President Rodrigo Duterte, trying to ward off criticisms of feminists on his remarks Thursday that women were just made out of God’s second thoughts, explained on Saturday his perceived “misogynist” remarks were “unintentional.”
In his speech at the thanksgiving party prepared by Senator-elect Christopher Go on Thursday night, the President said feminists were always lashing out against him for making women one of his many favorite topics for quips.
“These feminists are always complaining about my mouth. I’m used to it and that’s the culture I grew up with. The joke is always on the women,” Duterte said in Davao City.
A mysogynist is a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women, usually a man who believes that men are much better than women.
Duterte added he did not intend to derogate women for he highly respects the females in his kin such as his mother, Soledad, and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
“When I said, and it’s really true, that there were a lot of beautiful women here. And told them I would come back for them tomorrow. They [women’s rights groups] were angry about it afterwards,” he said.
“If you don’t want to hear it, then don’t listen to me… But those jokes were not intentional. It is there planted in the genetics of men because we have been doing it since,” he added.
According to the President, in one of his usually amusing remarks, said in his hometown he once talked to God about women in his dream and asked God “to tell the truth” behind his plan to create women.
“I told God, ‘You know God, I am heavily criticized because of my actions… But what were you thinking [when you made women]. Tell me the truth.’ If God really favored women, then He should have created them first,” he recalled.
“Then He replied, ‘Bible.’ And I believe it. The Lord saw how lonely Adam was. It was written there, right? He was alone. So, God created a woman. And that’s the part where it got problematic,” the President continued, receiving laughs from his audience.
For the President, he would be fine if only men had walked the earth. “I’m fine with men, we can have a fight or whatever you want. We can even kiss. I don’t have a problem with it, I was gay before. It’s true,” he quipped anew.
Even though he admitted he was not a pastor, the Chief Executive still tried to discuss concepts of the religion he once doubted, touching on the story of how God created men and women.
“The woman was a second thought. When God created Adam, He said, ‘Let there be life. Let there be a human being.’ Then he said, ‘What a pity being. He doesn’t have a partner.’ So, when God created the woman, our lives were messed up,” Duterte said, receiving laughter from his audience again.
“It’s true. Women are [an] just afterthought,” he added.
The President said he was not trying to justify his previous remarks which caught the ire of women’s rights group.
“Of course, it’s a trait that I know the people wouldn’t like,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Duterte publicly flirted with a "beautiful" local chief executive from Bohol, saying he would grab Garcia Hernandez town Mayor Tita Baja-Gallantes’ underwear "even until the garter snaps."
Women’s rights party-list Gabriela quickly slammed the President for his “putrid” remarks, viewing Duterte’s public admiration to Baja-Gallantes as a “sick and disgusting display of machismo, infidelity and ethical bankruptcy.”
Several groups have criticized Duterte for issuing derogatory remarks against women.
In his previous statements, the President attributed the number of rape cases to women's beauty, ordered the country's troops to shoot female rebels in the vagina, and joked about the gang rape and murder of an Australian missionary.
Recently, he drew criticism for saying he “touched” his maid when he was a teenager.
He was also heavily criticized for his controversial kiss with a married Filipina when he visited South Korea in June last year.
Malacañang, however, has maintained the President is not anti-women, stressing the Duterte administration continues to uplift the lives of Filipino women in economic, social, and political aspects.
