db. What lies behind the persistence of sexualized discourses and narratives of victimhood about Filipino and other Asian women in migration? How do we deal with this, and what are possible ways to counter it?
Spurred on by a recent incident of a problematic representation of Filipino women in a photo exhibition, which studiyo filipino addressed with an open letter, we wanted to better situate the biographic realities of the many mobile and actively self-determining women. We thus invited Bettina Beer, a professor of anthropology and fellow studiyo filipino member, to a Sala talk.
Beer revisited her research on marriages between German men and Filipino women more than three decades ago.* Already then, she challenged the helpless-victim images and over-simplistic and generalizing representations in popular media and other public discourses. While she analyzed the situation of the women without using the term “agency” at that time, she offered a fuller picture to understanding the lives of the women, the challenges they faced and the actions that they took. What she would do differently today is highlight the agency of women, helped by changes in social theory that explain the persistence but also offer a possibility of overcoming narratives of victimhood and sexualization.
Thus, she touched upon the problems when certain words are used in combination with visual images, often with sexualized content. Examples are the sweeping assumption that all Philippine women in transnational marriages are mired in poverty and the portrayal of women as “girls”, with child-like characteristics, helpless or fragile, who need to be helped and “saved”, as from “trafficking”. These representations are even found in projects with well-meaning intentions that over-simplify a far more complex situation, leading to unintended consequences maintaining the image of the “helpless, docile Filipina”. She directed our attention to the proliferation of such uses and representations on the internet.
These are examples that fix the identity of Filipino and other Asian women and perpetuate ethnic and gender stereotypes. She reminded us of women’s far more dynamic lives that can be illuminated when considering the bigger picture of power and economic differences. These differences have not gone away; as Beer emphasized, we share many of the resulting problems. Such a view also helps to provide a clearer understanding of what may be puzzling instances when some women would use the same discourses to get support and alleviate their conditions. Beer’s PowerPoint presentation showed snippets of these issues and some possibilities to counter such problematic representations. She discussed the importance of doing further research that can lead to a better understanding of the problems while illuminating women’s agency. Three decades later, her talk is an invitation to do more studies with women and concerned communities, with opportunities for knowledge exchange, research cooperation, and student mentoring. At the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Lucerne, courses about the Philippines are taught by Bettina Beer and Doris Bacalzo (see the Fall 2024 course description). Beer has also been advising students interested in Philippine-related studies in local and transnational settings.
*Beer, Bettina (1996) Deutsch-philippinische Ehen. Interethnische Heiraten und Migration von Frauen. Berlin: Reimer.
Pictures from the sala can be found under Events.
