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Wise Latina. The catchphrase of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings has taken on a life of its own, spawning T-shirts, note cards, dog jerseys and even thongs.
Sotomayor uttered her now-famous words on several occasions -- and her critics on many more. And while the new Supreme Court justice sought to explain away the expression, her supporters have embraced it.
"At 55, I better have some wisdom," says Joyce Saenz Harris, a Mexican American who recently bought a "Wise Latina" T-shirt.
"It just kind of struck me as funny," says Saenz Harris of Dallas. "I have known a lot of wise Latinas in my life: my mother, my grandmother, my aunts. I thought, `Hey this is something I identify with.' "
Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, who teaches Latin American studies at the University of Miami, says the phrase has taken off because it evokes an image of Hispanic women not usually seen in pop culture.
"In Hispanic culture, there is such a veneration of the older Latina figure. She represents that," Maldonado says.
Amy Maniatis of cafepress.com, one of several websites that allows people to create and sell T-shirts and other merchandise, says the company has seen growth in "Wise Latina" and other Sotomayor products over the past month, approaching 5,000 so far.
That's small potatoes compared to the 1 million items for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but far more than the 300 for Samuel Alito, the last Supreme Court judge confirmed.
"We tend to see the site as a cultural barometer," Maniatis says. "This is the first time we've seen an outpouring support for a Supreme Court justice."
Among the spinoff items: "My Mother is a Wise Latina," "I'm marrying a wise Latina" and "I'd rather be a Wise Latina" T-shirts as well as "Wise Latina in training," onesies.
Latina magazine is offering a $22 limited edition T-shirt. There's even a shirt with disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford chalking up his affair with an Argentine journalist to taking advice from a "Wise Latina."
At least three Wise Latina Facebook sites have popped up, spawning discussions about images of Hispanic women in the media.
Sotomayor used the phrase most notably in a 2001 speech in which she told Hispanic law students she hoped that "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
To opponents of her nomination, the words suggested she would put personal experience above the law. To supporters, they simply expressed pride in her heritage.
Sales numbers for "Wise Latina" products are hard to come by because they are mostly home-designed, but the phrase's popularity definitely extends to the larger community, says Nova Gutierrez, a teacher and New York City gallery owner who has seen small but steady sales of her online T-shirts.
"I have friends who are not Latina who are saying `Oh I want one of those.' " Gutierrez says.
Rob Dougherty of Pueblo, Colo., began selling the T-shirts through Zazzle.com before Sotomayor's confirmation hearings even began.
"If someone had made a similar remark about being a wise Norwegian, Scotsman, Greek or other there wouldn't have been this furor," says Dougherty, an Irish American. "But since it's about one of the groups who have been discriminated against recently, I guess people think she wants revenge."
The "Wise Latina" phenomenon is a backlash against conservatives who tried to use the phrase against Sotomayor, says Charlton McIlwain, professor of media and culture at New York University.
Like the gay community's adoption of "queer" and some black Americans' use of the N-word, it's part of a tradition of minority groups reclaiming phrases used to disparage them, McIlwain says.
"I think one thing many people are doing, Latinas and the Latino community in general, is reframing the phrase and saying: `Hey, when we talk about the wise Latina, we're not trying to show that somehow we're better than others, but we want to associate being Latino with something that's wise and good.' "
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