Distasteful—and exploitative

JEERS TO several media organizations for showing a video of women in scantily clad costumes dancing suggestively during a Liberal Party (LP) gathering and birthday celebration on October 1.

The INQUIRER.net’s twitter account, @Inquirerdotnet, first posted a 20-second video of three women in revealing outfits, with one of them dancing onstage with an unidentified man in a yellow shirt. “For the nth time, emcee says these girls are courtesy of @MMDA chair Tolentino #VotePH2016” the post said.

Inquirer.net was quick to follow up with the story “LOOK: Sexy dancers in post-LP event Tolentino’s ‘surprise gift’?” around 4:30 p.m., which provided more details about the gathering in Laguna.

Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino denied that he brought the dancers to the event which was LP oath-taking ceremony and a birthday celebration for Laguna 4th District Rep. Benjie Agarao. In subsequent reports, Agarao was also quoted as denying Tolentino’s hand in bringing the performers to the event.

Primetime newscasts Network News (CNN Philippines) and TV Patrol (ABS-CBN 2) also reported on the matter but did not stream the clip. 24 Oras (GMA 7) and Aksyon (TV5) did not run the entire video but showed clips of the three performers in scanty costumes dancing on stage. Aksyon also included photos of the lewd performance.

One could argue that the incident was news worthy, but was it necessary to show the video and photos of the women involved — as well as portions of the video which showed one of the dancers straddling a guest in a yellow shirt?

Not airing the video at all would have been the best option. But to compound the offense both against public taste as well as the women, there was no attempt to even pixilate the images. Although the women’s photos have been widely circulated in social media, the Inquirer group and the broadcast networks could have concealed their identities rather than disseminating to an even bigger audience through their facilities a video that many people, and not only women’s groups, found offensive and exploitative.

As it was, the video contributed further to strengthening the sexist commodification and objectification of women: the perception common among the unenlightened that women are sex objects for sale.

This perception blames women in such straits themselves, and looks at them as victimizers rather than victims of both prevailing attitudes which they may have internalized, and/or their own desperate search for employment in a country of limited opportunities. As exploitative as the actual event was, the media organizations concerned compounded what was already unconscionable by airing the video.

The following Twitter users saw the Inquirer post and tagged the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility:

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