View source for Chonga

{{Short description|Term for an expressive and sexually liberated woman}}
[[File:BellaCongaStyle2011.jpg|thumb|A Chonga style look seen in Oregon, 2011.]]
{{Hispanic and Latino Americans}}
'''Chonga''' is a Spanish-derived term used especially in [[South Florida metropolitan area|South Florida]], often to indicate a working-class, sexually liberated, very sassy, and emotionally expressive young woman.
Chongas are also a distinct [[subculture]], believed to have developed in [[Miami]] in the late 20th century. Members are typically young, working-class Hispanic women. In South Florida the term is usually considered a pejorative, though some young women are proud to identify themselves as such. While feminist scholarship on chongas is limited, early work by [[gender studies]] scholar Jillian Hernandez has suggested that the chonga identity is an "emerging [[Cultural icon|icon]]", and that it can be empowering for working-class women.
==Etymology and meaning==
The intended meaning of the term "chonga" varies depending on the context in which it is used. The most specific meaning of the term denotes a member of the chonga subculture—young, usually working class and Latina women—who dress and often act in a sexualized, brash, sometimes aggressive manner. The term also has three looser meanings: as a synonym for prostitute; to refer to a woman who acts "gangsta" or in a thug like manner; and among female friends, as a jovial way to greet each other, as an alternative to "girlfriend!"<ref name="hern68">Hernandez 68.</ref><ref name = "Chongas!">Lush 2007.</ref>
Usage of the term to refer to young women is believed to have arisen in [[Miami]], and only became prominent in the early 21st century. The same word has long been used in Latin American countries such as [[Peru]] and [[Ecuador]] to refer to a brothel; the modern US usage of the word may be related to this, or might have arisen independently among Floridian Cuban-Americans.
"Chonga" has lexical similarities with several other Spanish terms, some of which have been in use for centuries.<ref name="hern68"/><ref name = "Chongas!"/> These include:
* ''[[Cholo|chola]]''  - used in the [[Southwestern United States]] for women of [[Mexican people|Mexican]] or [[Mexican American|Mexican-American]] descent, sometimes with the added meaning that they are a "homegirl" or someone from the streets.<ref name="hern68"/>
* ''chula'' - which denotes a cute or sexy young woman, whereas chulo is the male equivalent.<ref name="hern68"/>
* ''chusma'' - literally meaning snitch or gossiper, but can also denote a woman of low standing.  That is to say, a Chusma or a Chula can be nouns to describe a chonga, but the three are not the same nor opposites. Example: "That chonga is such a chusma, she called the cops on Papi Chulo."{{fact|date=November 2020}}
*"choni" is used in Spain (European Spanish) and refers (usually) to a young woman or man attempting to appear elegant and fashionable, but seen as vulgar or common.{{fact|date=November 2020}}
==Chonga subculture==
According to the journalist Tamara Lush, Chonga subculture may have first appeared in [[Miami]] during the 1980s. Early chongas were usually Cuban teenagers whose parents had recently immigrated to the US. In the 1990s, chongas often wore white shorts with a colored thong underneath, basketball jerseys, and fake gold jewelry. Over the years the style evolved, with for instance tight jeans becoming more popular than shorts.<ref name = "Chongas!"/>
===Chonga characteristics===
21st-century chongas will often exhibit at least some of the following characteristics:
*Cheap but sexy clothing, which often includes "Brazilian jeans"<ref group="note">Pocketless [[Skinny jeans]] that usually have an accentuating effect on the bottom.</ref> and revealing tops, a preference for gelled hair, visible thong showing, synthetic nails and gaudy jewelry, often including fake gold, bangles and earring hoops.<ref group="note">Chongas sometimes like to have their names written on the hoops.</ref>
*Sexual availability, often along with a preference to be surrounded by men.
*Hostility to other young women, unless they are fellow members of the same chonga crew.
*Loud, emotionally expressive and aggressive behavior.<ref name = "Chongas!"/><ref>Hernandez ''passim'', and esp. 85.</ref>
Not all chongas live up to these stereotypes; for example, sometimes women whose conduct is the most overtly sexualized will in fact be among the least interested in actual heterosexual encounters—in some cases chonga behavior is perhaps best understood as a kind of bonding between female friends.<ref>Hernandez 85.</ref>
===Depictions in the media===
Until 2007, chongas have rarely appeared in the media, despite their high visibility in real life. One of the rare exceptions was the ''Cheerleaders'' (2000) set of art photographs by [[Luis Gispert]].<ref>Hernandez 77-79.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101101234535/http://www.luisgispert.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=16&p=1&a=0&at=0 The cheerleader set of images on Gispert's web site]. Not all pics feature chonga-like lasses; for an iconic image discussed at length in Hernandez, see pic no. 15. See also pic nos. 3, 9, 16 & 17.</ref> In popular culture, the few exceptions include [[Bratz]] dolls which have a chonga-like appearance; the chonga-like characters Lydia and Melina in the television comedy [[MADtv]]; and the chonga-like character Tina in the movie ''[[Do the Right Thing]]''.<ref name = "Chongas!"/><ref>Hernandez 65.</ref> Chongas became considerably more common in popular culture after the 2007 release of [[Chongalicious]], a YouTube [[viral video]]. Hernandez noted that the only depiction she's aware of that accurately showed chongas in their social context was the 2007 "Bratz girls" exhibition by the ''GisMo Collective'' (Jessica Gispert and Crystal Molinary).<ref>Hernandez 68, 79-86.</ref>
Since 2012, reggaeton and trap artist [[La Goony Chonga]] has drawn added attention to the subculture by openly and proudly identifying as a chonga.<ref>{{Cite web|title=La Goony Chonga found her voice when she started rapping in Spanish|url=https://www.thefader.com/2019/01/02/la-goony-chonga-dinero-reggaeton--trap-interview|access-date=2022-02-12|website=The FADER|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Jackson|first=Jhoni|date=30 July 2021|title=La Goony Chonga Does Whatever She Wants|url=https://www.papermag.com/descontrol-la-goony-chonga-2654304076.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-02-12|website=PAPER|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730222302/https://www.papermag.com/descontrol-la-goony-chonga-2654304076.html |archive-date=2021-07-30 }}</ref>
===In cultural and gender studies===
According to a 2009 article by gender studies scholar Jillian Hernandez, feminist literature covering chongas remains sparse, even after their profile was raised by the ''Chongalicious'' video. Hernandez contrasts this with the extensive body of work on [[Chicana feminism]], which explores the ''chola'' and ''chusma'' phenomena.<ref>Hernandez 86-87.</ref> Hernandez argues the chonga image has become iconic in Miami, and states that the aesthetic appeal of the chonga can be considerable, which in her opinion partly explains why the ''cheerleaders'' set of photographs was successful in launching Gispert's international career.<ref>Hernandez 80.</ref>
Since 2012, reggaeton and trap artist [[La Goony Chonga]] has drawn added attention to the subculture by openly and proudly identifying as a chonga.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Herwees|first=Tasbeeh|date=2 January 2019|title=La Goony Chonga found her voice when she started rapping in Spanish|url=https://www.thefader.com/2019/01/02/la-goony-chonga-dinero-reggaeton--trap-interview|url-status=live|access-date=2022-02-12|website=The FADER|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103133517/https://www.thefader.com/2019/01/02/la-goony-chonga-dinero-reggaeton--trap-interview |archive-date=2019-01-03 }}</ref>
The portrayal of chongas in the media can, however, be problematic, sometimes even repressive, as powerful negative images contribute to Latinas internalizing pressure to conform which originates from the dominant Anglo-American culture.<ref>Guzmán  2004.</ref> Stereotypical representations of chongas can play a role in the United States' wider [[culture wars#United States of America|culture wars]], adding to concerns about the sexuality of some Latina women being "out of control" with their perceived high rate of reproduction.<ref>Gutiérrez ch. 7.</ref> Citing earlier work by Isabel Molina Guzmán,<ref>''Disorderly Bodies and Discourses of Latinidad in the Elián González Story'', Isabel Molina Guzmán (2007)</ref> Hernandez relates this to the [[Elián González affair]], where the media portrayal of Marisleysis González as having the chonga-like characteristic of emotional excess contributed to the degradation of the  privileged, "model minority status" that [[Cuban Americans]] had previously enjoyed.<ref>Hernandez 66.</ref>
In her own research, Hernandez found that most people she questioned considered "chonga" a pejorative term. One respondent even went as far as to say the term sums up all the negative Latina stereotypes. A few asserted that while they know several chongas, they don't know any who self-identify as such. Sometimes Latina women will admit they went through a brief "chonga" phase in their early teens, but later came to view the style as uncool. Yet some chongas chose to retain the identity into their twenties. Hernandez also found that some young woman are proud to call themselves chongas. Several expressed pride in their sexual attractiveness. The creators of "Chongalicious", who are themselves middle class, found they had considerably more male attention while pretending to be chongas, one of them saying back in 2007 that "I think we would have boyfriends if we were real chongas."<ref name = "Chongas!"/> Hernandez suggests that the chonga sub culture is in several ways a positive thing, representing women who are not shamed into invisibility by their low-class status or ethnic identity. She anticipates a broadening and deepening of feminist scholarship on chongas, to uncover the ways in which the chonga identity can be helpful to young women exploring their "bodies and pleasures".<ref group="note">Hernandez notes that she is consciously echoing [[Michel Foucault]] in using the term "bodies and pleasures", as she sees it as a more empowering alternative to "sexuality".</ref><ref>Hernandez ''passim'', esp. 86-87.</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Society|Florida|Hispanic and Latino Americans}}
* [[Chicano Movement]]
* [[Ghetto fabulous]]
* [[List of subcultures]]
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}
==Citations==
{{Reflist|2}}
==References==
*{{cite book| last= Gutiérrez| first=Elena R. |title = Fertile Matters: The Politics of Mexican-Origin Women's Reproduction | publisher = Texas University Press| year = 2008| isbn = 978-0292716827}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://www.uky.edu/~addesa01/documents/BrainBrowandBooty.pdf |title=Brain, Brow, and Booty: Latina Iconicity in U.S. Popular Culture |journal=[[The Communication Review]] |first=Isabel Molina |last=Guzmán |author2=Angharad N. Valdivia |volume=7 |issue=2 |date=April–June 2004 |doi=10.1080/10714420490448723 |pages=205–221 |citeseerx=10.1.1.471.9234 |s2cid=1847236 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Hernandez|first=Jillian ([[Rutgers University]])|date=Fall 2009|title='Miss, You Look Like a Bratz Doll': On Chonga Girls and Sexual-Aesthetic Excess|journal=[[Feminist Formations|NWSA Journal]]|volume=21|issue=3|pages=63–90|issn=1040-0656}}
*{{cite news|url= http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-06-14/news/chongas/3/|title= Chongas! Maybe 2007 will be their year|publisher=[[Village Voice Media]]|location=[[Miami, Florida]]|work= [[Miami New Times]]|first= Tamara |last=Lush|date = June 16, 2007|accessdate=October 12, 2012}}
==Further reading==
{{commons category|Chonga}}
*{{cite book|title=Latina youths talk back on 'Citizenship' and being 'Latina': A feminist transnational cultural studies analysis|first=Jennifer M.|last=Bondy|url=http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=miami1312451025|publisher=OhioLINK ETD Center; Document number: miami1312451025; Degree: Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Educational Leadership, 2011|location=[[Miami University]], [[Oxford, Ohio]]}}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes |ref=none}}
*{{cite news|work=[[The Miami Herald]]|location=[[Miami, Florida]]|title=Chonga girl|date=May 21, 2008 |ref=none}}
*{{cite news|title=Las Chongas de Hialeah chon "chongalicious"|work=Telemundo Miami|date=May 10, 2007|location=[[Miami, Florida]] |ref=none}}
*{{cite news|title=Chongas!|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-06-14/news/chongas/|date=June 14, 2007|accessdate=November 8, 2012|first=Tamara|last=Lush|newspaper=[[Miami New Times]] |ref=none}}
*{{cite news|work=The Durham News|title=Bust a myth at Golden Belt Latino art show|date=June 24, 2010|url=http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2010/06/27/202464/bust-a-myth-at-golden-belt-latino.html|accessdate=November 8, 2012|first=Rodrigo|last=Dorfman |ref=none}}
*{{cite journal|journal=[[Bitch Magazine|Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture]]|title=Chonga girls celebrity blog|first=Sara|last=Reihani|date=Winter 2009|issue=45|page=28|issn=1524-5314 |ref=none}}
==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBVP4E2Cuk8 I love Chongas] - Chonga appreciation song.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLzU0W2vWsY The Real Chonga okaaay] - one of several YouTube videos gently making fun of Chongas.
[[Category:Culture of Miami]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American culture in Florida]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American women]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American working class]]
[[Category:Mexican-American culture in Florida]]
[[Category:Cuban-American culture in Florida]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of working-class women]]
[[Category:Working-class culture in the United States]]
[[Category:Subcultures in the United States]]
[[Category:Women in Florida]]