Duterte makes lewd threat to female rebels in Philippines
BEIJING — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told soldiers last week to shootfemale rebels in their genitals, the latest of several violent, misogynistic remarks.
Addressing a group of former communist rebels on Wednesday, Duterte, who served as a mayor before becoming president, appeared to encourage the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to target women in conflict.
“Tell the soldiers. ‘There’s a new order coming from the mayor. We won’t kill you. We will just shoot your vagina,’ ” he said.
“If there is no vagina, it would be useless,” Duterte continued, according to local media reports, appearing to imply that women are useless without their genitals.
The president’s communications office included the comment in the official transcript from the event but replaced the word “vagina” with a dash.
Duterte’s presidency has been defined by violence — and often violently misogynistic language.
Since he came to power on a promise to kill all the drug users and dealers in the country, thousands of Filipinos have been shot dead, prompting the International Criminal Court to open a preliminary examination.
Duterte regularly denigrates and threatens women, but when challenged, he insists it was all just a joke. Just last week, his spokesman accused women of “overreacting” to the president’s comments. “I mean, that’s funny. Come on. Just laugh,” Harry Roque said.
According to the official transcript from the Wednesday event, the crowd did, in fact, laugh at Duterte’s remarks.
Duterte, who was elected president in 2016, has made headlines for “joking” about the rape of a kidnapped Australian who was later killed and for telling troops to rape women in conflict. He often shares unsolicited opinions on the sexual attractiveness of women, particularly female politicians who question his policies, in an apparent effort to demean, shame and silence them.
As Duterte’s translated remarks began to circulate over the weekend, feminist and human rights groups expressed dismay.