Amazons of the Huk Rebellion: Gender, Sex, and Revolution in the Philippines

by Vina A. Lanzona

Labeled “Amazons” by the national press, women played a central role in the Huk rebellion, one of the most significant peasant-based revolutions in modern Philippine history. As spies, organizers, nurses, couriers, soldiers, and even military commanders, women worked closely with men to resist first Japanese occupation and later, after WWII, to challenge the new Philippine republic. But in the midst of the uncertainty and violence of rebellion, these women also pursued personal lives, falling in love, becoming pregnant, and raising families, often with their male comrades-in-arms.
    Drawing on interviews with over one hundred veterans of the movement, Vina A. Lanzona explores the Huk rebellion from the intimate and collective experiences of its female participants, demonstrating how their presence, and the complex questions of gender, family, and sexuality they provoked, ultimately shaped the nature of the revolutionary struggle.

 

Winner, Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize for the best history book written by a resident of Hawaii, sponsored by Brigham Young University–Hawaii

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Asia, Feminism

370 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2009

Reviews

[Orion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book to read about Celia Mariano and her American husband William Pomeroy who trained the Huk in revolutionary thought. The book looks at the role of women in the revolutionary movement. It examines how revolutionary equality attempted to transform traditional male/female roles. This book's greatest importance is as a book about women in revolutionary struggle. Secondarily, it is useful as a history of post World War II Philippines.

[Caryll Ong · Rating 4 out of 5]

i gave it four stars bc it took me months before i was able to finish the book bc i have the attention span of a gold fish.

[Levi]

Fine scholarship on women in the Huk revolution. Lanzona carefully sketches the merits and (many) limitations in how the male-dominated PKP tackled "the women question", even going so far as to discuss how the old Communist Party dealt with relationships, sex, and family inside the revolutionary organization.

The academic discussions were complemented with narratives from the women themselves, as well as official party documents. I found the following anecdote by Cecilia Mariano, the only woman in the old PKP leadership, rather fascinating:

"In the party school, we were about twelve who were studying there, only two women, the others men. One thing that happened was that the men built a toilet outside the house. But when you squat in the toilet, your body could be seen down to the chest. I thought, My God, how could we women go in there?

So, what we did was to go a little way out to a stream. You had to cross a log so that you could hide among the bushes. One day, when we were having classes, I felt that I had to respond to the call of nature, so I left the room and went there. And when I crossed the log, I fell into the water. Of course, I shouted. So all the comrades came out and fished me out of the water. ... After I changed my clothes, I began to criticize these comrades. I said, "You people, you only think of yourselves as men, you do not think of our situation as women. You expect us to use that toilet. You did not even think of building a toilet for us. You just think of yourselves as men. You don't think of the women. You don't bother with the needs of women."

After Celia complained, her male comrades admitted that they had not been sensitive enough to the needs of the women, and after the school session finished that day all her male comrades built a toilet for the women."

The book gives invaluable perspective on how far we have come in terms of gender. Given that the old Party had to theorize and practice the gender issue in the conservative milieu of the 1950s Philippines, and that most of the efforts have been pushed by women as minorities in a male-led military organization, highlights the work and sacrifice that needed to be done to get to where the new Party is currently at (and how far it still needed to go). It also highlights the importance of women's political participation in any revolutionary organization, regardless of its supposed tenets of equality. Equality is much more than an ideal written on paper - it is a condition only achieved through relentless struggle.

[Phan Son Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lanzona’s “Amazons of the Huk Rebellion: Gender, Sex, and Revolution in the Philippines” sheds light on the fate of women during the Hukbalahap Rebellion, recognizing their significant role in the constitution of modern Philippine’s history. Alongside their male comrades, more recognizable figures of the rebellion, these women partook in spying, organizing, nursing, and even combating. In the midst of the uncertainty and violence of rebellion, they also pursued personal lives, falling in love, becoming pregnant, and raising families, often with their male comrades-in-arms. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred veterans, this book focuses on the gender aspect of history, specifically exploiting intimate and collective experiences of the female participants. However, this book is more of the communication channel between Lanzona and the audience, rather the women of Huk Rebellion than the audience. Data were intentionally arranged in categories to support the author’s argument. What we want to hear more about is the raw materials, authentic quotations of the interviewees before they were all cooked and seasoned.

[Lj · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...moral double standard of bourgeois society..."

Even as valuable people during the war and rebellion, the contributions of women are overlooked or minimized to fit our patriarchal society. Being a woman was a dichotomy; one must abandon her femininity and familial values to achieve "liberation".

[Jason]

It’s a line from the Jchurch song Ivy League College:

“You should have known
You should have known
You tell yourself you should have known
He'd be burning incense, talking all his nonsense
You should have known that a sensitive guy
Lives a lie, you can't look him in the eye”

[Dhevarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great contribution to scholarship on women's role in the rebellion, especially the oral histories.