On Masturbatory Writing

An article by apocalypse in Peyups have this to say about bloggers:

As I see it, all these self-glorifications and me-I-centric musings are nothing but pure masturbation and ego-massage. Such bloggers are then reduced to just another senseless writer – anonymous and voiceless.


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Blogging is masturbatory. It aims to please the author, as the author can write what he wants, may it be his political opinions, his social concerns, his leanings toward certain movies, or his daily experiences while he commutes. We cannot impose how to do it, and why he has to do it. The author has his own style, his own thoughts, and his own reasons.

As the article said, most Philippine blog authors are masturbatory writers. This is because we've only taken a few baby steps into the blogosphere. Some people really have to start out as masturbatory writers for self-exploration as the most important thing for them are their own daily experiences. These experiences are what makes their world go round and that is what they will write about. We cannot argue with that.

But, as with masturbation, self-gratification is never enough. What then follows after masturbatory writing? Why, intellectual intercourse, that's what!

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Take my blog, for instance. I made this blog way back in May 2003 to rant, rave and ramble. Well, if you read my first few posts, there's a lot more rants in there. I needed to rant, and I found my own private space to do it. It was pure masturbatory writing, as I aimed only to please myself.

A few months after I started my blog, I knew I had to be more creative, more reflective, as my posts were so uncoherent and so rant-y. I then resolved for a *central theme* for my blog: as an outlet for my stories as a mom, a student (then), a sister, a daughter, a pseudo-wife, and most importantly, as a woman. [see my side bar, pagpapakilala]

And that was when my writing evolved (I hoped it did): rants, raves and rambles are few and far in between. This is because after a really heartfelt experience, I don't write about it immediately. I take time to digest what it really has done to me: are my initial reactions logical, do i have to feel guilty about it, what possible life-long impact has it made on my life? Questions like that reach deep inside of me, and turns my soul inside out. And what you get are articles like these, which bares my heart and soul to the world (wide web).

It was then that I realized that I have to write for an audience, not only for me. Writing for an audience made me more conscious of what was more important to write about, so that they too can learn from what I have experienced, from what I have learned, and from what I already know. It was then that I embraced the fact that blogging is all about sharing information, a mutualistic relationship, an intellectual intercourse.

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It is impossible to ask all bloggers to write more effectively, more coherently, more relevantly, as soon as we start a blog. We have to take baby steps, try to see where we fit in the blogging community, and find out what we really want to write about. It really is like masturbating, as starting a blog is, I repeat, basically self-exploration, and self-gratification. But, as the cliche goes, no man is an island, and no one can go by masturbation alone for the rest of his/her life. There will always be a need for interaction between humans. We will then be more aware of our daily experiences with others, more reflective of our day-to-day life in our communites, more observant of the goings-on around us. It is then we will write what we think is important for the world to find out.

And it will not just be all about me, the blogger.

It can be about us women, us men, us gays. It can be about us Filipinos. It can be about us employees: us underemployed, overemployed, unemployed. It can be about us mothers, us fathers, us sisters, us brothers. It can be about us betrayed, us loved, us heartbroken, us elated, us lonely, us angry, us happy.

It will all eventually be about us: me, the blogger, and you, dear reader.

But it is long evolutionary process, and it may take a long time.

We just have to be patient.

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Disclaimer: I am not saying I'm not a masturbatory writer anymore. There really are times I have to spend quality time pleasuring myself. That is through writing, of course, you dirty minds! :P

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I started writing this first week of April, but then paputol-putol yung pagsusulat ko. So I decided to have it published on the 2nd anniversary of this blog.

Happy Two Years, Blog! ^_^

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