“Beautiful Beth and Other Stories: On Sexual Violence in the Philippines” by Cristina Andrea
As I stood precariously on my desk, I reached for my copy of Filipina author Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo’s Catch a Falling Star, which was tucked into the very side of my upper-wall bookshelf. What possessed me to revisit the short story collection from my Grade 7 English class, I’ll never know. Surely it wasn’t for escapism, as the stories are undeniably realistic. When I first read “Beautiful Beth,” (96-110) my memory was already saturated with news of women kidnapped and raped and murdered. A high school sophomore being married off to her rapist after her being abducted was, however, shockingly novel to me.
Elements of Beth’s narrative, including her death at the hands of her rapist, still present themselves in the lives of Filipinas under the pandemic-induced lockdown. Sexual violence and fear of sexual violence are our reality. In September 2020, a 15-year-old girl from Ilocos Sur was shot dead by two policemen after she reported them for rape (Sotelo). Did you know that there were 6,499 reports of rape to the Philippine National Police from January to October 2020? On average, that was about 21 per day (Cañete). With countless Filipinas trapped in their homes, known domestic cases are likely a fraction of the actual total.
In addition to the constant threat of direct assault, the prevalence of sexual harassment has deprived us of a sense of safety in our communities. The Social Weather Stations’ February 2016 study surveyed women from two areas of Quezon City and revealed that three out of five women living there had been on the receiving end of catcalling, groping, and other intrusive acts committed by men (Safe Cities Quezon City). To protect ourselves from such behavior, we take care to dress modestly, return home before nightfall, and even carry concealed weapons whenever we leave our homes. We take care to catch the beady glances at our skirts and the phone cameras pointing at us, no matter how furtive or discreet. We take care, but should we simply resign ourselves to assuming that all men we encounter are predators?
Our caution will never address the root cause of our fear: male entitlement to female bodies. In conservative Christian Philippines, boys are raised to assert dominance over their peers, especially those of the opposite sex. The Bible often places men in positions of authority and respect. Meanwhile, women are rarely depicted as anything other than a man’s wife, sister, or daughter. After our Spanish colonizers enforced oppressive interpretations of scripture and
dismantled pre-colonial egalitarian social structures, the idea that women were the property of men was successfully woven into the Filipino consciousness.
Until today, Filipinos perpetuate what is widely known as “rape culture,” a set of ideologies and attitudes which enable sexual violence. Our own president continues to joke about assault and harassment, trivializing the impact of such crimes on women’s welfare. In June 2020, the Lucban Municipal Police Station made a Facebook post about provocative clothing (Marquez). In this instance of blatant victim-blaming, it was suggested that women were responsible for preventing assault and harassment. The statement stripped perpetrators of accountability and implied that men’s supposedly limited self-control must not be tested, lest they unleash their natural sexual aggression.
Although rape culture is deeply embedded in the fabric of Filipino society, re-education is not beyond us. Many already recognize this. Filipina musician Frankie Pangilinan inadvertently launched the #HijaAko movement (Manuel) through her response (@kakiep83) to a tweet by television and radio personality Ben Tulfo (@bitagbentulfo), who supported the Lucban police’s aforementioned post. Unfortunately, such campaigns do not reach all Filipinos. Re-education must be systematized. Schools should be required to discuss consent and sexual violence. Local government units should implement information programs about the consequences of rape culture. Aside from re-education, the government’s legislative branch must repeal the provision which pardons rapists who marry their victims and those who are forgiven by their spouses (Republic of the Philippines, Congress). All these measures will result in a society that is less tolerant of sexual abuse against not only women but all Filipinos.
We must allow women’s stories to hold us and drive us towards a more equal world. We must not become desensitized to the atrocities Filipinas experience everyday, waiting for bolder, crueler offenses against women and girls to disturb society’s undeserved comfort. Female objectification and male entitlement must end, and the re-education of the Filipino people will be the potent spark to ignite rightful outrage against rape culture and its accompanying horrors. In the fight for a world without beautiful Beths, we need everyone on our side.