Paghubog, Pagwasak, At Muling Pagbubuo ng Pagkataong Babae

Abstract

(Condensed and Translated by jo Florendo Lontoc)
A comprehensive institutional work, the study tracked various aspects of the lives of eight women torture sufferers persecuted by the military for their participation in the Movement. Researchers extracted the respondents' view of themselves as women and human beings and traced it to the experience of their lives. The study showed how this view was vital in the way the respondents dealt with their experience of arrest, torture, imprisonment, and release. The study, therefore, did not limit itself to their experience of torture, or the political involvement that led them to it, but explored and described deeper personal histories and wider societal influences that shaped their self-concepts as women. Furthermore, it highlights a rehabilitative care-giving concern for the respondents. In the end, the study provided a forum for the respondents and the researchers, all of whom were women, which evolved into a support group during the study. Hence, the methodology' of the study is feminist and participatory. The forum led to an opening up of respondents--which is crucial in that the center of the brum is trauma and repression. Ultimately, the study makes an important contribution, not only in helping its respondents, but also in the campaign to help people of similar traumatic experiences and in the campaign
to understand the phenomenon of women as subjects of torture in all its forms.