why i'm afraid

i'm supposed to be studying for my comprehensive exam this saturday but i've just been so bothered by the Nicole issue. there are two things that frighten me most. First is our tendency towards uncritical assumption and the vicious impulsiveness it triggers. Second is what the reactions to the situation are revealing about our culture's attitudes towards rape and women.

through media's limited vocabulary and sensationalizing tendencies, Nicole's affidavit was headlined as a "recantation" or a "reversal". Mr. Conde has shown that upon close reading (or perhaps just even a simple reading of the text), the affidavit actually never says the rape didn't happen. i've already talked about how worrying it is that people have simply taken the affidavit at face value without considering whether it was done under duress or as part of a political deal between Malacanang and the U.S. to effect Smith's release and consequently scurry the contentious VFA under the rug. this is a government famed for its duplicity in maintaining its self-interests and self-preservation. i know i may be accused of conspiracy theories here but i think better a conspiracy theorist who asks questions than a pavlovian dog who is so easily manipulated. Nicole has been cast as the villain. And only Nicole. The woman upon whom was thrust this burden of being the symbol of Phiippine sovereignty and of rape victims. Now, because of a lazy reading of the affidavit, we say, "Yeah, she deserved whatever she got."

It's mind-boggling to think how people are so quick to crucify Nicole for "giving up" or wanting to/accepting a chance to leave a country that believes that it's okay to rape women for whatever reason.

The reactions have been really frightening, driven by backwards notions of rape, fueled by a macho society for whom there is only one image of a "proper Filipina". A drunk woman deserves to be raped. A woman of loose morals deserves to be raped. I was reading in another forum a thread on "Nicole has damaged the image of the Filipina." What? How? With or without Nicole, it seems that many Filipinos already have such low regard for women.

“That whore deserved it.” By that logic can we assume that if a woman drinks a little and wears a mini-skirt, it is alright to rape her? Let’s go to a bar right now and wait for the women to get drunk. Then you can point out the women that deserve to be raped. Can we assume then that it is only through the graciousness of men that we escape the punishment of rape which otherwise would be justifiably meted out? It’s alright then for a man to rape any woman if she is not conducting herself “properly”? this may be simplistic but i tend to think that someone who thinks any woman deserves to be rape, probably has the potential to be a rapist. Or at least stand by nodding in approval. but it's not any more simplistic or barbaric as equating a mini-skirt and a drunk woman to a green light for rape. And because this seems to be the attitude of so many of us, it’s fucking scary.