Photo from Instagram/Kelsey Merritt
Last September 7, Saturday, after a series of castings and callbacks Filipina-American model Kelsey Merritt announced she will be walking in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2018, making her the first ever Filipina to walk in the annual runway.
While many expressed their joy, some Filipinos questioned Kelsey’s identity because of her Eurocentric features and described her as ‘not Filipino enough’.
Kelsey responded to criticisms by tweeting:
The soon to be VS Angel shut down her critics by telling them that while she may be only half Filipino, her heart is fully Pinoy.
If Kelsey’s critics meant to say that our Filipino features need to have the same acknowledgement as Eurocentric features, then yes, it makes sense. Filipino media tends to be Westernized with almost half of the personalities looking Eurocentric. It also endorses the idea of ‘Mas maputi, mas maganda’ (to be white is to be beautiful) when most Filipinos are naturally brown skinned. Though slowly, society has been changing by acknowledging the beauty of Morenas, we still have a long way to go when it comes to accepting our Kayumanggi features. But to question Kelsey’s identity for her Eurocentric features alone is unfair judgment.
For many years the Philippines was under the Western rule, both under Spain and America. Their influences contributed a lot in shaping the culture and society we have today.
Often we believe, we can examine and define our culture – which includes our identity as Filipinos, without trying to understand other cultures and identities as well. In reality, the entirety of our culture and identity are made up of fragments from other cultures and identities – makes our definition of a ‘pure’ Filipino questionable.
Kelsey Merritt may not be a ‘pure’ Filipino, but to think of it, most Filipinos are not ‘pure’ Filipinos. But this does not make Kelsey or any of us less Filipino.
Our Filipino identity does not depend solely on our physical features. Instead to be Filipino is to take to heart our culture and tradition, to contribute to the progress of the Filipino society, and most of all to love and to be proud of our motherland, the Philippines.
