Category Archive for: kawomenan

komentaryo

Credibility

There was something powerful about Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez having herself interviewed on television about the distribution of relief goods in her Ormoc, almost two weeks since it was hit by Typhoon Yolanda on November 8.

Of course it has everything to do with her as pop culture icon, beautifully calm and quiet, rare to speak beyond limitations of privacy and decency, probinsyana through and through. Save for the tragic landslide of 1991, Torres-Gomez might also be the only name we equate with Leyte province.

But also it had much to do with what were very well-chosen words, including the disclaimer that said she wasn’t out to just be critical. “Wala akong pinapatamaan,” Torres-Gomez said, though of course with this government’s defensive stance against all criticism, it doesn’t matter that she wasn’t out to be critical. She was telling the truth, and this government can’t quite handle the truth. (more…)

kultura

on Charice

I have nothing but love for Charice. No, I am no fan really, but I find it infinitely interesting when popular culture icons give their mass audience the unexpected or taboo, or something difficult to talk about, something against what we know to be proper or consider as important. (more…)

komentaryo

Vice Ganda’s false apology

there is no doubt in my mind that joking about the rape of a woman is a no-no, which is like joking that you will kill a faggot. these are black and white, they are premised on gender discrimination, these are violent thoughts we do not think, and do not think to articulate when we actually do think about them out of anger or spite.

and yet i get it, too, that really fantastic comedy, the kind that’s intelligent enough to be irreverent, can talk about rape without it being an attack on women, as it does become an attack on the men who think it correct. Vice Ganda was far from intelligent about this joke, and as such there is no saying that members of the audience “didn’t understand it.” (more…)

kultura

12 Pinay celebrities to be thankful for

It was difficult to celebrate Women’s Month at a time when the Pinay remains under attack, even when she’d like to think otherwise. To me it happens on the level of a beauty industry that has standardized what it is we mean by beautiful, as it does happen on the level of a Catholic Church that continues to take a stand against the Reproductive Health Law, after we have fought for it for 14 years. Scientific and common sense would tell this Pinoy Catholic Church that RH is nothing to fear, but we know how sometimes what we refuse to understand is the scariest thing.

We also know that at some point, the most absurd things | images | words can be so normalized by the media and the celebrity culture, that these cease to be absurd.

In that sense, it seems that a couple of days late, it is precisely the right time to celebrate the Pinays who are the dissenting voices and images in a sea of women who have been standardized by the beauty industry and celebrity culture. At a time when whitened skin and fake bodies have become the standard, at a time when we are telling our young girls that they need to look—and be—a certain way to achieve their dreams, here are the Pinays who seem to navigate their celebrity with an amount of independence.

So no, this isn’t about the thoughtless and careless celebration of self, as it is acknowledging those women on TV, online, in advertisements, who are able to navigate the shallowness of this current beauty and showbiz industries. Here, the Pinay celebrities who refuse to be boxed, sealed, delivered as mere puppets of impossible perfection. Because yes, nobody’s perfect. And someone who sells perfect?

It’s close to irresponsible.

click here for the list of 12 (turned 17) Pinays! 

komentaryo

Tourism and the poor Filipino face

In January, the Department of Tourism (DOT) celebrated the 6.09% rise in the number of tourists to the Philippines. That’s 25,000 more people who have come to visit this country where everything’s more fun. That’s 436,079 tourists who landed in good ol’ Pinas in January alone.

It gives me goosebumps. Far from the good kind.

Because it would take an amount of delusion to think this all good, and only the naïve would think those numbers equal to development or change. This is not to dispute those numbers, neither is it to question those online surveys that say Boracay is the Best Beach in Asia. This is to ask questions borne of actually traveling this country, and observing tourism on the ground.

This is to ask: have you heard of the “poor Filipino face?” (more…)