Resurrecting the image of a true Filipina
Fifteen days ago I promised that I’d kick off a Filipina Bloggers Month. Well, I say it’s not too late yet.
The inspiration for celebrating a Filipina Bloggers Month began when I read inspiring posts last December. As early as 2004, these gentlemen – Jonas Diego, The Filipino Librarian, and Marc Macalua wrote about how to improve the tarnished image of the word “Filipina” in the web. Try it yourself, google the word “Filipina” and you’ll find the top ten sites are all about mail order brides, dating a Filipina or Filipina penpals. Not to demean anyone, but we know that there is so much more to being a Filipina than what Google search engine results define us to be, right?
After two years of Google bombing, we’re finally seeing some improvements. First on the Google search results now is at least a Wikipedia definition of the word Filipina, a testament to the efforts of the movement that began three years ago. But if you, like me, only heard about this movement now, and would like to continue redeeming the word=name=image of a Filipina (i.e, Filipino women, pinays) in the web here are some of what we can do (as lifted from the Filipino Librarian) -
1. If you are a woman of Filipino descent, identify yourself as a Filipina—not just as a “Filipino” or “Filipino woman”—on your blog or website. Or, if you have neither, urge those with blogs or websites to join this campaign.
2. If you are not a woman or are not of Filipino descent, whenever you refer to female officemates and friends who are Filipino in your blog or website, please identify them as Filipina. Or, again, urge those who have blogs or websites to join this campaign.
3. Link. This is the most important thing you can do. If you have time, turn every mention of the word “Filipina” into a link. If you don’t have time, just put a link anywhere on your blog or website, preferably on the sidebar. And it doesn’t have to be the word itself. Any image or photo that represents a Filipina may be turned into a link. And no, being a non-techie is not an excuse because if you have a blog or website, then you can cut and paste the following code into your template:
<a href=”
http://www.ffwn.org/”><img src=”http://photos13.flickr.com/15739923_de334d9871_t.jpg” width=”67″ height=”100″ alt=”Filipina Women’s Network”></a><br />Logo by <a href=”Jonas’” DESIGNTIMESP=8723>http://jonasdiego.blogspot.com/2005/05/yan-ang-pinay.html”>Jonas Diego</a>
Filipina: Wikipedia
<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipina” rel=”tag”>Filipina</a>: Wikipedia
Filipina: Merriam-Webster
<a href=”http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=Filipina” rel=”tag”>Filipina</a>: Merriam-WebsterFilipina: American Heritage
<a href=”http://www.bartleby.com/61/93/F0119350.html” rel=”tag”>Filipina</a>: American Heritage4. Tag. We need to know who has joined the campaign so we can link to one another. If you use the code above, then the links will automatically be tagged. But if you would like to tag previous posts, then just copy and paste the following into your blog or website:
Tags: Filipina, Filipinas
Tags: <a href=”http://www.technorati.com/tag/Filipina” rel=”tag”>Filipina</a>, <a href=”http://www.technorati.com/tag/Filipinas” rel=”tag”>Filipinas</a>
For now, I’m linking back to Filipina Soul. But as we find and promote more Filipina bloggers in the coming months, there will be more to link, tag and help promote the true image of a Filipina.
Tags: Filipina, Filipinas, Filipino women, Filipina bloggers
20 Comments
here’s hoping that it catches fire again…
Why is the first letter of the term “Filipina” spelled with the lettr “F” when there is no letter “F” in the Pilipino alphabet or Alibata?
“Ano va talaga? Faki faliwanag lang nga fara ma-dagdagan ang aking ka-alaman sa faksang ito?”
Noypetes, I’m not sure but I think the modern Filipino alphabet does have an “F” along with other english letters now. I think we actually have more letters than the english alphabet! I think I learned that back in high school…
Anyone with a better answer?
[...] She’s a Filipina. And her blog is a glimpse of what an empowered Filipino woman can accomplish. [...]
noypetes: grace is right. the earliest known “alphabet” (ca. 1593) doesn’t have the F, but the latest one does: Ang Bagong Alfabeto at Patnubay sa Ispeling
Salamat Grace at vonjobi. Susuriin ko pa ng mabuti “Ang Bagong Alfabeto at patnubay sa Ispeling”….Tsk..tsk..tsk! Bastardized version?
eeks. Alfabeto doesn’t sound right to me, either… wasn’t there a discussion before about the Filipino alphabet and whether language should be evolving? I guess the new Filipino alphabet is evidence of this. Personally, I don’t know if the Philippines needs to translate every english term into Tagalog (or Cebuano as our visayan cousins would argue) or if we should “filipinize” english terms, like this “alfabeto” and “ispeling”… By the way, isn’t there a Pilipino word for spelling anyway?
Vonjobi, do refresh my memory. what are the new letters? I recall we retained the ‘ll’ and ‘~n’ and some Spanish derived words. but do we now have ‘j’ and ‘x’ too?
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from Filipino: 2001 Alphabet Revision & Spelling Guide:
Ang 2001 Mga Tiyak na Tuntunin sa Gamit ng Walong Dagdag na Letra ay revisyon ng tuntunin sa paggamit ng walong dagdag na letra—C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X, Z—na nakapaloob sa 1987 Alpabeto at Patnubay sa Ispeling ng Wikang Filipino na binuo ng Linangan ng mga Wika sa Pilipinas. Ang ibang mga tuntunin sa ispeling sa Patnubay ay hindi binago nang ganap.
Salamat sa impormasyong ito, Vonjobi!
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I Have been trying to talk my wife into starting her own blog but she is still trying to get used to the fact that there is a computer in her house as she did not even have telephone until she was 16 where she grew up on Bantayan Island. I have tried and tried to explain to her that there are so many people out there who insist on driving the Filipina into the ground, that any time you do a search for the term you bring up hundreds of thousands of spam and porn links that should not be there. If you searched for American, you would not see porn all over the first page. It is time my wife got her own blog even as a diary of sorts to create enough true Pinoy webpages to drown out those who want to embarrass the Philippines with websites….well that are against the law in this fine country. The technology is available here in the Philippines and it is time that Filipinas and Filipinos took back their rightful keywords on the web, and push back the sites that just want to degrade anyone they can in exchange for the all mighty dollar. What would your suggestions be to help get my wife interested in blogging or using the computer period?
Thanks for your time,
Nicholas Clark
Nicholas, thanks for caring about our image as women and Filipinos. We need more people like you who want to correct this awful image of our nation. Maybe one thing you can do is start a blog yourself, and get the web to form a more correct view of Filipinos and the Philippines. Often, a foreigner’s view (which I assume you are) as powerful as another pinoy’s because of your own unique experiences and perspective…
who knows, maybe one of these days your wife will get encouraged and join you in the blogosphere.
Let us know how it pans out and if you do get a blog, tell us about it and we’ll feature you.
Grace
[...] Way to go, Ms. Filipina blogger! [...]
[...] Way to go, Ms. Lewis! Yan ang Pinay! [...]
[...] was really cool, and very much similar to the “Yan ang Pinay” campaign that aims to resurrect the image of a true Filipina [...]
[...] One more move in the campaign to resurrect the image of the "Filipina" on the web. [...]
hi pls i want to no u