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Lipstick tales Beauty and precarity in a southern Philippine boomtown Taqueban, E.M.

Publication date 2018 Document Version Other version License Other Link to publication

Citation for published version (APA): Taqueban, E. M. (2018). Lipstick tales: Beauty and precarity in a southern Philippine boomtown.

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Download date:01 Oct 2021 Notes

1 Jeepneys are said to be made from U.S. military jeeps left in the after World War II. Inexpensive and re-outfitted for mass transportation, they have become the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. 2 Dictator Ferdinand Marcos coined the term “New Society” for his envisioned industrialized Philippines. President Fidel Ramos’ plan to make the country a “tiger economy” had as its slogan “Philippines 2000.” Cagayan de Oro’s development rhetoric envisions the city’s transformation into an expanded metropolis in northern . 3 Etcoff (1999) further proposes that advertising then reinforces this desired female body and defines it as beauty—with the promise that these attributes can be manipulated through the use of cosmetics, plastic surgery and fashion. 4 According to Hunter, the Philippines is “a good example of the intersection of internalized colonial values and the cult of the new global beauty” (2007: 247) Like many other former European and American colonies, contemporary culture in the Philippines places American culture and white beauty on a pedestal. Hunter cites the influence of multinational media exporting American culture including images of race that depict the “good life,” “white beauty,” “white affluence” and “white heroes” (2007: 247). People’s desire for the good life translates to privileging the American (Anglo) aesthetic. 5 The title of Datu signifies that one is a ruler. In Philippine historical accounts it would be the equivalent of a chieftain, a prince, or a sovereign. It also denotes royalty. The title continues to be used by various indigenous peoples and Muslim groups in the and Mindanao islands. In the contemporary Bisayan language, datu translates to “rich.” 6 For example, women were babaylans, priestesses and animists regarded with respect and who wielded great influence in their communities. 7 Thompson (2013) explores depictions of feminine beauty found in illustrated books of the island acquisitions of the United States, namely Cuba, Hawai`i, Philippines and Puerto Rico. One of his primary sources is the then popular

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multivolume work, Our Islands and Their People, edited by William S. Bryan, published in 1899 and reprinted in 1902. The volumes featured photographs and descriptions of the Philippines and Filipinos. Thomson writes: “The photographic images and textual descriptions often focused upon the women of the islands. Indeed, the portrayal of women, in particular their relative attractiveness, was a principal metaphor for describing the islands. Women became photographic objects, which stood for the islands and their comparative features. When these metaphorical images were inserted into narratives of the past, present, and future of the islands they served to devise and justify particular strategies of government” (2013: 5). 8 According to historian Ambeth Ocampo (2017), the US colonial government organized the Manila Carnival to attract foreign tourists and to showcase various provinces and their agricultural products and crafts. One election for the carnival queen resulted in a tie, prompting the National Assembly to resolve the vote. They voted for one Limjap, “a graduate of Assumption College High School. She took up painting under Fabian de la Rosa and music under Ventura Galvez, played tennis, and was interested in fencing. Coming from a de buena familia (wealthy family), she had ‘travelled through Europe accompanied only by a French governess’” (2007: para. 8). 9 In the heyday of print media in the Philippines, Marquez (1975) found advertisements reflected western rather than local culture. 10 Euromonitor (2013) reports local clothing manufacturer Penshoppe has tapped American, British and Thai celebrities popular among young Filipinos to endorse their clothing lines. Competing local manufacturer Bench tapped “half- Filipino” celebrities Bruno Mars and Jessica Sanchez, the American Maroon 5 vocalist Adam Levine, and South Korean heartthrob Lee Min Ho to come to the Philippines dressed in its clothing line. 11 During fiesta celebrations, each locality will have its own beauty pageant, a competition among young women, gay men and women, transgenders, the elderly, and others. Each locality has its own beauty queen who reigns for one year. The practice has led some to comment on the “Philippines’ unhealthy obsession with beauty” (Dancel 2016). The pageants are increasingly framed as entertaining parodies—a tragicomedy in the “failure” of the contestants to attain authentic beauty. 12 Economic protectionism and import-substitution policies were in place until the 1970s. 13 Temporary workers comprise the largest group among these migrants. The annual total number of migrants grew from 50,000 in 1975 to more than a million in 2005, increasing by an average of 9.8% per year between 1975 and 2007 (Orbeta and Abrigo 2009: 2). 14 Bourdieu differentiates between symbolic and physical violence, and shows how members of the French middle class differentiated themselves from the

168 working class through their lifestyles and material possessions, attributing to them meanings of moral ascendency. Elsewhere, Bourdieu (2001: 39) notes that women’s increasing education and political participation still cannot supplant barriers against women as symbolic violence maintains male domination. 15 I have changed their names in the course of the writing and in some cases details have been altered or removed to protect their identities. 16The Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities developed by the National Competitiveness Council through Regional Competitiveness Committees. The ranking is funded by the United States Agency for International Development. 17 Young people are over-represented in migration. This is due to the “positive net expected return on migration due to their longer remaining life expectancy, or because social norms require that young adults migrate in search of a better life.” Families often send their young members to the city and invest in “a potentially remitting child” as part of their survival strategy (Lall et al. 2006: 4). 18 “Bed space” refers to renting a bed in someone’s house, usually in an informal settlement. Similar to dormitories, this is the living arrangement for most migrant workers in the city. 19 The dropout rate increases as they reach college. Less than one in five youth in the Philippines are enrolled in tertiary education (Puyat 2005: 197). 20 The Social Weather Stations’ definition of unemployment covers persons aged 18 and above who are “without a job at present and looking for a job.” This excludes those not looking for work such as housewives, students and retired or disabled persons. This differs from the Department of Labor and Employment’s definition in the Labor Force Survey, which covers persons 15 years and above who are not working but are looking and available for work. 21 The report was based on the Global Gender Gap Index 2016 by the World Economic Forum. 22 According to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index, Filipinas rank third in Asia and seventeenth in the world in terms of gender equality, political empowerment, health and survival, economic participation and opportunity. Nevertheless, the Asian Development Bank (2013) report on women’s participation in labor states: “although the Philippines was one of the first countries in Asia to grant suffrage to women, and despite the fact that its constitution legislatively affirms women’s equality with men, the intended positive effects for women have not materialized as planned.” Women’s lower participation in the labor market is attributed to “inadequate employment and decent work opportunities, domestic labor and care constraints, and social norms.” This often leads to women having lower quality or vulnerable employment (2013: 13). 23 Critics argue that the law keeps wages low by granting the Labor Secretary

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jurisdiction over labor disputes deemed harmful to the national interest, including strikes over non-compliance with minimum wage requirements. 24 In China, managers in high-end retail stores rely on “gendered meanings to distinguish their workers from the women who work in other, less distinguished spaces.” Their workers were young and attractive, in contrast to middle-aged workers in state-owned stores and the “unruly” young women who work in street markets and clothing bazaars (Hanser 2005: 586). 25 Silka and Likas papaya soaps were often mentioned as favorite brands. The papaya fruit is known among Filipinos as a skin-whitening agent, while having a papaya ingredient bestows the product with a natural aura. Other multinational manufacturers (e.g. Palmolive) have also started including papaya in their products. 26 Kojic acid is a derivative of a Japanese fungus, originally used in the production of rice wine. It prevents enzymatic browning, preserving the sake’s transparent color. 27 The Bureau of Food and Drugs has found some brands of glutathione to be mislabeled, either containing negligible amounts of glutathione or containing harmful chemical compounds. For skin-whitening products, regulation by the Bureau consists primarily of requiring manufacturers to fill in its Cosmetic Regulation Template (Lapena 29 January 2010). A recent news article reported the seizure of imported cosmetics found to contain high levels of lead ( Jaymalin 2015). 28 A study of female consumer behavior in the Asia-Pacific region found the desire for self-expression to be greater in poorer countries, where consumers see branded—specifically beauty care—products as a means to highlight status (Wallström et al. 2010). 29 Skin-whitening products usually contain agents such as hydroquinone, corticosteroids and tretinoin, and have known side-effects such as irritant dermatitis, leukoderma and post-inflammatory hyper pigmentation. Their prolonged use has been linked to kidney and liver disease, leading to their banning in many countries (Desmedt et al. 2014). 30 But regardless of whether malls cater to less posh consumer segments, mechanisms for hiring are often the same. 31 In the Philippines, women workers made up 58.8% of employees engaged in call center activities in 2005; see Philippine Statistics Authority (2009). 32 In 2000, eight years after the first business process outsourcing centers opened in the Philippines, the industry generated a scant 0.075% of the country’s GDP (Natividad 2015). By 2010, the industry employed 436,500 people, 83.5% of them in call centers or doing voice work, with voice work generating almost 70% (PhP102.7 billion) of the total revenue of the BPO industry (Philippine Statistics Authority 2012).

170 33 This rosy projection is cautioned by doubts about the industry’s sustainability. New automation technologies may soon replace human agents, while political changes in customer countries may impact on their labor policies and challenge the allowance of business process outsourcing. 34 See http://investphilippines.gov.ph/. 35 The recently implemented Department of Education curriculum for the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood track in senior high school includes subjects in Information and Communications Technology. Critics argue that these are not actually ICT subjects but call center training modules. 36 The new law allows night work—defined as working for not less than seven consecutive hours including the interval from midnight to 5 a.m.—pending permission from the Secretary of Labor and Employment who must first consult workers’ representatives/labor organizations and employers. 37 Around 27.5% or around 12.1 million are unemployed (Inquirer.net 2014). The Social Weather Stations’ definition of unemployment covers persons aged 18 and above who are without a job and are looking for a job. 38 The article features heroes working at Convergys, an American transnational corporation; a young man supporting his family; a nurse with two daughters who lost her job in California; and a recent widow with a disability who must support her son. 39 Hochschild also mentions how institutions “arrange their front stages” (1983: 50), evident in many call center offices. The walls of the agents’ floor in Alta, for example, were decorated with slogans—“There is no mountain too high, no hurdle too difficult,” “You are the master of your fate!”—meant to inspire and motivate. 40 Unlike in where there are associations for young LGBT, Cagayan de Oro only counts predominantly health-focused organizations such as Kagay- an PLUS and Misamis Oriental-Cagayan de Oro AIDS Network. 41 In the Philippines’ Family Code, homosexuality is considered sufficient grounds for nullifying a heterosexual marriage on the basis of fraud (Art. 46 Sec. 4) and for legal separation (Art. 55 Sec.6). 42 Bakla in Tagalog and bayot in Bisaya are common terms to refer to the male homosexual. According to Garcia (2008), bakla combines the words babae (female) and lalaki (male), thus the connotation of the bakla as effeminate or female-like. Recent studies on Filipino women’s sexuality reveal emerging labels that attempt to capture gender identity. Based on Josef ’s earlier research on sexual identities and self-images of Filipino “woman-loving women,” Ofreneo (2003) recounts the variants: butch, dyke, tomboy and pars referring to masculine lesbians; femme and mars referring to feminine lesbians; magic and badjao as coded labels used by lesbians to refer to themselves; uno, dos, tres, quatro, referring to sexual preference

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and gender roles; and lesbian and lesbian feminist as labels used by feminists (2003: 30). Although largely (still) categorized in terms of gender roles (Ofreneo 2003: 30), the labels offer a hint of conflation and plurality. 43 Garcia (2008) reports that Filipino children in the 1980s learned to sing the rhyme “Girl, boy, bakla, tomboy” as a way to categorize people. Girl and bakla are feminine, boy and tomboy are masculine. 44 It is common practice among competing noon-time variety shows in the Philippines to feature a segment in the tradition of beauty pageants. In 1995, Eat Bulaga launched the first gay beauty pageant on television, calling the segment Super Sireyna (Super Mermaid). Gay beauty pageants are common fiesta events in small towns and communities, usually framed as entertaining if not comedic. With the advent of That’s My Tomboy, villages and small towns have begun holding similar pageants for tomboys. 45 Devor (1989) shows how masculine appearance is linked to the desire for power, and how this reinforces prevailing gender representations. 46 Megan Sinnott’s study (2012) of Bangkok-based queer female culture found a shift in the aesthetics of female masculinity: “particularly the interest in Korean ‘boy bands’ has reframed the dominant mode of gendered stylisation amongst a new generation of masculine-identifying women and their partners” (2012: 253). Sinnott argues that these women and their partners “have reinscribed and appropriated the transgender play and soft masculinity of K-pop within a local linguistic context that produces sexual and gender binaries within female same- sex couples. The ideal aesthetics of a masculine woman within this binary is now the stylised K-pop ‘soft’ masculine image” (2012: 254). 47 The word lanao (or ranao) means lake. 48 In recent times, Muslim traders have reached the northern hinterlands of the country to trade their modern wares. As far as the country’s northern Cordillera, a cellphone or DVD shop would likely be operated by a Maranao trader. 49 The word “Moro” is derived from Mauros of Greece, which means “black,” and is associated with the war between Muslims and Christians on the Iberian Peninsula. As Spain extended its colonial reach to , all Muslims in the region were called Moro. The term later came to refer specifically to southern Philippine Muslims. 50 The pattern of the hand-woven malong indicated the locality as well as the economic and social status of the wearer. In recent times, everyday wear malongs are imported from and are commonly referred to as batik. 51 Taro focused on the British-based website HijabShop.com. 52 Jamal, a young Maranao man who grew up in Lebanon, had returned to Mindanao for college and was only beginning to understand his Maranao roots. He explained: “It’s mostly the traditional families who do this. You notice how

172 their IDs can contain their full names? The girls have very, very long names. Every clan name that carries prestige will be included in the name. You add one more when you marry.” 53 While divorce is not legal in the Philippines, it is for Muslim Filipinos. Under the Shari-a law that applies to Muslims, couples may divorce under certain circumstances.

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