rowen? roman? ron? no, it's roland.: the Philippines: a starbucks culture: "oh wow, as i just got up to adjust my seating, i realized im sitting next to a tranny-licious filipino. but then again, that's everyday her..."
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So, after reading my friend's blog (link above) on his "estarbucks" adventure. I wanted to add my two cents to his "Filipino Tranny" discussion, which I also found to be the most amusing and confusing issue during my one year in the Philippines. (Yes I survived one year..but that's another blog to discuss later)
Philippines culture is, obviously, heavily influenced by our Spanish colonizers. The idea of machismo is a very common gender norm in the Philippines that signifies a man's supposed strength in the community and in the family. This machismo is further compounded by the fact that the Philippines is very Catholic, which often gives reason to believe "tranny culture would be considered taboo because the Philippines is pre-dominant Catholic country.
This goes out to Raymond and Nina, my Gender Studies friends, who would probably send both Roland and I an e-mail of correct definitions for all the different gender types out there. However, in the Philippines, Filipinos won't even bother to try and categorize them, LGBTQi all fall under the word, "bakla." So, we'll just go with it for now.
To see prime time TV shows showcasing baklas (or mga bakla) preening like peacocks on TV to Lady Gaga songs is not a new thing. In fact, it brings in the ratings and Filipinos, homosexuals and heterosexuals alike, feed into it like no other culture I've seen thus far. This fascination to watch but not be a part of is interesting. It's fun to watch and pretend in front of friends to be "bakla" but when you ask any Filipino guy, what if your son became one, they'll respond with a resounding "hells to the NO!"
Now that doesn't seem fair because people who associate themselves as such eventually realize that they cannot be fully accepted as real members of society. Merely a subordinate source of amusement for the masses.
Okay, so this "machismo" culture. A friend of mine was discussing how certain Filipino guys, who identify themselves as heterosexuals, would often seek a "gay sponsor". A "gay sponsor" provides money, shoes, clothes, t-shirts, trinkets, a car, etc. in return for sexual favors or companionship. The Filipino men who seek these "gay sponsors" are obviously those who may not be wealthy, so deriving any form of wealth is important to stay alive in Manila.
The funny thing is, though many of these heterosexual Filipino men provide sexual favors, escort services, or companionship to their "gay sponsors" they do not call themselves gay and in fact reaffirm their "machismo" but showing they also have 3-4 girlfriends on the side. The money they receive as a gay person's call boy and sex toy supports their lifestyle, at the same time they continue to fully act out their macho heterosexual role in public.
I think this is not a new phenomenon and it no way generalizes the entire Filipino male population. It's just a simple example, that I found to be rather scandalous and at the same time confusing. Simone De Beauvoir, Michael Warner, Freud, Jaques Lacan, and Emmanuel Levinas have been discussing these issues for a long time.
Their philosophy and writings discuss "the other" as a concept that we as human beings use to classify people who are different or "other than ourselves" to be subordinate and do not fit into society.
Maybe my gender studies friends can give me a more scientific explanation of it. :) But for now, we'll leave it as that. Machismo and bakla culture reinforces each other in the Philippines. To fully understand if this is a good or bad thing is up to various perspectives, but I still don't know how they can co-exist so easily and have such a fluid relationship, especially within the confines of the a very conservative Catholic country.