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tsFilipinas "Living in a Time $f uNEFERTI XINA M.'TTTN*A

In an essay written for an exhibit of some forty Philippine wonten arlirtrcalled Ang Babae, Thelma Kintanar asks: "Ang babaeng Filipina: sino ttl utrasiya?" (The Filipina \^/oman: who and what is she?') The posing of ang baboengI:ilipina as a question can be seen as a political act of resistance against .rpressing situation. For Kintanar, that situation is the imprisonment of Filipinawomen in their gender. Babae is, in her view, the name of a prison made up ofde-kahong paglalarawan, or confining portraits, that serve to represent onlythe traditional roles women play in a colonialist, patriarchal society. Babaeis aprison house of images of beautiful, fragrant, shy, and weak women; imagesthat obscure and limit the human capacities and powers they actually andhistorically have performed.In 'Ang Maging Babae" (To Be a Woman),2 the poet Elynia Mabangloprovides a similar view of the predicament that is babae

Kasumpa-sumpaang maging babae sa panahong ito.Depinisyong pamanang nakaraa't kasalukuyan.Anyong hinulmang pag-aasam at pangangailangan.[What a curseto be a woman in these times.A definition inheritedfrom the past and the present.A form moldedout of longing and need.]3

The cursed form of woman consists, however, of images that are also actualfunctions:Ikaw arrg ptrudiya r.rg karsonsilyo,ang krrrh;rta, rrraging ang hurda sa piutyo't kirnrisclir.

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374 r Ncfcrti Xina N'1.'l'adiarSusukatin ang ganda mo sa kama,ang talino'Y sa Pagkita ng Pcra'[You are a brief's bottorn* ,r..kti", the embroidery on a handkerchief and an undershirt.Yrrur beauty will bc measured on thc bcd'your mind, bY moneY eamed']a

what Mabanglo expresses is what many feminists have condemned as thebeing-for-others (particularly being-for-men) of women, their apprehensionas kisartgkapcn, domestic belongings: household utensils, clothing, adorn-ment, laid, and foocl. l'he "What" ip the questiol "What is she?" is thus alsoan answcr: "She is what?"-an object for useful ancl profitable consunlptitln' athing. whatrefers to the forrn and function of babae as a commodity.Tie predicarn ent

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376 o Nef'erti Xirra M-'l"acliar

andself.sellinglaborpowerofthcFilipirra..I.herearcmorethantwomillitrttL-ilipina overseas contract workers in 125 countries all over the worltl:50,000 Iiilipina mail-orcler bricles in the Unitecl States, about the same ntttttic. or r,ilipina entertainers in Japa., 100,000 F-ilipina do*restic work,'rs ittttuly, ond'.ro on and so fbrtl.r.7'lhcse are not only numbers; they arc itl:'rrimagcs'lnasummarytlfstaterrrcntsmaclebyArrrericanmenaboutljililri"^.,"trrr.a on lnore than 1,500 pages of Usenet news posts ancl mate liitlfronrseventy.fivepenpalservices,tjilipinaswercportrayedasidealw()ltlCllbccause of their .og...,.r, t() nlarry, their youthful looks (their "cxccptiotr"ffy ,*..,f.r skin and tight vaginas")' their real enjoyment of sex' their loy'otty, ona their dispenlabiliiy.- 'fhey arc low-maintenirnce wives, fullyclomesticated ancl convenicnt' an

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You?) to be about "thc Irilipina American"--that is, to bc aboul thc'"crlttccplof being Filipina-American."r! As a mattcr of "idcntity issues," the cxlribit cirnthus bc read f

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-ltl0 o Nt'lcrlr Xtlt.r i\1. l.l(lt,u'l'hese domcstic workcrs cxpcricncc tlrc lirilurc ol ir l;ilipin;r irlt'rrtity'l,r

create congcnial social relations anl()ns thosc ctrconrpassetl lly it. Wlrirt tlrr'yexpericnce-not instcad of, but rather lhrouglr iclcntity--is thc irctivc wicltlinliof microclass differences among thcir "kind."r"'l'his wicl

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itl2, r Nt'lcr lr \lll'l lYl l 'l(ll'll

lfFiliPirlasbtttalstl'oltlrccxpcrit.trtialpr,actice,..l,.trli.'lularlyltlt.tttsttl.,..-esarcl*by mealls of *1'ittt I'iiipirrls he lp to Pe rPCtttiltc l:tltlt thost' irtral"r:r '',"ffi;il,,i"rrt rclt their production' .L -..r.--., r,\ ro'iir\,',rr .'-.'i., lt,.the task of feminist *r1,..., artists, ar-r

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384 o Neferti Xina M. TadiarNotes

l. Thelma B. Kintanar, "Babac: llilanggo ng Kasarian o llabaylan?" in Ang tsabae,ed.'lhclrntts. Kintanar (Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1992),l. 'l'he exhibit was organi,rldby Kababaihan sa Sining at llagong Sibol na Kamalayan (Kasibulan) and held at the llulw*.gang Iuan Luna, Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas (Cultural (lenter of the Philippincs) itt1992.2. L,lynia S. Mabanglo, 'Ang Maging Babae," in Mga Lihan ni Pinay (Manila: Dc l,a SolleUniversity Press, 1990),3-4; the translation is mine.3. rbid.,3.4. lbid., 4.5. foi Barrios, 'Ang pagiging babac ay pamumuhay sa panahon ng digma," in Arg PrrgililgBabae ay Panwnuhay sa Panahon ng Digrna (Manila: Institute of Women's Stuclies, St. Slholastica's College, 1990), 90.6. Amaryllis T. 'forres, "The Filipina Looks at Herself: A Review of Woment Studics irr thePhilippines," in'I'he Filipino Womatr in bocus: A Book of Readings, cd. Amaryllis'[. 'Ibrrcs withM. Lisa, 'I'. Carnagy et al. (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Office of Rcsc,rrcl)Coordination/University of the Philippines Press, 1995)' 14.7. Roland Tolentino, "llodies, l.etters, Catalogs: Filipinas itr'Iransnational Spacc," Social 7i'xt,no. 48 ( 1996): 49-76.8. Quoted in Juno Parreias, unpublished student paper, University ofCalifornia, Santa (lruz,1999.9. E. San fuan lr., "Thc Predicament of Filipinos in the United Statcs:'Whcre Are You lirorn?When Are You Going Back?"' in The State of Asian American: Activistn und Resistance itt thrl990s,ed. Karin Aguilar-San luan (lJoston: South F.nd, 1994),207.10. 'lhis information was relaycd to me by Cristina Szanton-lllanc in conversation at thc Soutlr.

east Asian Diasporas Conference, Singaporc, December 1996.I l. Reena |ana, "Unfolding ldentities," Asian Art News9, no.2 (1999):4245.r 2. tbid.13. tbid.14. Quotcd in Maria (larmen l)omingo-Kirk, "Victims Discourses: Filipina Domestic W