Far From Neutral Notions - Philippine politics, culture and stuff

It’s not like I haven’t seen this kind of thing before, especially back in high school. You know, the stereotypes we’re are categorized under that we spend the rest of our lives either trying to break away from or live up to. Jocks, geeks, beauty queens, fat. Take your pick. I’d thought I’ve been desensitized to that kind of thing.

Guess not.

I was going over my mail, and someone from a mailing list I belong to pointed this out. Seems like the Philippine Computer Society (PCS) is holding a pageant search for what they call the “Digital Pinay”, “[someone] who exemplif[ies] the qualities expected of future women leaders of the Philippine [Information and Communication Technology] ICT industry.” What’s sickening though, is what they consider to be the qualities these future leaders should have, based on their criteria for judging: popularity (through SMS votes) counts for 20%, while beauty and poise count for 20% apiece. I don’t have a copy of the .doc file, so I can’t tell what the other 40% represents, but even if it were, say, technical competence or some other relevant criteria, the message is clear: in an era and culture where you can enjoy hours-long conversations with people you’ve never even seen personally, some people still can’t see past appearances.

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