TYPECAST AS A TRAGIC MIXED- RACE CONCUBINE OR SEDUCTRESS

Vernadette Vicuna Gonzalez ask us not to reduce Isabel to the stereotypes of a tragic mixed-race concubine or seductress. She says this has happened in other books, the books for instance that are part of the YouTube video I posted. To be fair, I think each author tried to envision her and understand her role in General MacArthur's life, as their own gender and time and place and personal limitations allowed. So be it a powerful older man who treats a 'petulant and spoiled' younger woman to tea gowns, kimonos, and black lingerie' or whose existence in his life threatens his career, Gonzalez asks us to look deeper.

(Notes and observations having read pages 2-3)

Did Isabel, lonely and neglected despite being Kept, go out and seduce other men for fun?

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A little time out here:  After so many years reading and researching and writing around the subject of Mistresses here at Mistress Manifesto, the idea that a Mistress is the seductress, the idea that she always ends up in a tragedy, is not new to me. That Isabel Rosario Cooper is portrayed this way is no surprise to me. Implied is that women who have relationships with men who are already married or who do not marry them end up punished in some way, such as being murdered or ending in suicide. You will find several of those women in these pages.

So at this time I want to remind my readers that so much of our perceptions about mistresses come from books and books tend to be about exceptional people and extraordinary situations, of which being a Mistress is one of those. Overall, it's difficult to find information on those mistresses who were not exceptional people in extraordinary situations. That is why I say that the most successful of them may be people we never hear about. There are people who are happy with their station in life, whatever it happens to be, and that includes some wives and mistresses who willingly man share. It is an assumption that every woman wants marriage and a traditional marriage at that. It's also an assumption that a mistress is a kind of prostitute, there for the sex, with a thin veneer of a relationship keeping her and a lover together.

My feeling about Isabel Rosario Cooper so far is that she was likely influenced by coming from the Philippines, which to this day is quite mixed-race and also dominated by Catholic traditionalism. To this day a woman uniting with a much older man is not thought badly of there overall. Some of the women do seek marriage with American men who are older. Rather an older established man who can provide is considered a plus and American men know this. I know of more than one woman of Philippine heritage here in the United States who has, with the approval of her father, been a mistress. One of these women seemed especially servile. I knew that she had also been a mistress to a Hollywood producer previously and that her then-current man had also had mistresses in the past who left the relationship when marriage was not forthcoming. So I hoped this woman was not waiting for him to marry her. By servile I mean that she waited on him, cooking and serving food, and basically acted in-wait to his needs. Consider that if he was not going to marry her, those years she lived her life around him were years in which she was not getting an education or developing a career. 

Missy

ETHNOCENTRIC GLOBE

So far away, closer to Australia than the United States. A country made up of thousands of islands, glorious white sand beaches, and today many resorts that feature dwellings that are over shallow clear waters.   

According to Wikipedia, "The Philippines was ruled under the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain.  After this, the colony was directly governed by Spain.  Spanish rule ended in 1898 with Spain's defeat in the Spanish-American War.  The Philippines then became a territory of the United States.

MUSING ABOUT MISTRESSMANIFESTO.BLOGSPOT.COM

Good Morning My Faithful Readers, wherever you are - The Phillipines? Russia? Argentina? I've been thinking about YOU, because I check to see where my readers are coming from and sometimes I think "What must it be to be a Mistress in a whole different culture, one that may be more conservative right now, or maybe one that has more newly wealthy entrepreneurs, like Russia does.

For this blog I write about people, mostly women in heterosexual relationships though we know that being kept is not exclusive to women or heterosexuals, I write about people who have become famous or infamous, because it's not my thing to out people who live private lives, and I seek to define Mistress since it's clear that you do not have to be single yourself, involved with an officially married person (what in this age when so many couples do not officially marry and homosexuals are fighting for the right to be married!), or actually be an adulterer to be a Mistress.

That's one of the reasons I'm AMUSED at times CONFUSED at other times by the use of the word MISTRESS in the media. First, even the world COURTESAN has meant different things in different cultures, from being a high class prostitute to simply a woman who is highly accomplished in the arts. Secondly, and I think unfortunaltey, the word Mistres brings up many web sites that are clearly playing on the Sadio-Masocistic aspect of relationships in which a woman, often a prostitute, plays up her domination. Not sure where this started but I think "English boarding schools!" third, the press seems to use the word Mistress for any woman who has simply had an affair with a man of newsworthyness, say a celebracty or a politiocian. So many people are having AFFAIRS today that I back away from the use of Mistress to mean women who are having affairs. Certainly women who go on booty calls are not mistresses, they're simply free spirits at this time in their lives. Then there are the common stereotyupes, and as with all stereotypes maybe there's some truth to them. The stereotyle is an adultress, a "home - wrecker," who tears apart a marriage, or a woman who is simply addicted to the challenge of getting and keeping a man who another woman has claims to. Contrast that with the fact that in some cases,historically and now, there are Mistresses who actually help another woman keep her marriage together. Yes, some wifes and mistresses know of each other and have boundaries but actually are friends! Why is this so surprising at a time when we have come through the "Love The One You're With" Summer of Love, 1960's, and know that some people have chosen to live in polygamous and other relationships peopled by 3 or more?

BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD

BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD

June 2021  new post/link

September 2022  Bad commercial but still up thanks to poster Holger can de Linde.

THE LAW : PHILLIPINES MAKES CONCUBINAGE PUNISHABLE WITH PRISON (FOR THE MAN)

What is the current law about a husband who lives with another woman?  The subject makes the advice columns.  Here's an article from the Manila Times.

HUSBAND WHO LIVES WITH MISTRESS LIABLE FOR CONCUBINAGE by by PERSIDA ACOSTA link to article.

EXCERPT : "As provided for under Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code, “Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place, shall be punished by prision ... The concubine shall suffer the penalty of destierro.”

You may likewise consider filing a complaint for violation of the provisions of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9262, otherwise known as the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.” This law penalizes the commission of abusive acts against a woman and her child. Since your husband is neglecting his responsibilities and he refuses to provide support for you and your children, as you have mentioned in your letter, you have a cause of action against him. As provided for under Section 5, id, “The crime of violence against women and their children is committed through any of the following acts: (i) Causing mental or emotional anguish, public ridicule or humiliation to the woman or her child, including, but not limited to, repeated verbal and emotional abuse, and denial of financial support or custody of minor children or access to the woman’s child/children.” Your husband may suffer the penalty of prision mayor if found to be guilty of the aforementioned crime (Section 6 (f), id).

As to your question relative to bigamy, please be informed that you cannot file a complaint for bigamy against your husband..."