. [As Brazil has a number of rich folks who get to come to the U.S., the Marriage Gradient would still operate, if for no other reason than the fact that the U.S., wealthy as it is, possesses a number of gringos even richer than most brasileiras.]

This was brought home to me once at the airport. Two gringos were ordering a meal and the Latina waitresses were getting along quite well with them—almost to the point of being asked out. Now these guys were both passengers, and both quite well-fixed.

Right now, some Latina bombshells of note include Salma Hayek, Mia Maestro and Jennifer Lopez. Quite attractive to be sure—but any brasileiro knows that women like that positively abound in Brazil.

So, if you have a young sister or daughter who is contemplating visiting the United States, prepare for her vision of her beauty to get a significant enhancement. Will it make her more conceited? Not if you can get her back home again.

William Javier Nelson, holds a Duke Ph.D. in Sociology and is of Dominican nationality. Letters (friendly or hostile, Spanish or English) can be addressed to: cibbaeno2@aol.com

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