Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III recently made a controversial statement regarding what makes a ‘true’ woman. He drew ire from several people for asserting that a woman can only be such when she is able to give birth. Comedian and television host Vice Ganda was one prominent figure who was similarly offended by Sotto’s logic.
Sotto earlier stated when discussing the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill that “if you are a man, you will never be a woman no matter what you do. Because you cannot reproduce, you cannot give birth, you do not have ovaries. You will never be a woman.”
Vice Ganda took to Instagram to defend the idea that “this statement is just not fair. There are people who pretend to be FEMINISTS to hide their being MISOGYNISTS.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2BrgXtJJHS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
(Does The Philippines Really Need The SOGIE Bill?)
“Sinasabi nyo po ba na naniniwala kayo na ang pagiging BABAE ay nasusukat lamang sa pagkakaroon ng obaryo o matris at sa kakayahan lang na mabuntis o magka-anak?” Vice Ganda asked rhetorically. [Are you saying that you believe a woman’s worth is measured by the presence of her ovary or uterus and her ability to get pregnant or give birth?]
The post pointed out how there are several kinds of women: those who are unable to get pregnant, those who choose not to have children, those whose health won’t allow them to have children, and more. Yet none of these women stop being women simply because they do not fulfill their biological imperative.
“Parang ang baba naman po pala ng tingin nyo sa mga BABAE. Naniniwala po ako na ang mga BABAE ay BABAE di dahil sa obaryo at sa kakayahang bumukaka at umire. Sila ay BABAE dahil sila ay BABAE. At MAY HALAGA sila may matris man o wala, magbuntis man o hindi, may anak man o wala dahil sila ay TAO at sila ay BABAE,” Vice Ganda continues.
[It’s as if your view on women is so low. I believe that women are women not based on their ovaries or their ability to have children. They are women because they are women. And they have value regardless of whether they have a uterus or not, whether they can get pregnant or not, whether they have children or not because they are people and they are women.]
What do you think about this?
