We’ll testify we’re in sex video, say netizens
It began noon of Friday with a simple message: “I would like to testify in Congress. It was me in the sex video. #Everywoman.”
By early afternoon, the hashtag started trending as Twitter and Facebook were flooded with tweets and posts from #Everywoman, #Everyman and #Everyhuman who expressed their outrage over the proposal in the House of Representatives to make public a sex video purportedly showing Sen. Leila de Lima.
The senator is being linked in the ongoing congressional hearing to the illegal drug trade in New Bilibid Prison, with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez saying that the sex video would show the intimate relationship between De Lima and her driver and alleged bagman.
Article continues after this advertisementSeveral lawmakers have objected to Alvarez’s proposal, saying that the video—which they described as “unacceptable and reprehensible”—had not been authenticated.
Showing such material in public was not only against the law, it was also inadmissible as evidence in court, they added.
Public shaming
Article continues after this advertisementNetizens similarly described the video as “public shaming” and #Everywoman, which started as a group of women’s campaign of support for De Lima, soon breathed a life of its own and expanded to include #Everyman and #Everyhuman.
In Bacolod City, Alvarez on Friday said he would leave it up to the House committee on justice to decide whether to show the video.
“If the committee members decide to present it at their committee hearing I will have no objection,” Alvarez said during the oath-taking of more than 200 new members of Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
He said the committee would consider as well the concerns expressed by some women’s groups about showing the video at the hearing.
Among those who initially tweeted the message were former government officials and members of civil society and women’s groups.
But netizens like @OhItsNancyyy echoed their sentiments and tweeted, “Hindi lang kasi ako babae. Tao rin ako. At lahat ng tao ay dapat nakakakuha ng respeto mula sa ibang tao (I am not just a woman. I am a human being who deserve respect from others) #Everywoman #Everyman.”
In a message to the House of Representatives, @MlaCouchPotato wrote: “I am the one in the sex video. I am your mother, your daughter, your sister. Slut-shamed and beaten down by misogyny #Everywoman.”
For @StewieOng, “No one deserves this public shaming. Not Sandra. Not Mocha. Not Leila. #Everywoman.” Similarly, @atwulf offered to testify in Congress because he said he was in the sex video. He used the hashtags #Everyhuman and
#Everywoman in his tweet.
Barbarity
Tweeted @oldrichofmanila:“No puede! Que barbaridad! It stops being funny when it is not true and when it degrades the humanity of being a woman. Barbaros! #Everywoman.”
“I support #Everywoman because I have a mother, grandmother, titas, nieces and specially a wife,” @rojan88 said.
@isssuh and @narrajr stressed the right of every woman to privacy and dignity and said: “#Everywoman deserves to be as sexual as she wants to without people sticking their nose in her business.”
@MujerMaldita basically summed up the message of the campaign in her tweet that said, “Whenever you shame a woman, remember the very person who gave birth to you. You shame one, you shame us all. #Everywoman.” With a report from Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas/TVJ
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