AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

156 TERESA LORENA JOPSON
Women in the Army
The military as an institution has been historically associated with men.
Soldiers are usually gendered, and to refer to the women in the group, we
often have to put qualifiers for the term, such as women soldiers. Often
occluded, the women are visible in this collection and depicted in active
roles such as fighters. However, much is left unsaid about the struggle of
women within the Army. The New People’s Army has dominantly male
fighters, yet it has not been overlooked in this book that women have
been fighting alongside them. In fact, I would argue, the women guerrillas
are imaged amply in Pulang Mandirigma. I suggest that this is for
good reasons.
First, the CPP and NPA are reinforcing its stance as a progressive and
revolutionary platform towards empowerment of the masses, and the
realization of people’s rights. In images 1-3, we can observe that women
are able fighters, capable of leadership, competent in combat, and trainable
to acquire special skills (such as snipe shooting) within the army.
This negates the stereotype of women being passive and weak.
Secondly, following the logic that able members make able organizations,
we can say that these capabilities of women can be extended to the
capabilities of the army.
Thirdly, imaging women fighters negates the stereotype of the army
as a group of violent armed men. While this reinforces women’s capability
for fighting, it also banks on the stereotype of women being peaceloving
that “softens” the image of a violent army. This might be relevant
in light of the imaging of terrorist groups being male and cruel. The CPP
and NPA sets itself apart from these groups by showing that the war it is
fighting is every Filipino’s cause.
The images of women in ‘Fighting Army’ then helps build the identity
of the CPP and NPA as progressive, strong and just, and an army apart
from terrorist groups.
As counterpoint, I explored if the emphasis on women fighters constitutes
a textual violence as suggested by Meijer (1993). There is danger
in imaging guerrilla women as exotic fighters and romanticized rebels.
Another trap is a kind of representation as objects intended to lure male
soldiers to the army. Studying the focalization in the three photographs
in ‘Fighting Army’ that image women, I am confident that the CPP was
careful in portraying women.