But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
– 1 Corinthians 14:38
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
– 1 Timothy 2:11
True or false:
- Men have hymens; women don’t.
- Women can lose their virginity from riding a bike.
- Women can drink alcohol to increase menstrual flow.
- Women can apply menstrual blood to their faces to prevent acne.
- Women can skip over three steps of stairs to shorten their period to three days.
If your answer for every statement is false, congratulations: You are smarter than the young Filipinas who participated in the Kotex BodyLife IQ Study.
But not that smart. After all, of the six countries that participated, Filipinas were the most “misinformed” (i.e., stupid).
26 percent believe #1 (that only men had hymen’s).
18 percent believe #2 (that a bike could ride them, too).
54 percent believe #3 (maybe thinking beer transforms into blood — that’s wine, duh).
38 percent believe #4 (perhaps thinking menstrual blood turns into new skin, replacing pimples — kind of like stem cells)
There was only one Filipina who believes #5 (skip steps to skip to the end of your period). I feel sorry for her. The rest of the girls must think she’s stupid and superstitious.
On a totally unrelated note, the Philippines is Asia’s largest Catholic nation, with its priests, bishops, and clergy continuing to wage war against the evil Reproductive Health Bill.
Popularity: 2% [?]
i’m curious about what the news article calls the “health questions” that the vast majority got right. what is a health question? this may be more important than the biology/myth questions
To the girls who participated, particularly the large percentage who got wrong answers, there is no difference between a myth question and a health question. If they act on the mythical belief, it affects their health (e.g., drinking beer and putting blood on your face).
how can drinking beer during ur mens or putting your own blood on ur face detrimental to your health?
As officially defined by the World Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the *absence* of disease or infirmity.
We can say that these mistaken girls are a bit low on mental health.
But what I really meant by “affects their health” was performing real actions that stem from the belief, as opposed to just avoiding them, as is the case when they refuse to ride a bike. Though you can also argue inaction is a sort of action.
But just for arguments sake, suppose there is a girl who wants to lessen her period by drinking beer. This is a myth, so it does not work, and she tries to drink more. When she gets drunk it has already affected her health, let alone when it becomes a habit.
About the putting menstrual blood on your face. I don’t know whether this is indeed physically healthy or unhealthy, but mentally, well…
thats a big jump from drinking beer once a month to being an alcoholic. but i suppose anythings possible. plus, if these myths don’t work and they try them, they won’t be tried again.
i suspect that these women know about these myths, and are willing to tell people about them when asked, but they might not be practicing them — if they were, they’d figure out they won’t work.
If only people were really like that. Take prayer and the lottery, for instance. People try and fail at these on a daily basis.
prayer and the lotto aren’t the same as these things.
there is no certainty in winning the lotto. no certainty in getting what u want in prayer.
people know this, even as they contiinue to pray and play.
Men can lose their virginity from riding a woman. I think that’s fact. hehehe.
Wait, I know a myth Filipino men believe. They think that they won’t lose virginity when they ride a woman. They think it makes them look handsome. hahaha!
If there were myth I think a lot of men believe, it’s that withdrawal has a very high success rate.
How can the Clergy know about Birds and the Bees ? They are supposed
to be Celibates.
Exactly. This is a good point, Hyden Toro. Yet most Filipinos listen to them when it comes to reproductive knowledge and morality. They don’t remember that to the original clergy, sex was dirty and unnecessary, because they expected their savior to come really, really soon.
Centuries later, thanks to these “teachers,” sex is still seen as dirty and unnecessary, even when most of the myths these beliefs were based on have been debunked.
For instance, they used to believe that a woman on her period was dirty, and all who touched what she had touched would be just as dirty. Looking at a woman on her period alone could make you dirty. Sex makes people dirty.
These are stated explicitly in the Bible, and it is easy to see that the clergy’s attitude toward sex is still based on these barbaric beliefs.
Peter the Apostle; the supposed first Pope of the
Catholic Church was married. There was even a Pope
named Leo, who had a mistress and had borne him
illigitimate children.
Too much conflicting dogmas in Organized Religions…
Exactly. This is a good point, Hyden Toro.
what a response. so what do you know about hymen when you are not a female? what do we know about birds and the bees when we are not birds and bees?
what do science tell us? and is science not accessible to anyone?
what a response: “exactly.”
further, when is it psychologically correct to equate being “misinformed ” from being “stupid”? are these two terms synonymous to begin with?
My youngest daughter, before climbing stairs, counts them so she knows which foot to start with, so that she always ends on her right foot. She is dueling with another student for the honor of class valedictorian and is a virgin of personal choice whilst her friends are shacked up nightly; she most definitely enjoys boys, and they enjoy her, but not physically.
I could be wrong, but it seems to me the problem with Filipino education is that it forces youth into a mold of some elder’s definition, rather than teaching them to enjoy learning and to thrive on the thrill of independent thought.
Joe
I’d say this mentality is more the fault of religious upbringing than education. But you could say that religion is so embedded in our education system that the difference is becoming more trivial.
Young Filipinos enjoying learning, thriving on the thrill of *independent* thought? That’s the dream.
*subscribed*
I believe the whole idea of virginity is idiotic. After all, wasn’t it Christ that said that covetousness begins in the mind and thus a sin is committed. When a human gets into the sexual phase of existence, don’t tell me he/she never had sexually explicit thoughts?
A virgin is actually a deadhead aexual!
blackshama,
In the US, the latest craze is “Purity Balls”, where kids and parents go to a dance and make a pledge to virginity, in effect. Now that, I find over the top. But I think it is also way over the top to suggest that a girl who chooses to remain chaste for the risks that sex imposes on one’s freedom of lifestyle . . . is an idiot. I think the Philippines could use way more idiots, frankly. Especially at the age of 14 and 15.
Joe
sorry that should read” asexual”
The Catholic church, by opposing the Reproductive Health Bill, is denigrating humanity in this part of the world to the level of cockroaches and dogs. 90 million plus and growing by the day equals widespread hunger and malnutrition, unsustainable development, depletion and overuse of natural resources, crime and abuse of children, inadequate and limited access to education.
A more enlightened, a more prosperous population is a threat to the jurassic Catholic belief system and dogma.
Amen to that!
*subscribing*
The Malthusian myth has long been debunked. Why does it keep coming back unless otherwise, it is one of those usual rhetorics that deceivingly inject fear into some clueless minds.
In the Western world, Malthus’ theory was proven wrong because of the adoption of machines and technology. Efficient means of production led to prosperity for majority of the population and wealthy couples did not embark on producing a dozen kids per family as Malthus predicted. In fact, the opposite happened.
In the Philippines, where we are not anywhere near making any effort to industrialize, effeciency in wealth and food production is primitive. Poverty is widespread and the poor couples, instead of limiting children, embarked on a factory of babies.
The catholic Talibans calls it pro-life.
tranquil,
Until recently, I agreed with you. But I think a faith must adhere to its beliefs, otherwise the whole faith comes falling down like a house of cards. So the Catholic Church is just doing what it needs to do to remain whole. The fault is with government leaders who do not adhere to the Constitutional mandate to operate in the public interest, and to separate the state from the church.
People should be free to adhere to whatever faith they will. But the rest of us should not be forced to that same faith.
Joe
Trouble comes everytime the Church keeps on breaching the separation clause.
tranquil: “Taliban” is trademarked and has high-standards as to edicts, who-is-who and who-are-slaves, weaponry and tactics.
The true Talibans are super macho men who are revered and feared by their women and children. Given the breadth of the tactics and weapons that the true Taliban uses to intimidate, they will be insulted that you would even think to assign their trademark to today’s Catholics of Pilipinas who are among the sissiest of sissies compared to the original.
A matter of perspective Upn. The bishops and the monsignors and the cardinals in Pinas can be just as intimidating.
naah… Pinas’ bishops, monsignors, cardinals could only associate “.. going the right way, direction, focus” to the word “bearings”. The Taliban talibans also think bodybags.
“helly bags” is worse than “body bags”.