Tag Archives: anti-women

komentaryo

Duterte chauvinism: Sino bang walang babae?

A direct translation wouldn’t capture how offensive this rhetorical question is, coming from the mouth of any man or woman, as it normalizes and rationalizes the practice of infidelity and polygamy, because look, all men are doing it! And as long as these men can take care of the children they sire, from one, two, three women they keep in their beds, then they are doing the decent thing, they are doing what is right.

Wrong. Especially when these words come from the President’s mouth, and these statements that condone and justify men’s alleged precondition to treat women as objects to be collected – because women are their kaligayahan (happiness), because there are so many women so little time – are spoken publicly, to the laughter of a necessarily captive enamored audience. (more…)

kultura

I Am Not My Shoes #WomensMonth2015

It was with an amount of dismay, and then disgust, that I read about “In Her Shoes,” the National Youth Commission (NYC) campaign for Women’s Month, one that they started last year and which they continue in 2015.

Because apparently a year hence no one in that commission thought there was anything wrong with using the high-heeled shoe as a symbol of woman power. No one reassessed the notion that walking in women’s shoes literally would be akin to experiencing figuratively what women go through every day. No one asked: are we being sexist by imagining that uniting with women, that paying tribute to our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters for Women’s Month is about wearing high-heels for fun?

You know the answer to that one, gentlemen.

The (non-)challenge of heels
According to NYC Chairperson Gio Tingson: “To walk in women’s shoes is a challenge for men to understand and reflect on the daily plight of women, rethink attitudes toward them and to realize the bias against women that is inherent in our culture, practices and values” (NYC Website, 6 March). Tingson, along with NYC Commisioner actor Dingdong Dantes, walked with a hundred Filipino men in high heels “to celebrate Pinay Power” on March 6. They called “In Her Shoes” a “fun walk.”

The point being this, according to Commissioner Perci Cendaña: “For a man to truly understand how it is to be a woman in our society, he should walk a mile in her shoes. We aim to call attention to the plight of women which normally men, consciously or unconsciously, do not take notice of. We hope that through this event men would reflect on the plight of women in our country. We encourage Filipino men to take a few moments to put themselves literally and, more importantly, figuratively in the shoes of women.”

The questions of course are multiple: Will a man wearing high heeled shoes for an hour or two mean any understanding at all of the daily plight of women in this country? Will this “fun walk” in heels force a man to think about his attitudes and biases against women? Will a pair of wedges or stilettos change a man’s mind about the role his mother or his wife plays in the home? Will it make him think, ah, how difficult a life the women in my life are living, playing multiple roles, and living with oppressive expectations, whatever shoes they might be wearing? (more…)