VALENCIA, ARIANNE MAE

COMMUNICATION III
Title: The state of feminism in Philippine media
Specific Speech Purpose: To inform my Comm. III classmates on what feminism
really is, and how Philippine media still has a lot to improve based on the ideals
posed by the movement.
Statement: Sexism is still prevalent in Philippine media
INTRODUCTION
I. Attention Step
So what exactly comes to mind whenever you hear the word
'feminism'? For some of you, the mental image is probably a horde of angry,
vicious man-haters. Cast that aside for a moment and let me talk to you
about what feminism isn't.
II. Clarification Step
Feminism isn't about hating men, wanting to be like men, or wanting
to be better than men. The movement is about wanting the same rights and
treatment from systems of power that privileges certain groups over others,
as well as striving for equal freedom to freely express one's self, and
breaking through traditional gender roles typically imposed by society on
every single person in the system. Basically, feminism is the strive for
human rights, for equal rights.
BODY
I. Why the term feminism?
A. Women are a marginalized group
1. Marginalized groups need a safe space
2. 'Equalism' is way too broad to address the issues that mostly
women are victims of. Men, despite of course being human beings
with their own set of personal issues, are already at an advantage for
simply being male. We have to focus specifically on the issues and
needs of the marginalized to bring them up to the same privileges
experienced by the group with the advantage, hence the usage of the
term 'feminism'.
B. Feminism goes hand-in-hand with other movements for equality
II. So now that that's cleared up, I can now talk about certain specific
incidents in Philippine media:
A. Let's start with a huge part of Filipino culture, noontime shows
and their dancers.
1. Typically, shows like Eat Bulaga and the now-cancelled Wowowee
employ the use of their female dancers more as props than as actual
talents

2. This is also hammered in further by how the women are made to

just stand there while hosts (typically male) ogle at their bodies, and
sometimes even go as far as making subtly lewd remarks.
B. In social media, there exists the Ang babaeng ayaw mabastos,
nagdadamit ng maayos
mindset.
1. Posts like this garner hundreds of retweets, even from women
themselves.
2. This is blatant slut-shaming, and robs women of the ability to make
their own decisions regarding their own body without fear of
judgement or public humiliation.
C. The Jennifer Laude incident is an issue that we've all probably
heard of a lot, especially since we're here in UP.
1. Transfeminism can be looked at as another movement within
feminism that narrows the
down even further to transpeople.
2. Transwomen ARE real women.
3. The media has disrespected Jennifer's identity numerous times by
misrepresenting her as someone she was not.
CONCLUSION
Summary Step: Philippine media, when put against feminist ideals, still
has a long way to go
before we can consider it truly acceptable. But in the advent of supportive
internet communities and technology, the movement is starting to gain entry
into mainstream consciousness. Because of
this, I think I can say with a certain
degree of certainty that its state can and should only get better from here.
Sources:
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/09/25/why-i-prefer-the-word-feministover-equalist/
http://carolineheldman.me/2014/10/24/how-to-spot-sexual-objectificationthe-chips-test/
Visual Aids: Pictures
Time: 5-6 minutes