This Filipina is not a Doll

BY RAPHAELLE RINGOR

Growing up, I have long been introduced to playing with dolls, more notably the renowned Barbie. While boys are encouraged to play with toys that spark wonder and exploration at an early age, girls like me are left with toys oriented toward domestic duties. Evidently, I was already experiencing the impacts of patriarchy from the minute I am given a toy.

With most dolls having exaggerated proportions and unbridled consumerism, it ​​would not be far-fetched to say that this type of toy is the result of sexism. Although dolls should represent actual people, in our patriarchal society, women rarely feel secure in their own bodies, let alone how they are portrayed and perceived. Women are reduced to their physical appearance, where we are conditioned to believe in unrealistic beauty standards. Women are endlessly objectified, where we are seen by society as nothing more than birthing bodies despite being the reason why society is created in the first place.

The majority of cases of violence against women are primarily motivated by men’s perceptions of them as mere objects. According to the Philippine Commission on Women, one in every four Filipinas aged 15 to 49 is a victim of violence in 2022. Meanwhile, Gabriela documented that military men are among the most prevalent violent offenders in the country. Prominent examples of such cases are that of Jennifer Laude, Nicole and Vanessa who were murdered, harassed, and raped by foreign soldiers in the country as a result of the Balikatan Exercises.

The Balikatan Exercises

The United States Military Forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines participate in a series of live-fire drills and combat simulations known as the Balikatan Exercises. With the Philippines-United States (RP-US) Military Bases Agreement signed in 1991, it was established and remains in operation today with a number of US soldiers still stationed in the Philippines. It is a result of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which was enlarged by the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries. VFA and EDCA are blatant affronts to our sovereignty as it provides the legal basis, status protections, for US military and civilian personnel in the Philippines on official business. Eventually, American bases were closed down in 1991 as a result of persistent protests, particularly in reaction to questions relating to sovereignty and US-perpetrated abuses. Now, there are no more bases but the country is left with American forces who are only “visiting,” or so they claim.

For locals though, the Balikatan Exercises is not just the act of bringing foreign troops into the country, using our land as their training grounds. How can it be just that when the mere presence of these men compromises their own safety?

The worth of a Filipina’s safety and life

According to Bahaghari National, Balikatan is a hotspot for violence perpetrated against Filipino women, children and the LGBTQ+ community. In 2005, alias Nicole pressed rape charges against a US soldier, Daniel Smith. Though found guilty, Smith essentially faced no repercussions.

In a similar case, Vanessa, came forward after being raped by a US soldier in 2009. Smith was acquitted around this time, and when Vanessa learned of the decision, she opted to withdraw her claims out of fear of being denied justice.

Following the two is the 2014 murder of Jennifer Laude. Laude was a trans woman who was murdered by US Soldier Joseph Scott Pemberton. Pemberton was unaware that Laude was transgender, which prompted him to violently murder the latter. Although the charge was reduced from murder to homicide, Pemberton’s conviction would have been the first time a US soldier was imprisoned for crimes against Filipinos. However due to the VFA, Pemberton was not sentenced to prison but instead held in a special facility at Camp Aguinaldo. He was granted absolute pardon by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2020, after six years of living peacefully in the mentioned institution. Six years in payment for a Filipino woman's life, six years to determine the value of Jennifer Laude's life, and six measly years to show how our own laws are oblivious to who they should ultimately serve. With this, it is clear that Filipinas who were victims of harassment, rape, and murder by American soldiers in the Philippines were denied justice once more.

Throughout history, several cases of abuse by US soldiers prior to the Balikatan Exercises, VFA, and EDCA had already been recorded. Between 1980 and 1990, there were over 30,000 documented incidents of assault against women and children committed by US troops. Prostitution rings proliferated near US military posts, with 16,000 destitute Filipino women compelled into prostitution in Olongapo alone. By the time US outposts were closed in 1991, over 8,600 Amerasian children had been abandoned by US troops stationed there. Tragically, these figures are insufficient to jolt the state's conscience, there is no sense of guilt for the foregoing crimes and continue to invite foreign forces in.

Women in struggle are women unbound

All in all, the existence of the Balikatan exercises does more harm than it proclaims to do good for Filipinos. It is an insult to the memory of women who are victims of violence that this issue is swept under the rug or worse, painted rose-colored. The unfortunate reality is that US troops who take pleasure in Filipino women as part of their leisure and sexual activities in the Philippines consider us as meek, obedient sex objects who may be exploited with impunity—all thanks to the state allowing these uniformed abusers to do what they do.

“We are not dolls to be toyed with by imperialist brats fighting over dominance and superprofits. We do not want a new generation of Jennifer Laudes, Nicoles, and Vanessas. LGBTQ+ Filipinos want peace, self-reliance, and sovereignty,” a statement raised by Bahaghari Chairperson Reyna Valmores said.

As I grew older, my perspective of Barbie shifted as I became more immersed in the issues plaguing my country, especially those relating to the difficulties faced by women.

Now, Barbie is more than just a doll to me; she is a symbol of feminism that has been disregarded by the patriarchy which has reduced women to nothing more than a toy. And like Filipinas, we are not objects nor dolls, we are free beyond our body and our appearance, deserving of equal safety and opportunity—we are revolutionary and unbound.