NICOLE DEL ROSARIO CUUNJIENG
Two of the conceptions of beauty that the national discourse on ‘Filipina’ beauty features are those of beauty as divine and as derivative of historical power relations, with “maganda ang maputi” and “simple lang” as physical ideals, the latter of which relates to marianismo and Christian ideals. To this I add the interpretation of beauty and of attendance to one’s physical appearance as participation and protection in societal relations. It is this that in part distinguishes the function and logics of beauty within Philippine society, as compared to in other societies, in which beauty does not have as great social situatedness nor the same semiotics or collective dimension.