this story originally appeared in the philippine daily inquirer on June 24, 1999.
We had the surprise of our lives at the Pakil church during Holy Week. Only women were in hell, a painting showed. The men were sinless and happy in heaven.
I agree with my mother that that’s crazy. What kind of mixed-up person would paint something like that?
How could such a painting stay on a church wall for two centuries long after ideas about the inequality of men and women have been junked? Women were considered inferior to men in the past. We struggled to prove we are capable of doing things people thought only men could do. Why the painting still hangs there is disturbing.
Maybe the people of Pakil still believe men are better than women. Maybe the painter was a male chauvinist, in which case we have every right to get mad at him. But then maybe it hangs there for historical purpose. Maybe we misinterpreted the painting. Maybe there were men in hell that we didn’t see. Maybe I am entirely wrong.
I don’t think the picture is intended to hurt the female ego, like my father said. Women used to represented seduction and they were equated with sin. The women in hell might have been used as symbols of this.
It’s wrong, but maybe women accepted the idea in the past. Wasn’t everything that the Church said then considered to be right? There are cultures that still believe men are better than women. Do we condemn them? It wouldn’t be right to condemn people if their beliefs are different.
It is not that I agree with such beliefs. All I mean is that we don’t fully know how life was not only in Pakil but in the whole Philippines when the painting was made.
I think my father goes too far when he says we have to do something. Doesn’t a painter have the right to express his ideas and feelings? No law says that only correct ideas should be painted. Don’t we all have the freedom of expression?
I don’t think we should make a big deal out of it. My father sometimes exaggerates. No one else noticed the painting. Everyone else in the church that day seemed to be worrying about more important things like politics, their families or even money to be bothered by the opinion of one man expressed in his painting.
The painting is unfair, but not everything in life is fair. We don’t have to have opinions about everything. For all we know, in some other part of the world, there may be a painting where only men are in hell.
I hope I won’t be considered a traitor to my gender. You may or may not agree with me. We can all air our opinions and we should hear them out even if we do not agree with them. It doesn’t bother me to see a painting like that. I know men and women are equal and no painting can change my mind about that. I’ve learned to appreciate art for what it is. And did I mention that the painting was one terrific work of art?
