Feminization of Truth-Telling Professions? Journalism and Documentary Filmmaking in the Philippines*
Omar O. Dumdum, PhD Candidate
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
UW–Madison
*Based on a paper co-authored with Grace Pimentel Simbulan.
This presentation concretizes the notion that truth is gendered by examining how the credibility of women-led truth-telling professions is undermined through sexist and misogynistic attacks. Analysis of this phenomenon is grounded in the Philippines, where journalism has been dominated by women since the 1970s and critically acclaimed documentaries have been largely produced by women filmmakers. In tracing how gender stereotypes and segregation in these occupations become the base for devaluing truth-telling, this talk raises the question of whether journalism and documentary filmmaking have also become “feminized” — in a pejorative sense. Despite such attacks, women journalists and documentarians persist and find ways to perform their truth-telling functions to the public.
This event is free and open to the public.