Vava Vroom No More!

“Real men cry at the luck of winning a free weekend with Cristine Reyes.”

“Colt 45 Vava Vroom real men promo”

    Asia Brewery Inc. is the liquor company that manufactures Colt 45. Ryan Consul, the senior brand manager claimed that the date concept with a celebrity is a “rather common and highly accepted experience most people would aspire.” Furthermore, the weekend getaway with Reyes “simply focuses on the enthralling experience of having a personal interaction with a celebrity,”

    Note that Consul didn’t say “men would aspire”, even though it clearly targets the masculine market. He used “people” instead. The statement consists of linguistic strategies of subtlety, as it does not specify gender for instance. The term “personal interaction” seems to obscure the sexual connotation that the ad associates with the celebrity. He also points out that this kind of advertisement is “common and highly accepted”, it aims to defend its legitimacy within our culture. The word “enthralling” used to refer to the experience of the possible winner is such a vague term from which you can derive a lot of different meanings depending on context. Again, the company's response used strategies of discretion to avoid conflicts and to lighten the obligation attached to the statement.

 

Note that the ad used the words “real men”, “vava vroom”, “winning” and “promo”. Vava vroom is a famous expression of men whenever they see a hot and sexy woman. We can conclude that this is coming from a male focalization that zooms in the sexuality of a woman. Magna Carta for Women released a statement against Asia Brewery Inc. It’s as though Cristine Reyes is a commodity or a prize that men would love to win. She was also being juxtaposed with the promo of Colt45 Ford Truck. The winner would receive both; the truck and Cristine Reyes come as a package. It bolsters up the objectification of women and perpetuates sex stereotypes. Reyes’ identity revolves around her sexuality and is being paired with a truck, a boy toy. PCW shows contempt for this derogatory portrayal of women. It pushes for the promotion of this brand in a non-sexist representation.

The Ultimate Housewife

This is one of the many political ads of Tessie Aquino Oreta for her senatorial candidacy.It tackles the Solo Parent Right: Women even without husbands should be granted parental leave. You would see frail and helpless images of women in some of her ads and we can’t deny that this is the reality for a lot of women in our country. They do not have the courage to go against the stereotypes of a loving mother and housewife , submissive and dependent on their husbands. It owes mainly to the fact that women are not aware of their social rights. This advocacy of Oreta fights against gender discrimination and focuses on women’s worth. Women and men should have equal rights especially within labor unions.

The second ad is the perfect representation of the changing roles and responsibilities of women nowadays. It deviates from the conventions that women always count on their husbands for their own needs. It has been a well-accepted notion that women’s job is simply to create a home and nurture their children. However in present in time, women have become more independent and versatile. In some cases, mothers are the foundation of their families. In relation to Oreta’s campaign, this ad is a justification that indeed men and women should be given the same social privileges. It challenges the stereotypes about women’s social roles and obligations. That is why I find the commercial heartwarming and empowering at the same time. It just shows that women can actually stand on their own.

Beauty vs Power

The following TVC's stand for the different images of women in our country. Let us pay attention to the persona of the commercial models and the way they were represented and associated with the product.

 

Pantene's Most Beautiful

The Pantene TVC features Judy Ann Santos, Claudine Baretto, Ruffa Gutierrez and Gretchen Baretto. The tagline of the ad itself, “Pantene’s Most Beautiful” highlights the notion of beauty. To promote the product, four celebrities were hailed as “Pantene’s standards of beauty” in our country. The ad aims to convince Filipina women that to use Pantene is to be transformed into these models: sophisticated, elegant, famous and rich. Basically, the content focuses on the superficial aspects of beauty.

If we analyze the public images of these characters, two of them are soap opera actresses. Juday and Claudine were often seen crying and being maltreated on TV in the past decade. These prominent images symbolize the powerlessness of a typical teleserye princess; always yielding, very passive. Ruffa Gutierrez on the other hand was a beauty queen and the perfect example of the material girl. Finally, Gretchen Baretto is a socialite who's well known for her glamor fashion. She proudly announced her new pouty lips and botox at that! 

 

Creamsilk's Girl Power

 

The second set of ad features three women who are less famous by far, although quite distinguished in their chosen professions. We have here Lougee Basabas, a rockstar and vocalist of Mojofly, Gaby dela Merced a professional F3 racer and Sophie Cottini, an equestrienne.

The tagline “Girl Power” is very much different from “Most Beautiful”. It focuses on the strength and potential of the models. It doesn’t underscore the exterior aspect of beauty: beautiful hair, fashion and glamour. Instead the commercial highlights the professions of the three models.

It creates a new trend of beauty: funky, independent and self-made women, contrary to the star-like image of Pantene. The concept tries to deviate from the stereotypical feminine representations. “Choose both!”. According to Dorothy Dee, Creamsilk marketing manager, it is an advocacy for women to pursue what they want and be beautiful at the same time.

If you’ve noticed however, they used models with pretty faces and long shiny black hair. They were wearing pink clothes too which is stereotypically associated with the feminine gender. In a sense, despite the efforts to re-contextualize TV ads, it is still difficult to totally dispense with these stereotypes.

Sphere Factor

One of the most common stereotypes for women is that they belong to the private sphere (ie home and all things domestic), making them incapable of participating in the public sphere (ie debates). Categorized as only interested in trivial matters, identified only in reference to a male, and "objects" viewed in the male gaze, these representations of women cannot be further from the truth. Here are two poems resisting such representations, written by Joi Barrios.

The first one reflects how women too can participate on issues concerning the nation:

YANKEE DOODLE/LAYAS

I am a Filipina woman.
And in my country
There are three thousand American soldiers.
This is my song,
My song of satire, my lament,
My call to action.

Yankee doodle came to town
Riding on a pony
Killed and maimed and tortured us
And called it a… democracy.

America, America
How easily you forget, America.
You traded lives for power.
What is the value of life
In a poor country?
The value of life
Of a person of color?
We shall forever bleed.
Filipinos marked
By the violence of your war.

Yankee doodle, keep it up,
Yankee doodle dandy,
Burn the village and the town,
And with your gun be handy.

Balangiga, 1901.
The bells signal a call to arms
Remove your disguises,
Bandit and hero are one,
Attack the enemy,
And plunge into his heart
The dagger, the spear,
Anger and revolt!
Let the bells ring!
Music that threatens and condemns
Leave, leave, leave our land!

Yankee doodle comes again
Riding on a fighter
Brings his war to my country
And calls it a … democracy.

America, America
Off to war always, America.
Trading blood for oil.
My country is not a playground
For your tanks and soldiers.
A nation is not just land,
Mountains, sea.
We die with your bullets,
We perish with your bombs.
We live in poverty,
We are people of color,
Yet we sing of dignity,
Leave, America,
Leave my country, leave.

Yankee doodle keeps it up
Brandishing his weapon.
War games are fun games!
And you can call it… DEMOCRACY!

In the United States of America
The bells reside.
A symbol of their grief
And our rare victory.
Soldiers endlessly march
Back to our land.
Playing war games.
Death games.
And the woman raped
Makes conquest complete.
Shall our voices ring as bells?
They have brought the war into our land!
What greater tragedy do we yet await?
How many shall perish in the war?
Ring the bells! Ring the bells!
Leave, leave, leave our land!

***

The second uses war as a metaphor for being a woman, a perfect sentiment for the materialist feminist perspective:

TO BE A WOMAN IS TO LIVE AT A TIME OF WAR

To be a woman
Is to live at a time of war.

I grew up
with fear beside me,
uncertain of a future,
hinged to the men of my life;
father, brother,
husband, son.
I was afraid to be alone.

To be a mother
Is to look at poverty at its face.
For the cruelty of war
Lies not on heads that roll,
But tables always empty.
How does one look for food for the eldest
As a baby sucks at one’s breast?

No moment is without danger.
In one’s own home,
To speak, to defy
Is to challenge violence itself.
In the streets,
Walking at nightfall
Is to invite a stranger’s attack.
In my country
To fight against oppression
Is to lay down one’s life for the struggle.

I seek to know this war.
To be a woman is a never ceasing battle.

Feminist, activist, and poet Joi Barrios

Komiks, anyone?

Just where can you buy comics for 25 cents these days?! These may be ancient, but your favorite Filipino comics writers and artists have chosen to include representations of women in their works as well. Here are a couple of them:

A warrior princess from a Moslem tribe,the fierce and feisty Prinsesa Bituin is no damsel in distress!

It is interesting to note, as our English 197 professor commented, that we have yet to see representations like these of women coming from Christian backgrounds. If you find any, feel free to e-mail us and let's get them posted!

Mars Ravelo's 1950s classic "Jack and Jill" features a female who is able to take on the role of a jeepney driver and make it in a "men's world".

"Jack and Jill" was also turned into a film by Viva in 1987 starring Sharon Cuneta as Jack (Jacky Lou) and Herbert Bautista as Jill (Hilario) and had a sequel titled "Jack and Jill sa America". The good thing about this representation is that although both Jack and Jill seemed to have reversed conventional roles, their father freely accepts this. However, in this clip, they are shown to view what happened to them as a "mistake" and are constantly quarrelling. They remain to be a hilarious pair to movie viewers, remembered for how they endlessly argue but more so because in the end, they always stood for each other.

Watch it here:

Pinays on Print

Time to hit the bookstores! Here are some feminine images/texts I found which I thought were pretty empowering. Let's begin with Children's literature, the most colorful and wonderfully illustrated set of them all.

Rene Villanueva's Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Lola tells of a town's legendary lola who had hair of extraordinary length and strength, which she used to save her barrio from a strong storm. It then connects lola's courage and character as to why we have exceptional Filipinas like Gabriela Silang. This text resists stereotypical descriptions of women's hair and how it is often just confined to "trivial" aspects like color and style. Here, a woman's hair is assigned "masculine" characteristics (i.e. strong) and given purpose, and a very important one at that. Oh, hindi ba, mahaba talaga ang hair ng Pinay!

Ompong Remigio's Papel de Liha was so well-received that it published a silver edition of the story. Here we see a housewife who does all the chores (typical image) including fixing pots and pans! But unlike your regular housewife/mega mom story, this text presents the reality of such a task: Her hands get rough and calloused because of all the work. Hence, the title which literally means "sandpaper" and was a bit controversial because the image it brings isn't exactly positive. In the story, the child overhears her aunt scolding her mother and telling her that her father will stop holding her mother's hands if they get too rough. Upon getting sick, and noticing that her mother's hands really were rough, the child also concludes that while her mother's hands are not smooth and perfect, they have the power to heal and care and love. The story ends with her father holding her mother's hands.

Now that we have images of a lola and a nanay, let's go to a generally devalued image in our society: a manang.

Kerima Polotan's The Virgin features a middle-aged woman working at a placement agency, putting her at some sort of position of power over applicants. Her speech differs from Robin Lakoff's "Woman's Language," as it is aggressive and is not concerned with matters of politeness. This story also recognizes the feminine sexual desire, and views virginity as something "undesired" to a certain point. Miss Mijares, never touched by a man, often wonders how it's like. She blames her being a spinster on being obliged to take care of her parents, a common practice in our culture. She thinks that they "took too long to die," challenging oriental views and simply expressing what it really feels to have been "deprived" of youthful pleasures. It ends with a sexual encounter with one of the applicants she was attracted to in the agency, and a feminist stylistic analysis of the ending (which I did for my English 120: Stylistics class) would also reveal how she was able do this with surprising control and power. Judging by how she affected the other character using Hallidean processes, the scene was anything but pathetic. The act, in fact, empowered her. Published in 1952, this was seen as something disturbing at the time, perhaps because the point of view presented challenged what was traditional and Maria Clara-ish. Nevertheless, it gives its readers access to an old maid's thoughts and experiences.

Speaking of Maria Clara, here is another female character which would put Rizal's character to shame: Zafira, from Francisco Balagtas' komedya titled Orosman at Zafira. Because of Orosman's minimal role in the play, some even suggest that it should've only been titled Zafira instead! I watched the Dulaan UP's version of the said komedya and I must say that awesome is an understatement. Hang on. IT WAS AWESOME.

If they show this again next year, you better watch it!

Considered a revolutionary feminist work, Balagtas' work features Zafira as the daughter of a sultan. After the assassination of her father by a competing tribe (Tedenst), she avenges his death and leads her own tribe (Marruecos) to battle, along with another dominant female character, Gulnara and the Duquela tribe. In a culture where women only serve either as slaves or wives, the other "sultan" scoffs her for attempting to do so. Zafira remains brave even after losing the first war, and tries again. She eventually wins, but the story ends with her lamenting over the destructive nature of man's never-ending hunger for power. 

And that's 1850s for you, in pure, makata, nosebleed Filipino taking your breath away and thinking, "You go, girl!"

Fashion and the Filipina

In Preview Philippines, there is a fashion spread entitled, "Beauty and the Geek." The first line of the blurb is, "Ugly is the new pretty." All they did to make the (thin) model (with high cheekbones) "ugly" was to add glasses, make her hair frizzy, dress her up in tops with high necklines, and add books and pencils as her props.

Fail.

Cosmo Philippines has an interesting spread on women entitled "Fun Fearless Female Awards." There are articles on Filipinas Charice Pempengco, Jessica Cox, Divine Lee, Kiri Dalena, Melai Cantiveros, Alex Eduque, Kate Torralba, Joy Rojas, and Maritess Mendoza. These women are celebrated for going the extra mile. Charice has a rags-to-riches story (at nasa Glee na siya ngayon, okay. Siya na talaga.). Joy Rojas was the first Filipina to run across America AND Luzon to Mindanao.

It's important to note that femininity is still the "marked" gender. I've never seen any magazine features on "fun fearless males," or even "brave Filipino men." But (I think) this is better than not recognizing these "fun fearless" women. It shows that fashion magazines aren't just about pretty pictures and makeup, but it could also be a venue to celebrate women's achievements.

Of Labels and Titles

In the Philippine Online Chronicles, there is a section on Pinoy LGBT! I discovered that there is a ten-year-old group called Lesbian Advocates Philippines or LEAP.

In POC-Pinoy LGBT, there are several articles talking about female homosexuality. Very enlightening because there is very little information and representation of lesbians in Philippine media. I quote some highlights:


Mas makapangyarihan ang salitang tomboy kaysa sa lebyana. Sa kanilang paliwanag ang lesbyana ay ang  receiver sa sex.


Ang malinaw, silang mga ‘tomboy’ ay hindi naghuhubad ng damit sa pakikipagseks. Sila ang maghuhubad sa partner na ‘lesbyana’.


[M]aging sa mga oras na ito ay mas pamilyar lamang ang ating mga kababayan sa pagkukulong sa mga lalaking transgender sa salitang bakla kung saan ang mga babaeng transgender naman ay tinitingnan bilang mga hard-core butches.


Magic, tomboy, tibo, t-bird, batibot, pare, o lebsyana ay karaniwan lamang sa mga labels na ginagamit natin para sa kanila. Ang bawat isa ay may taglay na mga implikasyon na karaniwang negatibo. 


Sa kahuli-hulihan, hindi naman kasi labels or tags lang ang ating  totoong binabasag kundi ang mga mapanakal na konseptong kaakibat nito. Kumbaga sa isang artikulo, hindi lang sa titulo nito natin ito pwedeng mahusgahan, malaki ang maaaring  maibigay na paliwanag sa  nilalaman nito at lalong higit sa pagitan ng mga salitang naghihintay lamang ng mas malalim na pag-unawa at pagkatuto.

Source

Other related links:
LEAP Facebook Page
(The Wall looks like a dating forum though)
LEAP Multiply site
(But it hasn't been updated since 2009)

Ina Mo!

The Filipina as a mother is a very prominent figure in our culture. Filipinas are deemed to be inherently caring, kind, and selfless. These adjectives are magnified 239487293874 times when women become mothers.

Case in point: Vilma Santos's character in the movie Anak. She left her children to work abroad in order to earn more and give them a better life. That's like the ultimate sacrifice a mom can do. Pero yun nga lang, her children grew up without a mom. Therefore without guidance and TLC.


This is the mega iyakan confrontation scene. Ang galing ni Claudine at Vilma dito ha. I actually haven't seen this movie, pero in fairness, na teary-eyed ako sa clip na 'to.


Ah, now we come to one of my favorite Filipino films of all time: ANG TANGING INA NIYONG LAHAT, the sequel of TANGING INA, another one of my favorite films. I SWEAR if I meet Ai-ai in real life, iiyak ako.


I love this movie so much because Ina, Ai-ai's character, is facing several challenges (single mom, 12 kids, no stable job) but she does it with so much candidness and humor. Having several odd jobs (e.g. dancer, chambermaid, waitress sa karinderia, kargador sa ice factory) and going back to school (at 40 years old!) were't something she complained about. She just knew she had to so she could support her family. Walang iyakan, walang drama. Ina tried to save the (female) President's life and ended up running for President---and winning! We see how being a mother of 12 came in handy in being a President!

Filipinas Online

If you search "Filipina" in Google Images, you will be led to these pictures:

"Pinay" isn't looking any brighter:

It's so sad that we're still stuck in the Filipina-equals-mail-to-order-bride stereotype. Hello, it's 2010 already. The website Pinay.com shares the same sentiment. It says that the search for "Filipina" yields "mail order bride sites, sex tourism bar girl sites, and too many pornographic sites," which is why it wants to "reshape the Filipina image online." The site's content isn't available yet, but take a look at the Google Ads. Google Ads are generated from the keywords of a site.

Oh well.

FilipinaImages.com is doing much better. It lists words that we associate with being a Filipina, such as a "mother," "homemaker," "shy," "beautiful," "decision maker," and so on. The site celebrates all kinds of Filipinas. It doesn't matter what occupation we have, because all Filipinas "have a right to empower themselves." Take note that "domestic helper" was renamed to "domestic service professional." Parang lesson lang sa English 118: Semantics--when you change words and labels, you can change attitudes.

This blog is gunning for something similar. Except we don't just want to empower the females, but also other types of gender in the Philippines.