Robin Lim is a Filipino-American writer who wrote Butterfly People, and an activist who established an organization for impoverished women while working as a midwife in Bali, Indonesia. This article examines the various forms of violence endured by Filipino women in Robin Lim's Butterfly People, attributing them to imperial colonial rule, war, patriarchy and sexism. Additionally, it explores the active resistance exhibited by Filipino women against such violence and their subsequent journey towards healing from past traumas and painful memories. Lim asserts the necessity of comprehending the intricate dynamics of violence and oppression targeting Filipino women within cultural, traditional, racial, and class contexts, instead of solidarity or sisterhood at the global level. She identifies colonial history and the economic vulnerabilities of the Philippine as primary catalysts compelling Filipino women to engage in prostitution. Due to the sufferings from poverty and hunger, Filipino women have to utilize their bodies to ensure food and survival. Consequently, the issues of prostitutes, who are subject to commercialization of capitalism and exploitation of labor, should be discussed after considering Philippine history as well as its cultural and economic circumstance.
Furthermore, Robin Lim offers a critique of the industrialization of Western childbirth, emphasizing the significance of the spiritual relationship between the placenta, the newborn baby and mother that Southeast Asian culture highly values. Under the capitalistic logic which prioritizes economic efficiency and promptness, the relationship which forms this spiritual communion has been ignored. As a result, the childbirth process with Western rationalism fails to encompass the characteristics and emotional dimensions of ‘lotus birth,’ which values the life energy and sympathy with a newborn baby and placenta. While recognizing these cultural and historical attributes, Robin Lim pays attention to the resilience and innate healing power exhibited by Filipino women. Despite enduring violence stemmed from war, colonial rule, patriarchy, and racial discrimination, they have demonstrated remarkable fortitude in preserving their home and lives and nurturing children.
As healers and midwives, Filipino women help heal wounds into a new generation not only for themselves but also their families and neighbors. The resolute disposition of these Filipino women illustrates their active agency, negating any notion of passivity as victims. Robin Lim argues that Filipino women are life pioneers of an empowered existence, possessing inherent capacities to heal the traumatic memories and anguish of the past.