21st Century Literature of the Philippines and the World

Divine Light Academy - Bacoor

Ongkeko, Nathalie Francine A. 06 August 2019

12 - Kepler / STEM B Ms. Jomelyn Lao

The Filipino Society: Contained and Confined

“
Meditations of a Piss Artist
by Menchu Aquino Sarmiento

The spectacle of these urban queens with their well-defined, overarched eyebrows and
tricolored hairdos, demurely parading in clouds of lime and fuchsia organza and ruffles, or black
satin sheathes, and tulle was disheartening. It was so safe, so predictable and provincial,
looking for all the world like a Masbate cotillion.

Piss artist. Belittler. Stereotyper.

These words aren’t necessarily the adjectives that one wants to be described as.
These words have negative connotations that refer to someone who often brings ridicule
and misjudgment based on different biases to those he or she sees as lower compared
to his or her status, yet people always see them around society that seem like they are
worthy to be called these words, may it be along the streets, in malls or even in the
government. Filipinos can’t seem to escape despite having been heavily ridiculed and
stereotyped in the past when we were in the hand of our foreign oppressors for hundreds
and hundreds of years.

Meditations of a Piss Artist is a short story written by Menchu Aquino Sarmiento

18 years ago in the year 2001. It is a story about the different people the main character,
Jojo Cruz, a 17-year-old University of the Philippines Arts student, had come across
throughout his life, from the simplicity in his hometown of Masbate to his college days in
the campus of UP Diliman in Quezon City, and how he thought of those people. Those
people being Miss Farrin, his third-year high school English teacher back in Masbate,
Dean Batumbacal, his current college dean, Makati Girl, and her best friend Aenid Blanco.

The first person from Jojo’s life that was introduced in the story was Ms. Farrin, his
English teacher back in the province. One afternoon after classes ended, Ms. Farrin
asked Jojo to walk her home for she had all of the five sections’ final exams and reports
to carry. It had rained, so he had to wait for the rain to stop in the little room his English
teacher rented behind the provincial bus station before he could go home. Jojo, then
being a 15-year-old high school student who had his curiosity skyrocketing, made a move
on his high school English teacher. He pressed her against her army surplus cot then with
his large hands, cupped her rump, and this “successful” action made him feel very proud.
As stated in the story, “He was proudest though of not having had to pay for it, and that it
was with a woman who was eight years older, had been baccalaureated in a Manila
university and had passed the government licensure exam.” This specific line implies that
Jojo seems to see Ms. Farrin as somewhat of a city girl, someone with a higher status.

This encounter Jojo had with Ms. Farrin is somewhat similar to his encounter with
the so-called “Makati Girl”, the girl he liked in his Art Theory course. He called her Makati
Girl in private because that was his way of saying that she was above him and that she
had class and style, similar to that of what he perceived a “Makati Girl” to be. In the text,
Jojo described her to be someone that he could genuinely talk to and he “…never heard
her start a sentence with ‘Shit!’ the way the other girls say it with the short ‘e’ sound in the
middle which he found especially contrived and irritating. She didn’t punctuate her
sentences with ‘Fuck’ in that coy and petulant way the other girls did when they wanted
you to think they were cool.” Jojo compared her to other girls and said, “She lacked the
convoluted prudishness that afflicted the most,” and this statement hints that he saw her
as someone that was more liberated than the typical conservative probinsyana.

These two different situations seem to be connected because of the idea that city
girls are better than probinsyanas because they apparently have more class, but they
were also not prudes. He sees the two ladies, Ms. Farrin and “Makati Girl”, as people who
are of higher status, because they are “city girls”. It is a common ideology among Filipinos
that those who live in Manila or its neighboring provinces are better off than those people
living in other provinces, specifically those in Visayas or Mindanao. This is the most
common reason why a lot of Filipinos want to move to the capital city. Those who live in
the provinces believe that they will be able to get better jobs and make more money if
they move to the Metro. This is the specific ideology that made Jojo think that people who
lived or are living in the city are better than those people like him, people who lived or are
currently living in the provinces. Naming the girl whom he liked “Makati Girl” insinuated
that he wanted a girl that seemed to have a better life and better qualities that those girls
he knew or knew of back home in Masbate. Stereotyping is already such a turn off to
most women but classifying the girl you like into the categories of City Girl and
Probinsyana is just something completely unacceptable. It might seem like a compliment
to Makati Girl but isn’t it actually a diss? Isn’t it an insult to the girls that he classifies into
his category of Probinsyanas? Being put into the City Girl category can make a person
feel empowered and maybe make her feel like people actually like her, but how about
those that are being put into the Probinsyana category? It can make them feel like they
are not enough when in actuality they deserve better than those people who are
containing them in these prison cells they call categories. Women are still people, and all
women deserve to get complimented just like everyone else on the planet.

Another important person in Jojo’s life story is Dean Batumbacal, his current
college dean and the person that offered Jojo a private scholarship. He first met the dean
when he was doing his talent test during his College Admissions Test in UP, it was then
when Jojo was offered the scholarship. The actions of the college dean during Jojo’s
talent test made Jojo assume that the dean was queer. But him being quite innocent back
then, didn’t think much of these actions and accepted the private scholarship that was
offered to him by the said dean. He had never met a gay man much like Dean
Batumbacal, because “…the only gay men in Masbate had been, as expected,
hairdressers and dressmakers, and their school Boy Scout Master. He never expected to
meet one in such an exalted position and was frankly quite curious,” and this statement
once again points out the tendencies of Jojo to put people into categories and stereotype
them; he thinks of gay men as only those with jobs thought of as lowly by society.
 It is not wrong to think that a lot of hairdressers and dressmakers are gay men but
to confine all men who identify as gay into a box is not okay. Queers, may it be gay,
lesbian, bisexual, transgender or any other gender people identify as, may have been
thought of as sinners by the Filipino society, especially during the early 2000s, but they
still are people. Queers can also be degree holders. They can also be the CEOs of big
corporations. Heck, they can also be honored lawmakers and government officials.
Queers are just like any other person out there that has potential. No box is designed to
confine the potential anyone has. No job is lowly. All jobs contribute to the betterment of
our society. Who cuts people’s hair and makes them look presentable when they go meet
the person they like? Isn’t it those gay men that they think so lowly of? Equal chances
should be given to each and every person but stereotyping them is robbing them of that
chance.

Another part of the story gravely shows Jojo’s insensitivity to the feelings of the
people around him, specifically to the feelings of Aenid towards him. Aenid made it no
secret that she liked Jojo, but instead of her seeing that Jojo liked her best friend, Makati
Girl, she thought it was she whom Jojo liked. Aenid had already been very open and very
honest to Jojo about her feelings toward him, but seeing that Jojo liked a different girl, he
didn’t act upon Aenid’s feelings until that one night where Jojo, Aenid and Makati Girl
went to watch a movie together, Aenid acted as though something special and intimate
had transpired between her and Jojo and “she took his arm and placed it around her waist
while they walked through the mall”. Jojo didn’t like it, so he started to gently remove his
arm from her grasp as they stepped onto the escalator, resulting in Aenid being on the
higher step and himself being just below her. It was then when Aenid turned and
“…lunged at his throat and shoved her pointed little tongue in his mouth” and this caused
Jojo to almost fall over. They were indeed quite a scene, especially with Jojo trying his to
keep the two of them from falling as they rocked back and forth. Jojo had to practically
carry her off the escalator. After the movie was done, Jojo approached Aenid and offered
to take her home to make up for the scene on the escalator. And while in bed with Aenid,
it was Makati Girl that he pictured he was with. As they had intercourse, Aenid wailed that
she really loved Jojo, no matter what happened. When it was over, he shut his eyes and
thought about what he would do if he had Makati Girl with him instead of her best friend.
 This situation just paints Jojo as a villain. He practically used Aenid and took
advantage of her and of her feelings towards him, just so that he could fulfill his manly
needs. Jojo could have outright told Aenid, no and that he liked another girl, but no, he
had to keep his silence and let Aenid think it was she whom he liked. Because of this
Aenid was led on and it made her look stupid, chasing the man she loved but that man
didn’t share the same feelings. During the night they went to the movies, Aenid was
already vulnerable because of her actions when they were on the escalator, and Jojo
jumped on her vulnerability and used her. Aenid was objectified. She was made into an
object that only brought on pleasure to Jojo. Just because Aenid was liberated and
carefree, it doesn’t mean that Jojo had the permission to use her as he did. No woman is
worthy of treatment like that. No woman deserves to be used and led on. Women are not
objects; women are not only for the pleasure of men.

Our society continues to categorize, confine, and contain people into these prison
cell-like boxes and this story shows how people see women and those people within the
LGBT community as objects they can put into boxes. They are, in the story, considered
the minority. Ms. Farrin and Makati Girl don’t deserve to get put in such categories. Dean
Batumbacal did nothing that warrants Jojo to have such thoughts. Aenid is not worthy of
being objectified. The story Meditation of a Piss Artist was written in the year 2001 but the
issues present in the story are still reflected in the current state of the society. Even though
the story was written at the time when a female was the head of our government, the
author didn’t fail in reflecting how people think of the minorities. To this day, minorities are
still restricted, women are still objectified, and queers are still seen as sinners in the eyes
of the religious. In all the situations mentioned and discussed, Jojo had a choice. He had
a choice to not compare city girls and probinsyanas. He had a chance to appreciate Ms.
Farrin and Makati Girl as they were, without complementing them by degrading others.
He had a choice to honor the achievements of Dean Batumbacal instead of thinking that
gay men are only of low class. He had the choice to respect Aenid as a person and not
use her only for his enjoyment and pleasure. He had all these choices, but he never once
acted upon them, instead he chose to confine all these wonderful people into his
imaginary boxes.