Getting Pregnant

Getting pregnant, for Latin American Hispanics, is the analogous equivalent, for whites, of graduating from college, getting a job, and the long-awaited bachelor or bachelorette apartment. It is the point, for the Latin American woman, when, no matter what her previous accomplishment or lack of accomplishments, she is treated, for the first time, as a mujer realizada (a fulfilled woman). Many women get pregnant to escape living with their parents, who still have the often-exercised right to demand their 23 year old daughter be home by 9 PM. Keep in mind that most Hispanic people don’t leave home until they get married, and that most don’t get married until there is pregnancy. So if you are traveling through the region, be aware that birth control does not work in Latin America. Because birth control does not work, most do not bother to use it. Sex equals pregnancy. If this were not true, latinas could lie about their virginity well past 23.