Here's How TikTok's "Copy and Paste Latina" Trend is Harmful

While scrolling through your TikTok #ForYou page recently, you may have stumbled across a new trending phrase going around: copy and paste Latina.

If you're anything like me, you were immediately perplexed as to what in the world that could mean.

Turns out, the term is supposed to represent Latinas who regularly wear glam makeup and have long dark hair—think someone who looks like Becky G every day of her life.

While there's nothing wrong with the actual style as these women are all gorgeous and really good at doing their makeup, it's what the term represents that can be a contentious problem.

Implying that one Latina could be a copy-and-paste version of any other Latina can do a world of damage in more ways than one.

First off, there's the phrase we hear time and time again: Latinos are not a monolith.

As a culture, we have a lot in common, but our differences are also beautiful and worth celebrating.

If we call Latina women who look similar "copy and paste" versions of one another, we are reducing their identities down to their appearance, which, as this trend mostly revolves around how they do their makeup, means we're not even talking about things that are unique to us, but rather techniques some women have chosen to adopt.

The makeup style TikTok users have deemed as this stereotypical Latina isn't all that different from what many makeup artists would do for anyone who wanted a glamorous look.

Even if people don't intend for "copy and paste" to be insulting, it ends up creating a forced niche for these women, who then feel obligated to continue looking a certain way in order to feel beautiful or like they are a part of their own community.

Then, there are all the Latinas who don't fit this description.

If you search "copy and paste Latina" on TikTok, about half of the videos are makeup tutorials, but the others are young women bemoaning the fact that they don't look like these other Latinas.

There is no singular look or race to Latinas just like there isn't one singular style we all blindly follow.

A lot of us love a glamorous look, but a lot of us don't. Even those of us who love makeup may do an entirely different thing.

The point is, no Latina could ever be a copy and paste version of another—we are simply too diverse.

Going forward, let's leave the term behind, and instead celebrate all kinds of beauty looks within our culture, inspired by individuals who create them.