"They are mythical
figures of what society wants women to be."
Women and Media
by Geejay Arriola
I am greatly concerned over the way the press criticizes bold movies or exposes sex scandals.
In a recent issue of a local daily which churns out a regular column discussing mostly Filipino movies, the columnist wrote about his great distaste for newcomer bold star Ynez Veneracion's "salacious" movie.
He watched the movie's preview even as he prejudged it as already prurient by its title alone, and proceeded to write a coarse commentary about the bold star and the movie.
I appreciate the columnist's describing Ynez as "kawawa (pityful) the way the producers use her like a kitchen rag." By some odd twist, a light bulb lit up in the writer's mind and he has actually begun to understand the context within which movies such as "Huwag" thrive.
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Shape Magazine (a US Publication) also had a short article about gender stereotyping in Media in the USA. Read excerpts.
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Ynez Veneracion and the likes of her are no different from all of them housewives, maids, princesses, witches and mothers-in-law. They are images of women as presented by the media and the entertaiment industry, images carved by those who wield power in the industry and in society. They are mythical figures of what society wants women to be.
The likes of Ynez are merely a more controversial new breed of old stereotypes for they are far more daring, parts of their bodies far more exposed.
And who are these power-wielders? They are those who hold greater, more decisive and topmost positions in society, which, everyone knows, are dominated by men.
Why society compels or seduces women and men into accepting and assuming these mythical images as the essence of femininity is a political, cultural, economic and gender issue.
Thanks to a growing women's movement, a furor is being raised on this phenomenon, compelling government to grudgingly adopt a few policy changes in its attitude toward women. The proliferation of smut movies and pornographic literature is, after all, central to the issue of rape and violence against women and children.
The entertainment and media industries, however, are far more difficult to influence because of what the movie columnist describes as the industries' (especially the press) inherent and/or much-desired-for "frankness and honesty" which makes for a "liberating" writing and reading experience. Freedom of expression is what artists, writers, producers, et.al. all work hard and fight for, after all.
But because the arts and media have far-reaching audiences and readership - surpassing even the reach of the government's own tentacles - it possesses the greatest power to influence way of thinking and shape people's cultural assumptions and behavior.
Thus, if media's intention is to condemn pornography or scorn sexual activities inside moviehouses, for example, it must do so with utmost care and responsibility.
When various local dailies reported that gay men were caught giving each other blowjobs inside a local moviehouse, the hullabaloo reeked of homophobia, rather than of a principled condemnation of the conduct of sex inside a public place.
When journalists lash out at obscene movies with much abhorrence, but do so by first describing the sexual organ of women with equal contempt, the disapprobation reeks of its own obscenity, \chauvinism and misogyny, rather than of hatred for pornoraphy itself. The journalists thus become no different from the subject or object of their censure for they use the very language they profess to scorn.
In the context of this local writer's handling the issue of "salacious" movies which seems to be his favorite column subject, the perennial freedom-of-media bone of contention applies: Where does "frankness and honesty" stop and obscenity begin?
He viewed Ynez as a mere female sex organ still smarting from having been dumped as a kept woman by a rich man. He implied that Ynez's "sanay na" attitude toward her job as a bold star is damnable.
What he failed to understand is that Ynez and that man he called an ugly stud, Toffee Calma, are, in fact, by-products of a chauvinist societal system that sees women as sex objects and deserving victims of male and societal violence.
Media people, because of their power to shape culture, must do serious study, research and analysis of their subject matters. Knowledge and respect for their subject matters provide shape and substance to their opinions and approaches in discussing issues.
I, along with many other women activists, greatly appreciate the growing concern and fight against obscenity and pornography, among other sex and violence issues. But when the print and the broadcast media propose to join the cause, it must first seriously analyze what language it should use and what approach it should take in handling the issue. It must answer the basic responsibility questions: What does my story want to achieve? Why is there a need for me to tell this story? What are the consequences of my telling this story? Does the manner in which I write my story reflect my own personal vlues of truth, dignity and integrity?
If media decides to take on the cudgels for what it believes to be a just and moral cause, it must do so in a manner that enlightens, rather than obscures, and rebuilds, rather than destroys.
First printed in Mindanao Inquirer, November 22, 1997
“Mind and body are not to be taken lightly.
Their connection is intimate and mysterious,
and better mapped by poets than pornographers.”
----Shana Alexander, Talking Woman (1976)
For more quotations visit BagongPinay's “muni-muni” section.
. Read about the writer.
. This article and the author's other works are also found at her site.