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Maguindanao 'sex strike' puts clan war to bed


Women in a Maguindanao village have resorted to a “sex strike" to put an end to the “rido" or clan feuds in their locality. According to a report on GMA News TV’s “State of the Nation" and “Saksi" on Monday, wives in the village of Dado in Maguindanao took it upon themselves to put an end to violent conflicts by threatening to withhold sex if their husbands continue their vengeful ways. “Sige, punta ka diyan. Ikaw bahala, hindi ka makakauwi sa bahay, hindi kita tatanggapin," said Hasna Kandatu, a resident of the village.
A week after they first dangled the threat of a “sex strike" or “tigil pagtatalik," peace started to prevail in the village. The farm-to-market road was reopened, putting an end to the village’s dependence on rations, according to the report. The idea came from a group of women engaged in a sewing business; because of the constant feuding, they were unable to transport their products along the village road. The threat, the report said, did not go unnoticed by the men in the village. Lengs Kupong, one of the village leaders and the husband of Hasna Kandatu, voiced out his concern that if the “rido" continues, couples may end up separating. “Basta makagawa ka ng masama… ganito, maghihiwalay," he said in the report. Despite the Koran’s provisions on a woman’s responsibility to a man, Imam Alim Basher said that there was nothing wrong with the village women’s “strike." “[Walang masama sa ginawa nila] kasi talagang… they were asking for maganda, kabuhayan na tahimik at yun din ang hinahanap ng Islam," said Basher, Chairman of the Imam Council of the Philippines. The first recorded “sex strike" in history is detailed in Lysistrata, a play written by Aristophanes which was first performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. Lysistrata is comedy about one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War by persuading the women of Greece to withhold sex from their husbands and lovers to force a negotiated peace. —Bea Cupin/MRT, GMA News

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