Gender advocacy is a minefield

At the Lopez Jaena Fellowship on gender sensitivity I attended in 2005, a professor lectured against the male-dominated media that objectifies women in men’s magazines. Even gadget and car magazines featured women, she pointed out. She noted that most women felt bad about themselves after seeing unattainable role models in fashion magazines.

I had to remind her that the czar of today’s most widely read men’s magazine franchise as well as several international women’s fashion magazine titles is a woman.

I also observed that many gay magazines seem to be objectifying men on their covers.

Perhaps, instead of blaming men, we should blame technology. The advent of high quality printing has put the premium on visuals instead of text.

Perhaps, instead of suspecting gender bias, we should blame the physical world. You can project, but you cannot truly show intangible traits such as intellect or character on a photograph. But you can write about it. That’s why there’s text to go along with the pictures.

Perhaps we should blame human nature. The urge to idealize beauty is both ancient and universal. But just as the Greeks composed odes as well as they sculpted marble into gorgeous forms, so should we value women who have both substance and sensuality.

Perhaps we should blame greed. In the quest to dominate, many pander to the lowest common denominator and use the basest of appeals. Is it not enough to be simply profitable while still delivering compelling and intellectually stimulating content?

As many of you may know, there is no money in journalism, at least not for the writer. Personally, it helps clarify my motive for pursuing my craft, though proper compensation would be most welcome.

Besides writing for this newspaper, I also write for a women’s, a men’s and a lifestyle magazine (Mega, Manual and Lifestyle Asia). In my good fortune, The Manila Times as well as these magazines put a premium on content. All the women I’ve profiled have been truly beautiful – possessing minds, hearts and souls that are even more beguiling than their looks. And these publications choose to focus on such minds, hearts and souls.

Writers, photographers and publishers are much like readers; we all have choices. You are what you buy. You are what you sell. You are your work.