So after the political correctness and insensitivity police have savagely beaten up Congressman Manny Pacquiao (for comparing homosexuals to animals), it is now Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s turn to burn at the stake. A video recently surfaced showing Duterte crossing a line when he apparently joked about a rape and murder in 1989, commenting that the victim was beautiful and as mayor he “should have been first” when men took turns raping her. His remark has led to an uproar in the Philippines and around the world. Many critics have lambasted Duterte for being sexist. While I personally think that the remark was in poor taste, what I find amusing is that many Filipinos who in the past have touted political correctness and sensitivity continue to be avid supporters and defenders of this potty mouthed Mayor. They support and defend Duterte yet they were so quick to turn their backs on Manny Pacquiao. Are these people suggesting that women derogation is more acceptable than homophobia? Or is this PC thing really just a tool to express a phony outrage in support of a real agenda?
Let’s take the case of proud lesbian and LGBT rights advocate, celebrity Aiza Seguerra. You might remember her reaction to Manny Pacquiao’s ‘homophobic’ remark when she said:
“I am so fuckin’ mad I don’t know what to say. You might’ve done our country proud but with your statement, you just showed the whole country why we shouldn’t vote for you. And yes, I think you are an ignorant, bigoted hypocrite. You made me lose all respect that I had for you, Mr. Pacquiao.”
Now how come we don’t see the same level of outrage from her regarding Duterte’s distasteful sexist joke? Seguerra, in fact, is an avid supporter of Mayor Duterte. She is even willing to campaign for Duterte for free. If Seguerra were truly a champion of decency and respect for all human beings which includes LGBTs, wouldn’t it make sense for her to drop Duterte for an indecent and disrespectful remark against women and give Duterte the same vitriol she gave Pacquiao? Seguerra is not alone on this. Many folks who bashed Pacquiao are also avid Duterte supporters. There’s Jan Albert Suing and Liza Dino, to name a couple. Suing is a graduate student from the University of the Philippines who also works for a scientific research organization in the country. (So contrary to many people who think Duterte supporters are uneducated war-freaks, Suing is obviously an exception.) He wrote a very compelling article explaining his case for voting for Duterte in the Huffington Post. Suing also wrote an open letter in reaction to Pacquiao’s “hate on LGBT people” that was published at the Huffington Post. I don’t seem to see any articles from Suing recently on his castigation of Duterte’s “sexism”. Liza Dino appears to be silent too on scientifically educating Duterte on the seriousness of violence against women and lambasting the Mayor for trivializing rape. She didn’t seem to have any problems lecturing Pacquiao on his ‘scientific’ ignorance regarding homosexuality, how come she is not up in arms against Duterte’s sexism? Afterall, Duterte has been known to be a womanizer even before this ‘sexist’ joke YouTube video surfaced.
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It seems to me, for this case, that proponents of LGBT equality are hard on people they perceive as homophobes but not so much on people who are perceived to be offensive to other groups. I would wager that people who are adherents of, say, Islam would be more reactive (verbally and/or physically) against those perceived to be Islamophobes than homophobes. This is the problem with phony outrage! The outrage isn’t really about lack of political correctness or lack of decency or respect or any idealistic end. It really is about not getting their specific advocacies and agenda pushed. Here we see the hypocrisy of those who purport the importance of tolerance, sensitivity, equality, decency and political correctness. If you won’t consider the feelings of, say, LGBTs, then they’ll tell you to get lost and you better believe that the outrage would last as long as a case of untreated vaginal yeast infection.
Now going back to Duterte and his ‘sexist’ remark, I do not wish to trivialize sexism. This is indeed serious and terrible. But it might interest the readers to know that women prefer male bosses over female. Isn’t that ‘sexist’? But for some reason, I don’t seem to come across any outrage over this phenomenon. Sexism, homophobia, racism, etc., if we really want to stop them, must be tackled at its root rather than dwell on manufactured and phony outrage. Why do women (or feminist groups) feel so enraged over criticism or negative comments about women but not when similar criticism is directed at men? Why is there so much outrage over cases when women are hurt by men but almost nothing when it comes to women hurting men? I have seen a YouTube video that demonstrated this phenomenon – when a woman was being abused by a man people around were quick to defend the woman but when the scenario was reversed, no one came to defend the man. The video ended with a message that 40% of domestic violence is suffered by men and that violence is violence regardless of whether it was given by men or women. Doesn’t it make better sense to embrace the notion that the outrage on ‘sexism’ that we often hear is not about men being necessarily abusive to women or that women are always the victims of abuse by men – it is really the misguided belief that women are necessarily weaker. So really, doesn’t it make better sense to dwell on ignorance as the root of sexism or any other forms of discrimination like racism and homophobia and that we must educate the public to inform people better rather than to merely vilify the offenders and play the victim card?
So would I still consider voting for Duterte in spite of his sexist remarks? Absolutely! I, for one, do not believe that his lousy sense of humor or even his machismo – his seeming crass penchant for objectification of women, would be enough to discard his proven track record, competency, and political will to make meaningful and concrete changes the country badly needs. His potty mouth does not obliterate the fact that he has a well proven successful government executive experience that makes him worthy of another government executive position. His demeanor is not as refined as his other competitors but he has the most applicable experience to qualify for the job. (Other than VP Binay who, unfortunately, is beholden to the special interest groups that have wreaked havoc on the Philippines since 1986.)
So really, I don’t see Duterte’s ‘sexist’ remark to be gravely offensive. Sure it was in poor taste but not enough for me to throw him out to the dustbin. I suppose the perpetually offended feminists would label me as a ‘sexist’ too for giving Duterte a pass. That’s fine because I know that is not true. The truth is that I am not ‘sexist’ – some of my best wives are women! Okay now don’t tell me you didn’t find that funny.
(Image taken from ABS-CBN News)
Calling a spade, a spade…
I agree. Manny is definitely not a homophobe nor anti-LBGT but I see why people were enraged when he compared animals to humans. I also do not think that people having a problem with his stance against same-sex marriage – that was not the issue. Manny is simply ignorant, and I am sure he did not mean the lbgt community harm nor he intentionally insulted them.
I have gay friends and I find it offensive when Manny compared them to animals. However, I am smart enough to know that Manny has a good heart and he would never intentionally hurt anyone. He is a kind soul who spew stupid things that he did not mean, kinda like the rest of us.
I never considered voting for Manny even before his gaffe. If some of Manny’s supporters will not vote for him because of what he said, then that is their choice but it would be a pretty stupid move – punishing your candidate for saying one stupid and ignorant statement. It’s like throwing away all the good that he had done for the country, and for thousands of poor people for one idiotic mistake.
It’s perfectly fine to call out Manny for his mistake but for his supporter who would not vote for him because of one stupid statement he said? That in itself is pretty fucking stupid.
As i have previously mentioned onmy other posts, Political correctness runs rampant in our society. A lot of people just stay on their high fucking horse and live in glass houses.
They prefer the well-mannered and decent leaders who are either incompetent, inexperienced, and corrupt rather than an foul-mouthed politically incorrect mayor whose platform from the beginning is to curb iut criminality, and one who is not in the pocket of influential politicians or wealthy individuals or interest groups.
Duterte’s unorthodox presidential campaign is appealing to the masses. They are sick and tired of Oligarchs, crony capitalists, and the corrupt establishment. We had Cory Aquino who was a decent woman; we had Arroyo who was a well-educated womam, we had Erap who appealed to the poor promising then heaven on earth, we had Pnoy who is another decent man but nothing had changr really. They were all lip service.
Now that Duterte had emerged, ppl saw a different candidate. a candidate who is allergic to hypocrisy. A candidate who refused to take campaign money fron interest groups. politicians, and wealthy people while the other presidential candidates take money from whoever wants to buy them.
Pardon my typos as I am typing with my tongue. Am sure women love that kind of skill. Oh shit! I am sexist and pervert! I am so crude and I see womem as sex objects! LOL! Fuck you, PC ppl! lol
There is honor among those with oozing libido whether it is Aiza, Dino, Duterte or any intellectual. lol
I find your red text highlighting not a good color to read. I didn’t finish reading. It is painful to the eyes(I don’t know if others can endure). Maybe next time if you want to highlight some lines, please use a bold one. Thanks you.
I for one will not be called a hypocrite. I didn’t care about what Pacquiao said about homos and I don’t care about what Duterte said about rape victims.
Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There is too much fraternizing with the enemy.
They used to say: ” One sauce for the gander; another sauce for the goose…” Those feminist are avid supporter of Mayor Duterte. They just look the other way, when Duterte’s stinking mouth start to open.
However, they were hurt on Pacquiao. Because, his statements involved about the way homosexuals perceive/do sex. Lesbians do sex in one way. Gays do sex in other way. Animals are better, according to Pacquiao, because they do sex in the right way.
It depends on what sexual orientation you have: you may be a lesbian; a gay; a transgender; a fetish guy or girl; a necrophiliac;a peeping tom;a pedophile; etc…You are hurt by the remarks, because you are different, in sexual orientation…
Here’s one reason you won’t vote for him:
In an interview (on youtube) explaining why he joked about rape he said..
Duterte’s verbatim quote: “I can lose the elections today. Hindi na lang ako maka-atras, kasi marami na ang nagbigay (ng pera) sa akin ngayon nung tumaas na ang rating ko. Kaya kung tumagal pa ang rating ko tumaas [unintelligible] magbibigay pa sila ng pera.” (I can’t withdraw at this point, because many have given me (money or campaign contributions) since my preference ratings started rising. So, if my rating continues to go up (unintelligible) they will give me (more) money.
Apparently, he also received 100M from Cayetano which he couldn’t refuse just to run for presidency.
Source: http://goo.gl/hfRttU
Thank you for writing this article. I agree with you that sexism can be twisted by our society. Especially when you mentioned that a woman being beaten by a man would be defended but not the other way around. I agree because i was a victim of this abuse. I had a live in partner a few years back. I found out a few months later that she was a drug user, shabu specifically. Which makes her paranoid and violent. I, of course chose to stick with her and tried to help her out of love or some obligation as our culture suggests, for better or for worse diba? Despite the abuse i received i never mentioned anything to my family. I am not claiming to be super linis or what, i drink and smoke, but maybe my ego made me hide the truth of her beating me from my loved ones? I would go to work with a blackeye and say it was a basketball related accident, etc. Until the final straw when she threatened to kill me, and then beat herself up and called her relatives to come to her rescue because i was the one beating her! Thank god in her drugged state i was able to escape from her before her relatives to beat me up or throw me in jail. In our society it is usually the woman’s word against the man because we are supposed to be physically stronger. But i was taught to never strike a woman, so i usually just defend myself against her but i have struck her a few times in doing so. In the end her family was harrassing me to go back to her and calling me an asshole for leaving her. I had to leave my residence and hide for a few months. So there, your article helped me validate myself because despite what she did to me deep inside i still feel guilty sometimes for leaving her, because of these wrong thinkings of our society. Again, thank you!