Say My Name

Graphics by Ann Villegas.

The piece is entitled “Say My Name”, with emphasis on my. 

A massive part of misogyny has always relied on identifying women only through reference to another person, most likely a man. It really can come to a point that this practice makes it highly probable for the individual name to be forgotten. The poem makes mention of male characters in Jose Rizal’s Noli me Tangere: all who play significant roles in the story, or rather, lack of story, to the female lead, Maria Clara. She was written as an exaggeration of what the ideal woman was like during the Spanish colonization era of the Philippines, and played not much of a role other than being collateral damage to a society with a twisted moral code. Unfortunately, a massive conservative chunk of modern Philippines still holds her meekness and submission as an ideal.

It is up to the present and future generations of people to challenge this concept and accept the potential of a woman, acknowledging her development without it being accredited to a man. The referencing tendencies usually happen subconsciously, which then leads it to becoming a habit. It might be a stretch to consider that referring to another as a point of reference could affect them somehow, but everyone deserves the recognition as an individual as much as possible. No other person could ever be more important in context that you can only be identified as something in relation to them. "Say My Name" makes that reminder that this is important in all aspects of life, whether it's familial, professional, or personal, one deserves to be called by name.