Breaking Mariathe ClaraSTEREOTYPE

by Gwyneth Bea RODRIGUEZ

“Act like a lady.”

A statement that almost every Filipina girl is familiar with. It seems like Filipino culture still holds this ego-idea of the many bygone years. The so-called Maria Clara image of a demure, shy, and being the epitome of virtue is still being upheld for the Filipina of today. But how many Filipinas in reality are like Maria Clara really?

"Make no mistake."

Expectations of women have slowly changed for the better in the recent years. Some roles expected from our grandmothers no longer apply to now, except for the occasional “Women should know how to cook” comments. Women are always asked to be like this and like that, do this not that, just so we can be that perfect “Dalagang Pilipina”. To be that image, here are 5 things expected from women that they don’t need to do.

“Sit with your legs together”.

Have you ever sat on a bench or in a jeep with a man? He will spread his legs as if asserting dominance without care of whether or not his seatmate can fit both buttocks on the chair. If they can do that, women can sit however they want, wherever they want. As long as she’s wearing panties of course.

“Be nice."

People often mistake being nice as being kind but there is a huge difference between them. Kind is good. Everyone should be kind. Being nice makes a woman unable to do a lot of things like turning down a guy because she doesn’t find him physically attractive – a choice deprived from women and the same choice men can easily make because women are expected to be perfect anyway.

“Ignore the fact that you’re beautiful."

Women are expected to be beautiful but not know, or pretend not to know, that they are beautiful because knowing that you’re attractive and being confident about your appearance turns off men. Here’s the thing, everyone is beautiful and anyone has the right to flaunt it.

“Have kids."

Just because we have the ability to have kids, doesn’t mean we are required to have kids. It doesn’t make the childless selfish or loveless. People.

“Shave." Whether it’s down there or on the underarms, why is it shameful when girls have body hair? Everyone expects us to be perfectly plucked chickens all the time.

We don’t have to live up to what society wants us to be. Acting like a lady doesn’t have to mean women should act perfectly because who is perfect anyway? And different women mean different behaviors so acting like a lady should be different for everybody. Maria Clara is a fictional character, we, on the other hand, are real people capable of evolving in both roles and characters. This unrealistic picture perfect image of us needs to stop.