Reflective Journal (gender and Sexuality)
Documentary:
Call her Ganda is an American documentary directed by PJ Raval. The film revolves around a
character known as Jennifer Laude who is a 26 years old girl. Her mother used to call her Ganda
which means beauty. Raval, in this film, had portrayed very important points which our society
needs to learn and understand (Schagar, 2018). The scene in the documentary about the physical
evidence against Pemberton and lawyers who mounts their defense was a very important and
harder scene. The story shows the background of a character known as Pemberton and Laude. Both
have different angles of the story. Pemberton, who save his relationship with her lesbian sister while
Laude’s sex co-worker who have to hide their statues to avoid misunderstandings with their clients
in the office. The story shows the concepts of homicide (Schager, 2018). The story is relating to
personal and political events. The political people became personal in this documentary. It shows
the policies that were followed in the Philippines specifically the US policy of Imperialism. The girl,
Jenifer who was known as Ganda was murdered due to the legacy of US imperialism, which indicates
the actions of sexual assault and violence. The movie has sensitive content and a story that is not
bearable by every other person. In this movie, a US military officer is responsible for committing this
horrible crime in Filipino. The officer who interferes in the personal matters shows the actions of
imbalance of power inherent and injustice. The actions performed by the personnel do not just
affect one life but the whole population of Filipino. The crime that leads to violence indicated the
degradation of transgender identity and historical erasure. Moreover, even after this much violence,
the Philippines was unable to fight for their rights and they had to keep their voices low. They were
not capable of punishing the criminals which were committed within their nation’s soil.
The story is based on reality as the United States had a devastating history of imperialism. This cause
helped them reach the military and resulted in the expenditure of US ideals, exploit cheap labor,
markets, American culture, identity, and resources. The policies made by the US government which
were implementing were the reason for the destruction of culture colonized nations and the
economy in the world, specifically in the Philippines. In this way, gender politics was raised. It was
the war of gender-based power and an exercise. The story doesn’t end here. The story had shown
only one focused victim of this policy of Americans however, thousands of victims had faced this
cruelty since then. It is the reality of today as well (Stephen, 2021). Transgenders are rejected and
have faced physical violence and harassment each day. The question here is do they deserve this
punishment? Well, no they are human beings and they should be given their rights. It is not their
mistake that they have not confirmed their identity which is known as gender norm by Americans.
Due to these issues, transgenders have to face torture physically and psychologically. Most of them
are found depressed just like Jenifer.
Importance of Social Justice and intersectionality:
Social Justice might seem like a very small word but its meaning is wider. Understanding the term is
very important and should be done by every individual in the world. John Rawl as a political
philosopher believed in gender equality and equal rights for everyone focused on social justice for
transgenders in his writings. However, it is a great debate that most professionals and experts are
facing. Some of them strongly believe that social justice is the most important part of society while
some of them are those who think traditionally and follows the rules and policies made by their
ancestors. They criticize this topic for not giving equal rights to the people who they think are not
equal to their status or gender. In middle east countries, many countries are found to fall in the
thought of the traditional thinkers (Somarathne, 2020). These people lack the understanding of
equality and social justice. However, social justice will be a debate in the future too but it has been
noticed that the rate of violence against social justice had been decreased as the world has evolved.
Various studies are governing the right of use of social justice in society. There are various principles
too. These principles could be summarised as having 4 basic assets namely equality, equity, rights,
and participation. This is known as social policy. This is known as the most powerful tool to employ
social justice. Each country should implement this policy to have steady control in their systems as
well because social justice does not only impact the individual but also the health of the country
(Somarathne, 2020). The countries which lack this policy are more likely to face the disconnection
between social policies and economics. However, the countries which follow these policies are
subsequent in projecting an approach in social protection.
People can now become activists by following the basic concepts of intersectionality. In this concept,
activism must be accounting for people of all the type including class, sexualities, races, abilities, and
genders (Veenaraghav, 2021). By understanding this concept, the laws, and standards changes and
bring a positive impact on society. This can benefit the whole of humanity and not just one family of
a different race. Hence, it can be said that intersectionality is the most important factor in legal
fields. We have seen various cases of violence regarding different races in history and now we have
seen one in this documentary about Jenifer. All of these examples are concerned with the wrong
uses of policies and injustice (Berardi, 2021). However, to solve these problems, professionals and
lawmakers have done their efforts on new policies like social policy and policies that govern the
protection of races, genders, and sexualities. The problem lies in the understanding of people.
People are sensitive to these topics and argue before even understanding the meaning of justice.
People need to learn these basic terms to serve humanity by doing kindness of not violating people’s
rights.
References:
Schager, N., & Schager, N. (2018, April 24). Film Review: “Call Her Ganda.” Variety; Variety.
https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/call-her-ganda-review-1202784448/
Altekamp, S., & Khechen, M. (2013). Third Carthage: Struggles and Contestations Over
Archaeological Space. Archaeologies, 9(3), 470–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-
9243-2
Veenaraghav, A. (2021). The importance of understanding intersectionality [Review of the
importance of understanding intersectionality]. https://dailycampus.com/2021/03/10/the-
importance-of-understanding-intersectionality/#:~:text=Learning%20about
%20intersectionality%20helps%20people%20understand%20that%20activism,everyone%2C
%20not%20just%20a%20certain%20group%20of%20people.
Somarathne, M. (2020). Importance of understanding social justice in cities [Review of Importance
of understanding social justice in cities].
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345177428_Importance_of_understanding_soci
al_justice_in_cities
The Jennifer Laude Story Made Into Documentary Film —. (2018, April 27). Asian Journal News.
https://www.asianjournal.com/magazines/life-eastyle-magazine/the-jennifer-laude-story-
made-into-documentary-film-call-her-ganda-makes-its-world-premiere-at-tribeca-film-
festival/
The International Forum for Social Development United Nations. (2006).
https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/ifsd/SocialJustice.pdf
Berardi, A. (n.d.). What is Intersectionality and why is it important? Www.academia.edu. Retrieved
April 27, 2021, from
https://www.academia.edu/36619158/What_is_Intersectionality_and_why_is_it_important
Lenin, V. (n.d.). Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism A Popular Outline.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/imperialism.pdf
Stephen, M. (n.d.). Imperialism. Encyclopedia of Global Studies. Retrieved April 27, 2021, from
https://www.academia.edu/7091877/Imperialism
