Dawn Chang’s two cents on consent, sexual harassment after PBB issue

Image: Instagram/@thedawnchang

Former “Pinoy Big Brother: 737” housemate Dawn Chang, who placed fourth in the show’s finale in 2015, recently gave her two cents on sexual harassment and consent.

Chang’s remarks came after “PBB:Otso” housemate Banjo Dangalan was force-evicted by Big Brother, or Kuya, on the episode on June 4 after making rape jokes toward fellow housemate Gino Roque IV.

“Four years ago, I’ve said this before, it’s your body, your rules, you have all the rights sa katawan ninyo kahit na anong gusto niyong gawin because that is your body, that’s your self,” Chang said during the online show “PBB Bring8On” on June 4. “We all say be yourself, love yourself and all these empowering stuff, but you also have to understand that you cannot touch people without their consent.”

Chang also shared her experience with housemate Tommy Esguerra during their time on the show. The heated discussion was shared again on social media by a netizen (@notshoichi) on June 4 and has since gone viral.

Chang, then, reprimanded Esguerra and told him she could wear whatever she wanted after he told her his brain would not work if she would wear revealing clothing because he is a guy.

“If, for example yung nag-v-viral po na video ko  ngayon about the past housemates, it’s because there’s no consent on housemate A,” she said. “I don’t like that housemate, I like housemate B and there was consent and it was okay.”

https://twitter.com/notshoichi/status/1135925161163550720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1135925161163550720&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreen.inquirer.net%2F96717%2Fwatch-tommy-esguerra-shaming-dawn-chang-for-her-clothes-back-in-2015

Chang added people must be cautious when it comes to what they say, especially if they are in a place with people who they still do not know that well.

“Syempre it’s fair and it’s safe na mag-take tayo ng medyo… dapat cautious tayo sa ganyan,” she said. “May limitasyon, lalong lalo na hindi pa naman natin kilala ng lubusan ang mga tao. Hindi dahil Banjo might not [have] meant anything bad, masaya lang, lalo ang lalake…”

(Of course it’s fair and it’s safe to be cautious when it comes to these things. There are limitations, especially if we do not know these people that well. It is not because Banjo might not have meant anything bad, or that it was fun, especially for men…)

In the end, Chang said that she believes Banjo is not a bad person and that sometimes good people are unaware they’re hurting others.

“This is a perfect example of somebody with a good heart kahit gaano ka kabait minsan talaga may nagagawa tayong nakakasakit ng iba at hindi tayo aware (no matter how good you are, sometimes we do things that hurt others and we are not aware),” said Chang. “Ignorance is not an excuse and we have to take responsibility for our own actions whether we mean well, whether hindi tayo (we are not) aware….”  /ra

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