The presidential kiss: Duterte’s gendered populism, hypermasculinity, and Filipino migrants

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I combine literature on gender populism and international migration to critically examine Duterte’s populist style towards migrant Filipinos and propose several possible reasons why they have given him immense support. The article utilizes Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) to examine texts surrounding Duterte’s much-publicized kiss of a migrant Filipino woman illustrating how his brand of populism reconfigures the state’s paternalistic- hypermasculine stance towards Filipino women migrants. He does this by positioning himself as a ‘protective and angry father,’ ‘the Filipino everyman,’ and ‘a ladies’ man,’ thereby normalizing and trivializing the controversial act. I interpret these gendered tropes as characteristic of Duterte’s personalistic rhetoric and practices, adding a layer to the usual techno-bureaucratic state language strategically used to govern migrant Filipinos. In doing so, I aim to expand understandings of Duterte’s leadership and populist politics and to add to research grounding gender populism within the context of a non-European migrant-sending state. In unraveling his rhetorical style, I hope that resistant discourses emerge to challenge similar practices in the future.