Ednave, Kyla Cathrine

BA COMM II
Comm 103
Gender, Media, and Language: Thought Paper

The Philippines is known to be a conservative country. We grew up in the concept of

Maria Clara as an ideal woman — soft, feminine, and chaste. We are often criticized for our
actions or personality beyond that, telling us the words “kababae mong tao pero… [actions]”.
Admittedly, I am still hurt by society’s label, wishing me to be someone else just because they
think I’m not lady enough. Despite our wide appreciation in the overwhelming changes of roles
in our society, it is still a slow progress in our country. The webinar “Gender, Media and
Language in the Philippines and Thailand: A transnational conversation” showed another
reason for us to have second-thoughts in the progress of our gender acceptance. Dr. Petras,
one of the speakers, showed the innate sexism in our culture, particularly in our language, and
to my surprise, Thailand had also the same issue.

Our language itself displays subtle hints of sexism based on the dictionary itself.
Anything related to women is assumed to be inferior, submissive, and chaste — a depiction of
the society to what we call a woman. Additionally, anything that relates to seducing and flirty
attitude is also associated with women. When I watched the Burning Times during my
Communication 116, there was an unforgettable realization I had: society thinks women are the
destruction of men because of the power we possess, and thereby called devil. We are not
allowed to show our skin, expected to behave primly, and most importantly men’s act of
violence also becomes our fault. Dr. Petras’ discussion also relates to the same ideology of the
video — women are blamed for men’s recklessness, much of the reason for their derogatory
remarks. Could we blame them, if our culture as well is harsh and condescending? Maybe not,
but our depiction of men and women as the time goes by is certainly changing. If the older
generation was stuck in the bubble of inclusive traits of both men and women, we are lucky
enough to consider ourselves well-educated in the matter of equality. However, the
discrimination does not only occur in our country, but it is a widespread of tradition particularly in
Asian countries. In Thailand, the same gender issues are presented against the LGBTQ+
community, as opposed to their promotion of their BL stories. According to Miss Singpliam,
there are still problems that exist within their community, especially they are deprived of
peaceful life in work and education, family, and implemented policies. In fact, the figure of gay
men is still considered as comical; an icon of comedy and desperate figures to look like a
woman. Hence, it is safe to say that both countries share the same sentiments against the
stereotypical views of people against these communities, and both share the same passion to
promote equality among people.

It is hard to live in a society where change is frowned upon, but it is our challenge as the
youth to maintain this optimism for the future generation. Many people have died and been
criticized for fighting for our freedom, and despite these seeming to be just a little glimpse of the
world we want, we are lucky enough to experience it in our lifetime. Our job as the youth is to
continue the work of our ancestors to implement the same advocacy and passion to equal
rights.