Disney Princesses...and they lived happily ever after.

I never realized that there are actually a lot of things to talk about the Disney Princesses. Interestingly, the reporters about the Disney Characters discussed about different issues but they all touched on the issue of the princesses being weak and helpless. They are always the damsel in distress rescued by a vigorous and handsome prince. Disney fairytales always portray the female characters as the villains of the story (E.g. stepmothers or the stepsisters). The main character, who is the princess, is always much fairer than the rest of the characters. They portray how society almost always gives preference to beautiful women over the ugly ones. As a reaction to this preference, Cinderella’s stepsisters and Snow White’s stepmother felt jealous and insecure about themselves. During the 90s, Disney’s Princess Jasmine tried to set apart herself from the rest of the princesses. First, she is black and then she is wearing a more liberated type of outfit, showing off her curves. It was also mentioned that Aladdin was produced in the height of racism that is why Princess Jasmine is different among all the stereotyped princesses because she is somewhat rebellious. The objects of humor in all Disney fairytales are the small, fat and ugly people. Sidekicks are always the funny Black characters who are always very clumsy.

One of the reporters mentioned that the 7 dwarves could possibly be homosexuals. It was kind of vague when he gave his arguments such as why are they miners and why did they allow snow white to stay in their house. I do not think that there is enough reason to typify them as homosexuals.

Disney Princesses are somehow very idealistic and it tries to promote gender stereotypes. Although I have really nothing against these fims, I think that it’s good to know that movies such Shrek are now being produced to break away from the stereotypes that these Disney Movies have established.

image source: http://www.carnivalpromotions.com/images/Moonwalks/Standard/Disney%20Princess/Disney%20Princess.jpg

Filipino Archetypes

Archetypes are beginning pattern that recurs throughout time to be considered as universal. The proponent for this concept is the famous psychologist Carl Jung, who is behind the theory of “collective unconscious.” Examples of universal archetypes for male and female are the sky and the earth, light and darkness, odd and even, square and round, blue and pink, and roses and thorns. Guns are also used to symbolize male organ whereas peanuts are for female’s clitoris. I am really not quite sure about Filipino Archetypes but I think that “Bituin” or stars are used to associate with female whereas Bahaghari or rainbow and Habagat or the Southwest monsoon are used to associate with male. The spoon is also associated with female whereas fork is with male. (Example: Nahulog ang kuchara habang kumakain ng hapunan: ibig sabihin may darating na babaeng bisita.)

image source:
http://www.clipartpoint.com/_Thumbnail%5CAnimated%20Gifs%5CObjects%5CFork%20And%20Spoon%5Cfork_spoon_090.GIF

Some famous novelty songs also have representations of male and female such as the song “Bulaklak” (flower) and “ Basketball” by the Viva Hotbabes. The “Bulaklak” is used as a representation of the female genital. In the song “Basketball,” The ball represents the male organ and the basket represents the female organ during sexual intercourse. I am not sure if this is still an archetype but some other representations may include vegetables such as talong, patola, upo, ampalaya (for male) and fruits like banana (male) and pinya (female). The bird is also a representation for a male’s genital (sometimes, either maya or eagle.) Seafoods like tahong, talaba are also associated with female. The bibinkga and puto bongbong also represent female and male organs respectively.

Gender Roles and Biases

1.) When Meg becomes Rod and Rod becomes Meg.


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2.) Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.


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3.) Toilet Etiqutte


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4.) Women in the corporate world.




image sources:
www.cartoonstock.com
http://bifsniff.com/images/cartoons/womencars_cartoon.gif

Difference Between Erotica Pornography

"Erotica portrays nonaggressive sexual activity between willing, sensitive, caring partners. The partners share in the initiation and choice of activities, erlatively free from the stereotype pattern of male dominance and female subservience that characterizes much pornography"
--Margaret Jean Intons-Peterson and Beverly Roskos-Ewoldsen "Mitigating the Effects of Violent Pornography pg 219

In pornography women are objects. Men act on women who aren't even women, merely bodies. Recepticles of male lust.
Erotica celebrates sexuality, while pornography reduces it to domination and submission. Pornography is harmful because it dehumanizes both men and women.

http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/Garden/1073/porn2.html


Pornography and Erotica both depict sex and intend to stimulate sexually. However, pornography is more transparent wherein one person is a subject while the other is the object. In pornography, only one person enjoys the act of sexual activity. In most porn movies, there isn't really much story but rather more on the act of fore playing and sexual intercourse. Pornography is more visual in a sense that they may expose the sexual organs of the characters. Pornography is classified into two classifications which are soft porn and hard porn. Soft porn is when there is no exposure of genitalia during the sexual intercourse whereas hard porn has lots of genitalia exposure (in fact sometimes, in porn movies they even focus the camera on the genitals). Some argue that it is already to be considered as porn once the nipple of the female boob is exposed while others say only if two nipples are shown can it be considered as porn.
In Erotica, there is a subject-subject relationship in which both (or all of them in cases like threesome activities) are enjoying. Examples of Erotica are romance novels which are actually more detailed in describing the mood and setting of the scenes. In Erotica, even the smallest detail such as the color of the lingerie the characters are wearing, are described. It is very descriptive and I think that it stimulates the audience more than pornography since the audience can use their wildest imagination to interpret the message.

Curses and Labeling of Men and Women

I’ve noticed that I haven’t been using much labeling terms in my way of speaking and writing, except for the word “gaga” to connote the female counterpart of “gago.”

It’s kind of unfair that most of the curses we use tend to degrade women in general. Like the mother-fucker, son of a bitch, whore, among others. Even in translation of language, biases are so evident, as they tend to favor masculinity. Say for instance the word master which means boss, when translated to its female counterpart, is mistress which means a “querida.” Host (as in emcee) and its female counterpart, hostess (as in g.r.o.). Governor (as in administrator) to governess (as in maid or yaya).


image source|: http://getweird.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/curses3.jpg

Eating Out With Maximo Oliveros

“Eating out” is more of like a “coming out” movie while “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” focused more on the environment and its effect on the main characters’ values. The latter is not really a movie about homosexuality and it only mirrors how a typical Filipino family thrives for a living. Some of the Filipino traits that were shown in this movie include being happy-go-lucky and having close family ties. Maximo Oliveros cannot be considered as a gay since he did not actually come out of the closet. He was portrayed to be like a “little housewife slash mother” of their family because he tries to fill up the roles of their mother. He is responsible of doing household chores like cooking, cleaning, washing among others.

In the movie “Eating Out”, they try to show us not just the challenges of being a gay but also their worth as part of our society. One of the characters said something like “being gay is more than eating low fat food…” This is like saying there is more to being a gay than what people actually think. In another scene, one of the characters raised the question, “Why change to the path of oppression when happiness is right here?” This is telling us that although gay people and homosexuality have already gained acceptance in our society, there is still oppression to the third sex and it will be hard for us to erase it.
It’s funny how they try to use each other in the movie just to get who they really wanted. Kyle used Caleb to have Marc while Caleb used Marc to have Gwen. Caleb pretends to like Marc since Gwen is attracted to gay people while Kyle hopes to be Marc’s “rebound” when he eventually finds out that Caleb is just after his best friend, Gwen.
What is nice about this movie is that they are able to show us that gay people are also human beings who have emotions. It’s also good that they were able to exemplify the artistic skills of Kyle and Marc in music to show us that even the third sex can also excel in our society.

image sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/Eating_out.jpg/200px-Eating_out.jpg
http://tambayansalondon.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/maximooliverosposter.jpg

Eating Out 2, Sloppy Seconds

i didn't know that there's actually a sequel to the film "Eating Out" The first movie, which i watched in my Genders class, was really very shocking and it was my first time ever to see such film.

Here's a scene from the movie sequel, which shows how Kyle and his new prospect joined a group of ex-gays, who are trying to promote their "coming in" or what they call "homo no more."

one common thing i noticed from the original and the sequel movie is the factor of "pretending" just to get what the main characters really wanted. Does it always have to be that way? That gay people should always have to be pretentious? if that's the case.. then how far are they willing to pretend?


video source: www.youtube.com

Si Dodong Charing [1]

***click the play button to listen to the song***


Dodong Charing's Tagalog Version

ayoko ng pumatol pa
dahil bistado na kita
ang bilis kong naniwala sayo
may buntot ka palang tinatago
ang sabi mo ay seksi ka
at model ng perla
ba’t nung ka eyeball na kita
barako ka pala
charing nailad ko sa buing
charing kasakit sa kasingkasing
charing nailad ko sa buing
charing nihalok pa sa akong aping
si dodong charing
nagpadala ‘ko ng dyes mil
dahil akala ko na ikaw ay isang anghel
nasayang lang talaga ang pera ko
kampon ka pala ng demonyo
ang sabi mo ay maganda ka,
at model ng perla
ba’t nung ka eyeball na kita
macho ka pala
charing nailad ko sa buing
charing kasakit sa kasingkasing
charing nailad ko sa buing
charing nihalok pa sa akong aping
si dodong charing
ang sabi mo ay seksi ka
at model ng perla
ba’t nung ka eyeball na kita
barako ka pala
charing nailad ko sa buing
charing kasakit sa kasingkasing
charing nailad ko sa buing
charing nihalok pa sa akong aping
si dodong charing
dodong charing
dodong charing
dodong charing….


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Panibagong kanta na naman tungkol sa engkwentro ng isang lalaki sa isang bakla ang naisipan kong gawan ng blog. Bago ko pa man naisipang sumulat tungkol sa kantang "Modelong Charing" ay nauna ko ng naisipang sumulat tungkol sa kantang ito dahil madalas ko itong napapakinggan sa radyo nitong mga nakaraang buwan. Sa katunayan, naging isa ito sa mga kantang mahirap alisin sa aking isip oras na ito'y aking napakinggan. Karaniwan sa akin ang magcommute papuntang eskwela at sa mga oras na ako'y nakasakay sa pampasaherong bus ay ilang ulit kong napapakinggan itong kantang ito. Maganda ang pagkakagawa ng kanta dahil madali itong sabayan at nakakatuwa ang bawat linya ng lyrics.

Gaya ng Modelong Charing, ipinapakita sa kantang ito na ang mga bakla ay mapaglinlang lalong-lalo na tungo sa mga kalalakihan. (basehan: "Ang sabi mo ay seksi ka at model ng perla ba't nung ka eyeball na kita barako ka pala?") Hindi ba maaaring maging model ng perla ang isang bakla kung sakaling totoo nga ang kaniyang sinasabi? Tanging mga kababaihan lang ba at mga kalalakihan ang maaaring maging modelo ng ating lipunan? Maaari rin naman maging model ang isang tao nang hindi ipinapakita ang buong katawan hindi ba? (Hal.: model ng perla sa kamay).

Si Dodong Charing [2]

Ipinapakita rin dito sa kantang ito na ang mga bakla ay mukhang pera sapagkat sila ay nakakatanggap ng salapi mula sa mga kalalakihan. Ngunit hindi ba kung minsan ay kabaliktaran pa nga ang talagang nangyayari sa ating lipunan ngayon? Hindo ba't ang mga bakla pa nga kung minsan ang siyang nagbibigay ng pera sa mga kalalakihang nakakasama nila upang matustusan lamang ang kani-kanilang pangagailangan? Hindi ba't may ilan ring mga kalalakihan na tila ay ginagamit lamang ang kahinaan ng mga bakla upang makalamang sa pamamagitan ng paghihingi ng mga meteryal na bagay? Ngunit hindi rin nating maipagkakait na kung minsan ay mismong ang mga bakla na ang talagang kusang nagbibigay ng mga materyal na bagay sa mga nakakasama nilang lalaki.

At paano naman naging isang kampon ng demonyo ang pagiging bakla? hindi ba ito masyadong nakakapaglapastangan sa mga bakla sapagkat nahuhusgahan na agad sila base sa kanilang pagiging bakla.

Wala naman akong nais iparating sa likod ng mga taong bumubuo ng kantang ito subalit naisip ko lang na sa kabila ng pagtatanggap at pagiging liberal ng ating lipunan tungkol sa mga isyu ng bakla, hindi maiiwasang may ilan pa ring nanatiling mapanghusga sa kanila at tila tinatrato silang parang mas nakabababang uri ng tao. Ano man ang sabihin at isipin natin sa kanila, isang bagay lamang ang hindi nating maaaring ipagkait sa kanila--tao rin silang may puso at pakiramdam-- kung kaya't mas makakabubuti para sa lahat na maging mas sensitibo tayo sa kanila upang maiwasan ang makasakit ng kapwa.

Gender Stereotypes

Archetype: square and blue = male; circle and pink = female.

This video is very funny. But this is how men and women are actually stereotyped in our society.


source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIwWS2atEmc

Modelong Charing [1]

***click the play button to listen to the song***

Back in the late 90s, a song entitled “Modelong Charing” was popularized by a local artist named Blakdyak. The novelty song made it top on the radio hit charts and became an instant favorite. Aside from its unique and catchy melody, what made it popular is its very humorous lyrics, which talks about the experiences of a “Modelong Charing.” I really don’t know what the word “charing” actually means but as far as I know, it’s a sward speak coined by the gay people much like the “chaka ang chuk chak chenes na ititch” phrase. Depending on the context “charing” may mean to say “it’s only a joke”. In the song “Modelong Charing” it actually refers to a gay person who was mistaken as a woman. It is a story about a person who works at a disco bar somewhere in Ermita (a place in Manila known for tourists and bars). Every time the model dances at the disco, the foreigners are drooling over her. One day, she met a Japanese mestizo who fell in love with her and asked her to become his girlfriend. He started sending her gifts and he even bought her a house and lot. Everything else went okay not until the day when the foreigner saw Modelong Charing peeing in a male restroom. Upon realizing that they are both standing up while peeing, the Japanese got fuming mad that he got her all beaten up. He took back everything that he has given to her. In the end, Modelong Charing no longer works as a dancer anymore but as a simple egg and eggplant vendor.

Modelong Charing [2]

I believe that the story behind this song really exists in our society. It’s not that hard to imagine how gay people, especially those who really dress and look like a real woman, hide their utmost secret because of their fears. They fear that no man will really accept and love them when they realize that they are actually gay. This is probably one of the reasons why some men have started to become more and more suspicious with the girls they are dating. Some men really know that they are going out with a gay person (and they are okay with it), while the others remain are very clueless. Going back to the case of Modelong Charing, who do you think is the real victim? Is it the Japanese who thought that he fell in love with a woman, or is it Modelong Charing who was beaten up for belonging to the third sex? What if from the beginning, the Japanese already knew that Modelong Charing is gay, will he still fall in love for her? Oh well, no one would really know.

And oh! by the way, notice how Filipinos tend to be a bit naughty when they play with the lyrics of novelty songs such as the abovementioned. In the last stanza, it says there that Modelong Charing ends up selling itlog and talong which are both representations of a man's sexual organ. Hmmm.... very naughty modelong charing huh? hahaha!

Here’s the complete lyrics of the song “Modelong Charing”


Ako ay isang model
Duon sa Ermita
Gabi-gabi sa disco
At nagpapabongga

Sa pagka-istariray
Talbog lahat sila
Ang mga foreigner
Ay nagkakandarapa
Pag ako'y sumayaw na

Ako'y may nakilala
Mestizo na hapon
Na-in-love siya sa akin
Type niyang gawing girlfriend

Ako'y niregaluhan
Bahay, lupa't datung
Ang 'di lang niya alam
At 'di ko nasabi
Na ako'y isang..."DARNA! DARNA! DARNA!"

Ang iniingat-ingatan ko
Ang ugat, lawit at muscle ko
Na tinatagu-tago ko pa
Sa twing kami'y magkasama

Ako'y nananalangin
Na sana'y manawari
'Wag sanang mabuking
Nakatali kong akin
Na ubod nang itim!

Ang iniingat-ingatan ko
Ang ugat, lawit at muscle ko
Na tinatagu-tago ko pa
Sa twing kami'y magkasama

Kami'y biglang nagkita
Nang 'di sinasadya
Sa restroom ng lalake
Doon sa Megamall

Napatingin siya sa 'kin
Ako'y napahiya
Sa galit ng hapon
Inumbag niya ako

"Bakero! Wat is dat?!"
"Just like yours, papa."
Sira ang byuti ko

Binawi pang lahat
Bahay, lupa't datung
Ng nobyo kong hapon

Kaya ang byuti ko ngayon
Nagtitinda na lang
Ng itlog at talong


Source: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/blakdyak-in-lab-lyrics.html

WANTED: Mr. and Mrs. Jones

The story of Baby X is very Xtraordinary. The overall idea of the story is very one of a kind and a bit humorous at some point too. However, it is very unrealistic and idealistic because contrary to how the society would perceive an unusual person like Baby X, the author made it look like as if everything will turn out to be just fine.

Well the sad truth is, our life is not as simple as how it seems to be. Lucky is how I must describe Baby X because "it" has a very supportive parents who, as the author describes, “really wanted to raise an X more than any other kind of baby no matter how much trouble it would be.” Seldom do I see parents who are as supportive and as loving as the Joneses are. In fact, in my case, and for most people I know out there, problems usually root from our own family because they never seem to understand us and accept us for what and who we really are. Whereas the Joneses feed Baby X with formula T.L.C.(tender loving care) plus sweet lullabies at night, in reality, quite a number of the parents feed their children with curses from morning ‘til night. One thing that Baby X has that a number of us--especially those who belong to the third sex--probably don’t have, is the fulfillment of the need for love, affection and sense of belongingness.

The theory of Abraham Maslow says that in order for us get to stage of having self-esteem, we must first be able to fulfill the three other basic needs which include the physiological, security and belongingness needs. Most of us fail to carry out the need for belongingness most especially when we seem to be a bit different from what we are expected of. Sometimes, we even hide our true selves from our own family because of pressure and fear. This is one of the reasons why there are a lot of people who are still very afraid to come out of there closets. We feel more comfortable in the presence of our friends rather than our own flesh and blood because with the former, we can simply be who we are. No expectations therefore, no pretensions. In the case of Baby X, even though “it” may be considered deviant, “it” still gets to find itself in the presence of its family and friends. Our character is very much influenced by our society and more specifically by our family.

When I was asked how will I actually react if a real Baby X exists, I said that I will probably hate Baby X because “it” seems to know it all and have it all. Everybody just wants to be like Baby X; Who would not want an almost perfect life, right? Perhaps the underlying reason why I will feel that way is because I envy Baby X for having very supportive parents. Maybe part of me really wants to be like Baby X too so that I can get rid of my own insecurities. Or maybe we really don’t want to be an X after all, maybe, all we need and all we want is just love and acceptance. Oh well, how i wish everyone around us is like Mr. and Mrs. Jones.

For the link to the story of Baby X:
http://www.trans-man.org/baby_x.html

image source:
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2987348/2/istockphoto_2987348_checkered_red_and_white_ribbon.jpg