Misogyny in Public Office

This Women’s Month began with a troubling reminder that objectification of women still finds its way into the highest political institutions. When public officials treat women’s bodies as subjects of commentary, it weakens the dignity that public office is supposed to protect.

What a way to begin Women’s Month.

I did not expect to write about this again so soon. Yet here we are, confronting another elected official who seems unable to grasp the basic standard of decency expected in public office.

During the last election season, I wrote about candidates who reduced women to objects, punchlines, or props in campaign speeches. I stressed that objectification is not humor. It is not charisma. It is not harmless.

Apparently, the message still needs repeating.

In a public forum at the House of Representatives, Quezon City 4th District Representative Bong Suntay narrated how he once saw actress Anne Curtis at a mall. He described her beauty and openly admitted that he felt desire for her, adding that it would remain only in his imagination.

For an ordinary citizen, such a remark may be dismissed as crude. But for a lawmaker speaking in an official forum, it becomes public conduct.

Words spoken in Congress are not casual conversation. They carry institutional weight.

This is particularly troubling given that Suntay, during his time in the Quezon City Council, was part of the body that passed the Gender and Development Code and the Bawal Bastos Ordinance, measures meant to address lewd, malicious, and demeaning remarks in public spaces.

Yet in the very institution responsible for crafting national policy, he narrated his sexual imagination about a woman. Clearly, he isn’t living what he preaches as a lawmaker.

A female representative later moved to have his statement stricken from the record. Despite this, Suntay insisted he had done nothing wrong. He even suggested that the actress should take the remark as a compliment.

This response reveals the deeper problem.

When men in positions of power publicly narrate their desire for women, three things happen.

First, it normalizes objectification.

Second, it blurs the line between private thought and public conduct.

Third, it signals that women’s bodies remain acceptable subjects of commentary even in political institutions.

This is not about attraction. Attraction is human.

But a lawmaker speaking in an official forum is not a private citizen in a casual setting. When he speaks, he does so with the authority of the institution he represents. His words help define the standards of conduct in public life.

Politics is not entertainment. And Congress is certainly not a locker room.

The fact that the woman mentioned is a public figure does not make the remark acceptable. Fame does not erase a woman’s right to dignity. Objectification does not become ethical simply because the woman is admired.

This incident was not a minor slip.

Language shapes behavior. The moment private thoughts are spoken in an official setting, they become public speech.

When we tolerate this kind of language in political spaces, we teach the next generation that it is acceptable in public life.

When those in power casually talk about sexual desire, objectification slowly becomes normalized.

And objectification should never be normal.

Without accountability, nothing changes.

After years of discussions about respect, representation, and women’s rights, one would hope we had moved forward. Yet progress, it seems, does not sustain itself without vigilance.

Public officials are entrusted with more than authority. They are expected to lead with dignity and restraint. When that standard collapses, laws and ordinances lose their meaning.

Because dignity is not negotiable.

And if Representative Suntay has any regard left for the office he holds, the honorable course would be to step down.

His response so far suggests otherwise.

I can only hope that the Congress Ethics Committee takes action for his crude and very unethical remarks on Ms. Curtis.

When Trust Becomes a Weapon

 I have written blogs on many topics since I started blogging two decades ago. Violence in any form, especially against women and children, affects me the most.

I recently came across the story of Gisèle Pelicot, who spent nearly fifty years with the man she believed was her loving husband. What happened inside that marriage is difficult to comprehend.

In 1973, Gisèle Pelicot married Dominique Pelicot. They were young when they began their life together and went on to raise children and share decades of family life. Their marriage looked like one that survived the usual challenges couples face.

To the outside world, nothing seemed unusual. Even Gisèle herself did not know for years what was happening behind closed doors.

Around 2011, nearly forty years after their wedding, Dominique Pelicot began drugging his wife. He crushed sedatives into her food and drinks and waited until she lost consciousness. Then he invited other men into their home to rape her while she lay heavily sedated. This continued for about nine years.

Dozens of men entered that bedroom. Many saw a woman who was clearly unconscious and proceeded anyway.

Gisèle did not know what he was doing to her. She experienced memory gaps, felt physically unwell, and woke up confused. Like many women, she searched for explanations that did not involve the man she trusted since 1973. When abuse comes from the person you love and trust most, your mind resists the truth.

The abuse did not stop because he confessed or because someone in the family discovered it. It stopped in 2020 when police arrested Dominique Pelicot for a separate crime. He was caught filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket. Police seized his electronic devices and discovered hundreds of videos documenting the assaults on his wife.

As the case unfolded, attention turned to their children. Public reports said there was no evidence the children knew what was happening to their mother at the time. There was also no evidence that they participated in the assaults against her. Investigators found troubling images involving two of the couple’s daughters on his devices, and authorities filed additional charges. The daughters publicly expressed their belief that he may have drugged and abused them as well, though the legal process examined those allegations separately.

The betrayal did not stop with the marriage. When their children learned what their father had done, their sense of safety and trust collapsed. Even though they did not know at the time, they now had to process the destruction of everything they believed about him. That kind of damage does not heal easily, and in some cases, it never fully heals.

The court prosecuted Dominique Pelicot. He admitted that he drugged his wife and organized the assaults. The court convicted him and sentenced him to 20 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed under French law. His public image as a husband and father ended in that courtroom.

For Gisèle, and victims like her, recovery is far more complicated. Surviving something like this does not mean waking up one day and feeling strong. Recovery from this kind of betrayal and sexual violence requires trauma therapy, medical support, and the slow rebuilding of trust in oneself and others.

She chose to rebuild her life privately and focused on healing and on her children. She faced not only physical and emotional violation but also the collapse of a marriage that lasted nearly forty years before the abuse began. The children, now adults, supported their mother publicly and spoke about the shock, grief, and anger that followed the revelations. They confronted the reality that their father lived a very disturbing life.

Gisèle and her children now live away from him and try to move forward. They carry the weight of what happened, but they no longer live in silence.

What they went through reminds us that trust can be exploited. A marriage that lasted nearly fifty years concealed almost a decade of deliberate abuse. What happened between 2011 and 2020 will always remain part of their history, but we can refuse to ignore what this story reveals.

It should also remind us that abuse can quietly enter anyone’s life in many forms, gain our trust over years, and then shatter it.

If we truly want change, we must begin by taking these steps:

1. We can believe women when they describe confusion or unexplained harm.
2. We can take intimate partner violence seriously, even when it contradicts the image of a respectable family.
3. We can stop assuming that longevity equals trustworthiness.
4. We should be more aware that the misuse of God’s word to control or silence someone is still abuse. Faith should never become a tool for manipulation or fear.

When abuse is exposed, it rarely affects only one person. It often leaves an entire family trying to stand up again. Trust should never be used as a weapon. When someone betrays that trust, the responsibility belongs entirely to the one who caused the harm. At the same time, recognizing the abuse and reaching out for help is an important step toward safety and healing.

Sources:

New York Times – Coverage of the Gisèle Pelicot case: https://www.nytimes.com/

BBC News - Reporting on the Dominique Pelicot trial: https://www.bbc.com/news

France 24 – Trial and sentencing coverage: https://www.france24.com/

Reuters – Case and sentencing report: https://www.reuters.com/

When Silence Feels Easier—and Why It Isn’t

Author’s note: This is a piece I’ve carried for a long time, after spending time learning about female genital mutilation (FGM) and its impact. Writing it wasn’t easy, but it felt necessary. I’m sharing it in the hope that it invites openness rather than silence.

I’ve written about many social issues over the years. Speaking out through my blogs has been my way of expressing myself on issues I feel strongly about.

But this is one issue I had not written about before. Not on my blog, nor anywhere else.

Female genital mutilation was something I felt strongly about, yet for a long time I couldn’t express it openly. Not because it didn’t matter enough, but because it felt overwhelming in a way that was difficult to put into words. The reality of it was always there, even when I wasn’t writing about it. There was also a deep disbelief in me that something so horrendous was, and still is, happening to little girls.

But caring deeply, without speaking, does not stop violence.

This isn’t only about finding the right words. It’s also about what we do when something affects us so deeply that silence starts to feel like the easier option. It’s about recognizing that discomfort is often a sign that something needs to be named, not avoided.

If you are reading this, you may recognize that feeling too. The pause before speaking. The question of whether your voice will make a difference.

Know that it will.

Change does not begin with perfect language or expert knowledge. It begins when people refuse to normalize harm. When conversations happen inside families, when women speak to other women, when men listen, an when communities decide that protecting their daughters sometimes means changing long-held traditions.

Ending FGM requires laws, funding, and systems. It also requires voices that are willing to say clearly that this violence is not acceptable.

Organizations like UNICEF work alongside survivors and local leaders to end FGM and support those already affected. Supporting their work matters, and choosing not to look away when this issue comes up matters just as much.

You don’t have to be an expert or an eloquent speaker. You simply have to refuse silence when something you know is wrong. Because every time we choose not to speak, we leave more room for violence to continue.

This year alone, 4.5 million girls are counting on us to ensure they are not the next to be harmed.

Silence is no longer an option.

Sources and further reading

• UNICEF. Female Genital Mutilation: A Global Concern.
  https://www.unicef.org/protection/female-genital-mutilation
• UNICEF Press Release. Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM.
  https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-international-day-zero
• World Health Organization. Female Genital Mutilation.
  https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

Fulfillment of a Lifelong Dream

On April 14, 2025, Amanda Nguyen made history as the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman to journey into space. Aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, she joined an all-female crew for a suborbital flight that soared beyond the Kármán line, the recognized boundary of space. 

Amanda Nguyen’s path to the stars was shaped by resilience and advocacy. In 2013, while pursuing her degree at Harvard University, she survived a sexual assault. This traumatic experience propelled her into activism, leading her to draft the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, which was unanimously passed by the U.S. Congress in 2016. Her efforts earned her a nomination for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and recognition as one of TIME’s Women of the Year in 2022. 

Nguyen’s passion for space was reignited through her scientific pursuits. In 2021, she became a scientist-astronaut candidate at the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences, focusing on women’s health and menstruation in space. 

The Blue Origin NS-31 mission marked a significant milestone as the first all-female crewed spaceflight. Alongside Nguyen were pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn. The mission lasted approximately 11 minutes, during which the crew experienced weightlessness and breathtaking views of Earth. 

During the flight, Nguyen conducted two scientific experiments: one in collaboration with the Vietnamese National Space Center on plant pathology, and another focusing on women’s health, specifically menstruation. 

Upon returning to Earth, Nguyen shared an emotional message:

“In this moment, I just want all survivors to know: You can heal. No dream is too wild, and if it’s so wild and out there — like going to space — you can absolutely make it through, and it can absolutely be possible.” 

Her words resonated with many, highlighting the intersection of personal healing and the pursuit of dreams.

Nguyen’s journey from advocacy to astronaut serves as an inspiration to many. Her story underscores the importance of resilience, determination, and the belief that no dream is too ambitious.

It Isn’t Over

Someone once said, in the early days of Covid, news about people with Covid had no faces because we didn’t know them.  Now their faces are clear because they live or work with or near us, and it’s scary.  No, not scary, but it hurts. 

As usual, at times like these, when someone I know passes away, I am again at a loss for how I should react or for the right words to say because words will not be enough for the loss of their loved ones. 

The last time I attended the wake of a friend’s relative, my friend and I  hugged tightly. In the early days of Covid, we couldn’t even visit...

The first time I heard several people I knew were Covid positive, I cried silently several times, worried about their health and families. I asked myself how and why this had to happen to them. I told myself I would not cry again. 

The second and third time I was told another batch got sick and one passed away, I didn't cry, but the hurt and helplessness were there. 

Then  another had to be quarantined...and another...and another.  It has  become a new normal that I   can only  sigh when I hear of the same news happening to other persons I know or work with. 

Some months back, a friend’s spouse passed away. We exchanged private messages. She said it was the 13th day she and her husband were separated since he was hospitalized, and that was the longest they were apart because they had always been together. How difficult it must be to suddenly realize the separation will now be forever...

The news of someone I knew passing away due to Covid and who I hugged a few times in the past gave me mixed emotions. Is it crying when the tears keep hovering at the corners of your eyes but never fall? These were moments when I felt extreme emotions of wanting to just be alone.

This “new normal” isn’t normal at all, but we all somehow have to deal with the dangers the best way we can and keep moving on.

Covid certainly isn’t over, but it has become a part of our daily lives, and regardless of new and better vaccines, we should never let our guard down and continue to take precautions as new variants are discovered. As I say in my messages, “Stay safe always.”

Starting to Write Again...with a personal commentary on the movie "Hello Love Goodbye"

It has been quite a while since my last blog entry. It’s about time I start and get a leash on things to make my daily activities more meaningful again. I miss writing.  I was supposed to post a new entry last International Women's Day  after so many years of inactivity but I never got to complete it. 

Well, who knew that Alden Richards' movie "Hello Love Goodbye" (with English subtitle) would trigger me to write again. Haha, The movie is good by the way.  It's a simple but moving story that depicts the real plight of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)  and what they have to go through to be able to support their families back home. It's about the realization that there is nothing wrong about choosing self-love and reaching for your dreams over love for another.  I'm sure many working overseas away from home and family can relate to the hardships they have to go through and the hard choices they sometimes have to make just to support their loved ones.

Since I am one who rarely watches local movies in cinemas, the movie is really that good for me to have watched it twice. It's really worth watching.

Thumbs up @aldenrichards02 and to your co-star Kathryn Bernardo. You both complemented each other really well  as Ethan and Joy. There could not have been a better team-up to make it this successful. Hoping to see more local quality films like this one. And THANK YOU for somehow being the catalyst to make me write again.

Road to 1 Billion

IT WAS A JOKE!

This rape joke by a Presidential candidate is making me so emotional. So here it goes.

This is a translated excerpt from a speech of a Mayor running for President about a rape victim: "I looked at the face, (swears) she's like a beautiful actress from America. (Swears) what a pity. What went on in my mind was, 'they raped her,  lined up for her.' I got mad because she was raped? Yes. That's one. But she's so beautiful. The Mayor should have been first. What a pity."  

It was a joke, the Mayor said after receiving flak from women and women's groups for making this statement about an Australian woman missionary raped in his city that went viral. 

I once thought that what he has done for his city is admirable. He fought rebels where ruling administrations had difficulty fighting. He had a reputation of supporting extrajudicial killings. Criminals feared him. His word was law and people followed. Whatever his flaws, I thought his track record of making his city clean and peaceful would have made up for them. But after pictures and videos showing his behavior with females in public came out, his hand touching/holding women in a manner that strangers normally  wouldn't, wanting to kiss them on the lips, and now his "joke" that the Mayor (implying himself) should have been first on the woman raped, made me completely turn around on my opinion of him. It was degrading how he objectified women. 

If he cannot lead by example that women should be treated with respect, then how can he possibly impose laws on sexual harassment or violence against women when he himself expresses acts that constitute and can even encourage others to think that sexual harassment or violence against women can be taken lightly? Rape is no joking matter and just because there are local ordinances existing or were first implemented in his city to protect women does not mean he supports women's rights but can joke about rape with triviality.

What saddens me even more is that the women's group who strongly advocates for women's rights and demanded him to apologize for his rape "joke" (which as of this writing he refused to do stating there is nothing to apologize for) is reported to still continue to support his candidacy. This kind of support made me question myself. 

Did I discern wrongly? Should I just close my eyes and throw out the window what I've always believed in and did volunteer work for all these years? If a strong women's group still continues to support his candidacy and will forego of his rape joke and vote for him why can't I? Some say he is a better choice over other candidates with reputations of being corrupt, weak and easily swayed, sickly, indecisive, etc. Who doesn't have flaws, they said. I'm sure their reputation, track record, strengths and weaknesses have been compared. 

Presidents will come and go and we have to keep moving on and continue to live our own lives. Change has to start with us, not with a President every six years. At the end of the day, we all have to live with our conscience and I would rather follow mine. I cannot in conscience vote for someone who thinks  rape can be taken lightly and joked about. So there. 

http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/129787-gabriela-duterte-apologize-rape-no-laughing-matter

"TODAY will never come again... Be a blessing. Be a friend. TAKE TIME TO CARE." - via THINK DIFFERENT

Just a quote to remind me that I can be strong...that I AM strong.

"I always told you that you are a strong woman and I always meant it, so I hope you started to believe in yourself..you can make it, everything you want, just believe in it and yourself. And my hopes and wishes for you are coming from my heart."

Social Ills...

"Babies for Sale" - is it just greed or dire need to survive that people can go so low as to steal babies or "breed" baby farms to sell them once they are born? It's nothing new these days. From Africa to Asian countries like the Philippines, Cambodia, India or Thailand, children are sold in exchange for money, to pay off debts or some other reason. A tv documentary in Manila recently featured two women whose newborn babies were stolen from a hospital. In Nigeria, a "baby farm" was raided where several women and babies were rescued by authorities. Young pregnant girls were being kept in the hospital or clinic until they gave birth and the babies were sold to the highest bidder. Babies stolen is one thing, but actually maintaining clinics or hospitals as "baby farms" to "breed" children for the purpose of selling them is just horrific. These children have no chance of defending themselves in their innocence.

Criminals continue to "innovate" and come up with other forms of crime, one more inhumane than another. Will they all end one day? I wonder. The social ills seem to be limitless. But as long as there are good hearts who persevere to put an end to the evils around us, each child man and woman victimized by greed and violence will have a chance of starting life anew. It often takes a concerted effort to be heard and for action to be taken. It's sad that many have to lose so much, sometimes even their very lives for this to happen.But we should never give up.We just could not. It is their only chance to be saved from being victims of our society's social ills..

Taking A Stand…

Sapna and Malala… two teenage girls from India and Pakistan who both took a stand for what they believed in. Sapna said no to an early marriage while Malala refused to cow down to Taliban threats and struggled to gain an education, advocating that girls should have access to education.

How far would you go to make a stand for what you strongly believe in?

“I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is education. And I am afraid of no one.” – Malala Yousafzai

When 14-year old Malala from Pakistan was shot by the Taliban for openly advocating education for girls, the world was shocked and in uproar at the barbaric attempt to silence her for fighting for girls’ rights to education.

Living at Swat Valley where the Taliban has at times banned girls from attending school, Malala took to blogging under a pseudonym to tell the world of the plight of girls in her valley and the Taliban's attempt to take control. She has gained media coverage and accepted interviews from local and international press. She has since then been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize  by Desmond Tutu and won Pakistan's first International Children's Peace Prize. 

Malala’s advocacy almost caused her her life. Though she has started standing up with assistance, she is still unable to talk and only communicates by writing. She continues to slowly recover in a British hospital but she isn’t over the woods yet..she is still physically in critical condition and her life is still in danger from the Taliban who vowed to try killing her again. Extremists continue in their attempt to smear Malala’s name claiming she works for and is in connivance with the United States.  She knew she could be paying a great price for what she is standing up for but she never looked back. She is fighting for what she believes in and her action has only strengthened the resolve on many that girls have a right to an education as anyone else and should not be deprived of it.

“I’ll tell my neighbors that child marriage is against the law and they should educate their children.” – Sapna

In Sapna’s village, teenage girls were expected to be married by the age of eighteen. But Sapna had other plans. She wanted an education. She wanted to work and earn a living…then get married.  So when she heard her parents talking about getting her married off, she drummed up enough courage to tell her parents and grandfather who raised her that she wanted to study first and not get married. Sapna’s lucky. She has a supportive family. They listened. They understood. They supported her decision. Now her village is abuzz. Now other parents would tell her parents and grandfather whenever they would meet them at the village that they too would not get their daughters married before they are eighteen. 

One little girl’s dream to have an education. One little girl who bravely took a stand for what she wanted and believed in, and helped change the outlook of elders in her community.  Now they too would want their daughters to go to school and have an education. They too would not want to marry off their daughters before they’re eighteen.

Two teenage girls Sapna and Malala, who both took a stand to be educated, now they are making a difference in shaping the future of girls in their country…

Videos:

Malala - http://youtu.be/25wW4hwk8Gk

Sapna   - http://youtu.be/2qhbdGxDrxI

NO PERSON IS ABOVE THE LAW

It was good news that the SpecialCourt for Sierra Leone judges in The Hague sentenced former Liberian PresidentCharles Taylor to a jail-term of 50 years, the first African President to beprosecuted in an international court. He was convicted of aiding and abettingthe commission of serious crimes in Sierra Leone and planning attacks onvarious towns. He was also accused of assisting theRevolutionary United Front, a rebel group, in the recruitment of child soldiers, rape and sexual slavery. I find this man’s rise to the Presidencyin 1997, such a wonder. Why a man of his past record of atrocities and abuses onhis own people was even elected President of Liberia with 75% of the votes inhis favor is such a wonder. The election was even described as “one of thecleanest” (or should it be a wonder with graft and corruption existing in everycountry). Maybe his campaign slogan "He killed myma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him" was a warning to voters notto vote otherwise. Nevertheless, after so many years, the verdict on his crimeshas come out...guilty.

Though the crimes may bedifferent, I can somehow relate this to the political situation here. Twoformer Presidents ousted, the first one, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, oustedby peaceful people power, for abuses, political oppression, graft andcorruption during his more than 20 years of dictatorship; a second one,Ex-President Joseph Estrada, impeached for plunder, though granted pardon yearslater by the President who replaced him, ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Sheherself is now facing plunder charges.

The late Egyptian PresidentHosni Mubarak resignedafter nearly 30 years of holding power. He was charged with corruption and thekilling of demonstrators. He wenton trial in August 2011 and was convicted to life in prison in June 2012 but died shortly from aheart attack.

The justice process can takelong. Judgment can take years, because gathering evidence and capturing themcan also take years. In Taylor’s case, it took 4 years of hearings before hewas convicted.

It is so true that goodgovernance is so wanting worldwide. History has shown that world leaders couldnot hold on to their conviction and ideals of becoming good leaders. Somewhere,if it hasn’t been their plan all along to enrich and glue themselves in power,the sparkle of power and greed ends up consuming them. Like others blinded byfame and fortune, at some point, they lose track of reality. They crave formore of that sparkle and power, forgetting they have an obligation to give backwhat they have committed to the public that put them where they are.   

Thejudgment on people like Charles Taylor, Hosni Mubarak, and the ousting orforced resignation of other leaders due to political and sex scandals, graftand corruption send a clear message. Heads of state will be held to account fortheir crimes, because *“withleadership, come not just power and authority, but also responsibility andaccountability.

"NO PERSON, NO MATTER HOW POWERFUL, IS ABOVE THE LAW."

*Source:The Guardian  - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/26/charles-taylor-guilty-war-crimes

Satyameva Jayate (“Only Truth Prevails”)

I’m writing this article on an Indian tv show called *Satyameva Jayate" because many of the social issues raised are what I personally can relate with. They are the same issues that concern me as a woman and as a responsible citizen who wants to make this world a better and safer place to live in for the children of the future.  They are social ills in society not only in a country like India but even in many other so-called modern countries of this world. The same issues that drove me to do volunteer work for NGOs like Deltawomen, World Pulse and Youth Leader Magazine.

I will veer away from the personalities involved or the motives implied by some critics on the people behind the show. I am an observer from a very distant place connected through technology of the internet. And to me, awareness does make a difference. It can make people question their own morals and move them to action. It can make them change or want change.

The show has so far highlighted sensitive social issues prevailing in India such as female foeticides, child sexual abuse, dowry, medical malpractice, honor killings, physical disabilities, domestic violence, pesticide poisoning and alcoholism.

If there is one sure way to gain media mileage and awareness on these issues, it would be to touch the chords of the viewers’ hearts and this show has done that in the episodes I’ve watched. Wouldn’t you be when you see a mother recounting her horrid experience on female foeticide where she was forcibly made to abort the baby in her womb not three or five times but eight times by her own husband and even female in-laws for the  simple reason that the child’s sex was female? Or when a mother tells her story of how a well-dressed, educated-looking woman spat on her baby with skin disease simply because she found the baby ugly and shameful for the mother to carry her around in public?

Whether the show will move people enough to take action on a bigger scale remains to be seen.  It has undoubtedly created awareness and has moved people to take action and try to do something about these social ills.

What is significant to note is the finding in one of  the surveys that such acts are not just committed by the rural, tribal, poor, or illiterate people, but were in fact also among the educated, even wealthy and professional class in society.  How our simple minds can sometimes easily associate such horrors to the less fortunate because they don’t have enough education or wealth and therefore stereotyped as unable to understand what is acceptable, moral or just, is sad. Nothing could be farther from the truth and this show had revealed that. There are in fact professionals conniving to commit such horrid acts of female foeticide on their own relatives. But what can really be disheartening is when the authorities or experts expected to be help save lives and bring forth justice seem to avoid that responsibility as well. Is it because that they themselves believe the crime is justified?  

What’s important is that the show has helped spread awareness, the stories are not told in whispers and the victims have been emboldened to speak of their plight. Now more people in the world know, and the victims have to somehow be given the justice they deserve and be compensated for their sufferings, and hopefully not exploited for profit.

I’m looking forward to watching an even more sensitive issue tackled in the show...human trafficking. It can indeed be something more dangerous for victims to come out when such activities can be highly organized up to an international level.  

I end this article with a quoted poem on Satyameva Jayate:

“Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
Through truth the divine path is spread out by which
the sages whose desires have been completely fulfilled,
reach where that supreme treasure of Truth resides.”

*  (“Satyameva Jayate” when translated means “Only Truth Prevails” or “Truth Alone Triumphs” a Hindu mantra from the ancient scripture Mundaka Upanishad. The slogan was popularized by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in 1918 when serving his second of four terms as President of the Indian National Congress. (source: Wikipedia)

Slum Tourism...Ethical, Exploitative or Aid? (via Deltawomen)



(Favela do Metro shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(Victor R Caivano/Associated Press Via Passport Blog) 

(Slum Tour signage in Dharavi India)

              

Slum Tourism...one Slum Tour organizer justifies it by saying travellers come to see the differences from the way they live themselves,” and they “show some good examples of the community.” Another says that “Today poverty tourism is practiced all over the world.” Other organizers say it “raises awareness and brings aid to the destitute of the city.” So is “creating awareness” via slum tours something to be tolerated and accepted because people pay to take pictures of how the slum dwellers live? Would letting it continue eventually help take the slum dwellers away from their impoverished “habitat?” Or would the tour organizers try to “preserve” that habitat and its dwellers to keep making money?

Exploitation was the first thought that came to mind when I read about slum tourism being a phenomenon. People were clearly making profits from the slum tours at the expense of the slum dwellers whose private lives and dire situation are exposed to visitors who want to take pictures of the “realities of life.” Aren’t the media and NGOs already doing that without “collecting payment” for people to be made aware of the slum dwellers’ situation? 

The practice had long been in existence but only came to public scrutiny when the first article on slum tourism was published in the New York Times in March 2008 (NYTimes Weiner, 2009).

Slum tourism isn’t an impromptu act of touring or visiting the slum areas. These are well-organized tours run by profit-making companies or tour agencies complete with websites and tour itineraries of what tourists expect from the tour. These are organizers where most do not donate money back from proceeds into the slum communities they visit.

I wonder if these agencies even bothered to ask the slum residents’ permission to have their private lives exposed for tourism. While some may be in such dire strait as to accept anything including exposure of their private lives for a fee, others suffer the humiliation of having their lives put on display to tourists. Thus, these tours have often been branded as “exploitative, voyeuristic, and imperialistic.” For slum tour operators to justify their trade as “trying to educate tourists about the realities of poverty and are helping to dispel negative stereotypes surrounding slums” is something I personally find pathetic. Though some operators claim to have used tour revenues to build schools or community centers in the slum areas, many get a regular fee from the tours, while the slum residents who the operators benefit from can hardly say that they also regularly benefit from the intrusion on their privacy.  Some operators simply “hope” that the tourists would donate funds to help the residents after seeing the living conditions. The guaranty of getting donations is not absolute. To me, if help you must, then help without taking but give something in return to the community and not simply hope that the tourists would. The community must be involved or the motive becomes subject to criticism and scrutiny.

There are slum tours that focus on cultural or entertainment tours. Cultural tours show how slum residents live their lives and how the slum community functions. Entertainment tours focus on a “safari”-like experience where vehicles take tourists around in open-roof, army-style jeeps or motorcycle ride through the slum areas (source: http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=uhf_2010). 

The description being likened to an African safari trip of watching and taking pictures of wild animals from a distance is not hard to miss. It is the focus on poverty and how it is conducted in a safari-like manner as if the slum dwellers’ “habitat” were of wild animals that earned the slum tours wide criticism. The focus on the cultural education for tourists is lost and what is magnified is the profit made by organizers at the slum dwellers’ expense. The “safari experience” offered by tour organizers makes me agree with Wardah Hafidz statement, an activist with the Urban Poor Consortium: “It's not about shame. People should not be exhibited like monkeys in the zoo. What residents get from these tours, in cash or whatever form, only strips them of their dignity and self respect, turning them into mere beggars (source: 'Slum tourism' treads between aid and exploitation’ - http://www.rappler.com/world/6268-slum-tourism-treads-between-aid-and-exploitation).

Slum tour organizers and operators however, claim to be corroborating with local NGOs to help slum dwellers benefit from the tours. Many of them say they give back to the communities they visit. Some give money to children’s education centers, children’s projects, schools, in these slum communities. In India, for instance, Reality Tours and Travel in Mumbai set up its own charitable organization, which runs a community centre, kindergarten and cricket program in the slum of Dharavi, according to Chris Way, founder of Reality Tours and Travel.  According to Way’s estimate, “nearly 40 percent of this, or approximately US$23,000, will go back into Dharavi through Reality Gives’ programs -- money the community wouldn’t see otherwise.” The website is complete with an itinerary and cost depending on the type of tour ranging from Rs500 per person to Rs6,800 for five persons. It also shows off the charity organization’s various projects in Dharavi which is part of the tour itinerary.  In Indonesia, each tourist pays 500,000 rupiah ($54) "Jakarta Hidden Tours" to visit, with half of that going to the tour company, and the rest funding doctor visits, microfinance projects or community projects such as school building.

In Brazil, Marcelo Armstrong, who started Favela Tour in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, said his company gives money to a children’s education centre. To further lend credence to the claim that the slum tours are not exploitative, the companies (Reality Tours and Favela Tour) limit picture-taking and only allow tourists to take out their cameras at certain times. (source: The Passport Blog: http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120307-ethical-traveller-do-slum-tours-profit-off-the-poor).

But have these slum tours really done good for the community? In India, the number of people living in slums has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain, the Indian Government has announced.  The number of people living in slums was projected to rise to 93 million in 2011 or 7.75 percent of the total population, almost double the population of Britain. Census data released in December 2011 by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) shows that in 2010, about 6% of the population lived in slums in Brazil. It means that 11.4 million of the 190 million people lived in the country areas of irregular occupation and lack of public services or urbanization - called by the IBGE of "subnormal agglomerations"  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/slum).

Many governments around the world have attempted and continue to try to solve the problems of slums through relocation and construction of better living conditions and sanitation. Often, this causes displacement and violence when slum areas are cleared and the residents find themselves distanced from their main source of livelihood, schools or clinics.  Despite the offer of a better housing, better sanitation and their own land, the slum residents return to where they can earn money for their day-to-day survival.  (See, for example, Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban, South Africa.

That slum tourism exists and is a phenomenon cannot be argued with. These are facts that have to be accepted...and there are people who make money from it. Some maybe there for the intent of also creating awareness but it cannot be discounted that others are there simply for the profit at the expense of the impoverished. What is essential is for governments, NGOs and communities to address any possibility of exploitation and profiteering and be closely involved in ensuring that the slum dwellers do not suffer from intrusion of their private lives from greedy profit-makers without conscience. The community must be involved.

Sources:

1)  A Trip into the Controversy: A Study of Slum Tourism Travel Motivations http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=uhf_2010

2)  Rappler: 'Slum tourism' treads between aid and exploitation’ - http://www.rappler.com/world/6268-slum-tourism-treads-between-aid-and-exploitation

3)  The Passport Blog:  http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120307-ethical-traveller-do-slum-tours-profit-off-the-poor     

4)  Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/slum