Rebond or Perm: The Parlor Gays of the Philippines?

SA 21 - G

Delos Reyes, Patricia Camille 

Gaw, Patricia Frances

Katigbak, Ruel Marty

Nocum, Jemuel

Reyes, Charie Marie

Gay Discrimination

Introduction

           The world’s attitude towards gays changes throughout history. From the ancient times when Greeks and Romans were popular with having sexual relationships with men to men until the past centuries when there was huge discrimination about gays. But now, they gays have been fighting for equality and having a revolution towards their human rights as well. And so, people are beginning to tolerate and eventually, accept them as they realize that gays play an important role in society as an emerging culture in the modern world. However, this wide acceptance to the gays is more prominent in Western countries. As opposed to the Philippines, even though gays are tolerated, they are still being discriminated in the country. The gays in the Philippines are more known as the bakla. The bakla is actually a gay man who acts and dresses like girl. This is more actually inclined to transgender women if we consider it in a Western perspective. These baklas are usually seen working in parlors and salons to style the hair of women, and even men. They are also known for paying straight men just to give them sexual pleasure. But there are actually some exceptions to these gays. We could actually classify the rich gays, who work in high-paying industries like business, fashion, etc. These gays in the Philippines who are important especially to women, who need their hair to be styled, are the ones who are being highly discriminated by society. Even if in other (Western) countries, gays are now widely accepted, the Filipinos seem to have a somewhat “backward” view of gays. This issue in the Philippines needs to be addressed because as a developing nation in the period of globalization, we must be able to cope with the ideas of the world such as homosexuality and that we must also provide equality to all peoples regardless of gender and sexual orientation. It is also important why the baklas are different from the typical, Western gay and why most of them work in parlors and salons. Because if we want equality, why does it look like that the baklas are only limited to certain occupations? Just like before when women were only constrained at their very houses. The struggle for equality includes the discrimination of gays with respect to their jobs.

Review of Related Literature

For the ancient Greeks and Romans, homosexuality was nothing out of the ordinary. In a patriarchal society, the most common and most honorable same-sex relation back then was between males. It is only as time progressed that gay discrimination came to exist and continuously becomes more prevalent. According to a study by Collins (190) about gay hosts in Malate, the Filipino gays in Malate feel very much suppressed elsewhere, unlike in Malate which they consider “very open.” Malate is said to be a city that “brings gay men out,” it is more sexually open and less regulated as compared to both the provinces and other metropolitan locations in Manila and so it is here where the gay flock over.

In a predominantly Catholic country, many perceive that being gay in a Christian society is unusual, if not, unacceptable (Yip 113).  Patterson (1052) suggest that the stigma attached to being gay poses a risk of rejection in their own families, peers and society should gay people opt to come out of the closet. One gay interviewee claims that Malate is the only place where gay people can freely express themselves and not have to be judged (Collins 191).

                          

"[In Malate,] even guys who appear straight kiss each other just like in the streets,... they have the freedom. But in Quezon City and the province, they have that fear. In Malate, they don't care what other people would say about that... They can do the stuff [in a manner that is] not secretive... but in Quezon City, [they have to be] very discreet." (Collins 190-191)

People discriminate gays and it has reached the point where society has already associated certain capabilities and incapabilities for gay people. Berkowitz and Marsiglio (376) narrate a story of one of their interviewees and how his being gay made it significantly hard for him and his partner to adopt a child. Lucky for him, he belonged to the relative upper class and could afford a lawyer to help them overcome certain legal barriers for adoption. Those from lower economic classes however are left defenseless against biases and labels that society has imposed on them (Berkowitz, Marsiglio 376). This segregation instituted by society is a probably the reason why gay workers have been observed to hold similar jobs.  Franks’ (486) claims that firms have a preferential treatment for the straight, believing that the LGBT’s are only capable of lower productivity. This belief consequently affects both the employment and income of the gay community.

Surprisingly, discrimination exists not only between gays and other genders, but discrimination and preferential treatment can also be seen within the gay community itself. According to Collins’ (189) study, the Malate gays have a certain preference for foreign men over fellow Filipinos. Hosts find Filipino gay men to be less attractive as compared to foreigners because the former are more sexually reserved (“they are not out”). She says that these gay hosts presume that it is because foreigners are not subject to the same class and heteronormative controls that Filipinos experience here in the Philippines. Gay hosts also claim to have observed that upper-class gay Filipinos tend to be more elitist and exclusive in their treatment of lower-class gays in Malate as compared to foreign gays who are less concerned with class distinctions. 

Research Questions

·         Why are gays being discriminated by other genders in the Philippines?

·         Does discrimination also exist within the gay community?

·         Why are gays in the Philippines labeled as parlor gays?

Theory/Perspective Used

    The Structural Functionalist approach proves how the segregation/placement of gays in Philippine society keeps it together. Different types of institutions present in the country further affects the order in the society especially religion, which has been influencing the predominantly Catholic Philippines, teaches people that homosexual acts are “forbidden.” 

    The Social Conflict perspective proves how there is discrimination towards gays in the Philippines. There is inequality and competition between the gays and the straight people when it comes to different aspects in life. However, the gays are fighting so that these kinds of conflicts would not happen anymore, and little by little, they are getting accepted in society.

Symbolic Interactionism and Labeling Theory discusses how Filipinos “automatically” associate gays with parlors and salons. The baklas are considered as deviant in the Philippines and people use to observe their behavior with styling hairs and working in salons.

Research Design

    Research Method:
    The group will conduct interviews to gather data for the study. Thinking that personal interviews would be better than conducting surveys, the  interviewees will be more comfortable with answering our questions as they may be personal and interviews will give us more accurate results.

    Respondents:

The group is tasked to interview at least two gays who work in parlors or salons and at least another two for those who have high salaries for the rich gays.

    Research Site/s:

    Because the group will be having interviews, the group can settle a certain place with the key interviewees wherever they are comfortable. But the key places to interview the parlor gays would be of course in salons and parlors where they are mostly located given their occupation.

Findings

Interviewee 1

Freelance Fashion Designer

He went out of the closet during his college years. He told his family and friends, except for his father who still doesn’t know anything. They accepted him. He doesn’t have any experience of discrimination. He does have other gay friends and believes that there’s discrimination in the gay community itself especially here in the Philippines. Gays tend to mock each other. He feel that he hasn’t discriminated other gays unlike the others. He is also supportive of other gays to come out of the closet so that these people will achieve freedom, free from hiding and would stop hurting themselves.     

Interviewee 2

Medical Student in ASMPH

He came out of the closet after his parents confronted him. His mom was against it while his dad appeared indifferent. He has other gay friends and believes that discrimination exists in the gay community itself. He said that there’s a rift between pamhin gays (those who have not come out of the closet yet) and pagirl (those who already came out and acts and dresses like a real girl). He also said that there’s discrimination against ugly gays in general. He admitted that he is guilty of discriminating other gays because he is disgusted of those who act straight but are doing poorly with their acts. He also admitted that ugly gays are often being laughed out. He does have experiences of being discriminated with the usual teasing. On the question how supportive he is to other gays coming out he replied: “Sure, if you already know yourself well enough and you are comfortable to let other people know about it. But it's really complicated. Coming out is really a complicated thing. I only came out because I was confronted by my parents after 25 years of existence. Before that, I was comfortable with them not knowing I was gay.”  

Interviewee 3

Working Student. Works at Mega Productions and owns a catering business.

He went out of the closet years ago. His parents confronted him and admitted it. His actions were innate and grew and grew until they overtook his overall personality and drew the attention of his family. Upon his admission, his family was disappointed and there were a series of drama between them. But then they just accepted him because they thought that if they did not accept him, it would lead him to sudden depression and might even use drugs or commit suicide.

He experienced discrimination back in high school due to his straight students' perception to gays. Also, they had an impression of him as "sosyal" and "mayabang". And thus they bullied him.

He believes there is discrimination within the gay community because some gays are insecure with each other. Facial finds show that there is discrimination. Some gays try to portray someone and look respectable but end to be slutty and bitchy. He thinks that there are some gay gestures which are inappropriate to show publicly which is why he has also discriminated some gays as well.

He's in support of the gays who came out of the closet as long as they know what they're getting themselves into. It's not just about being gay, it's a life of being one.

Interviewee 4

Hairdresser at Benefits Salon; parlor gay

He has been working in the salon business for 15 years already. He worked before as an insurance agent but gave up for salon business. He went out out of the closet when he was very young. His family accepted his coming out. He does not feel discriminated although it depends on the environment. When he encounters discrimination, he fights for himself.

Interviewee 5

Hairdresser at Benefits Salon; parlor gay

He has been a factory worker for 20 years and at the same time a part-time owner of a salon. He quitted and worked in Benefits Salon for 2 years now. He went out of the closer during his teen years although he was aware of his sexual orientation since age 6. His family accepted his coming out. They have been very supportive of him. He has a live-in partner whom his parents accepted. They adopted a child who is 20 years old now. He acts as the child's mother. He is also treated as a real girl by his live-in partner. He does not feel discriminated because he stood as a good example of good work ethics of gay people. Agency wanted to get more gays because they are hardworking, creative and versatile (they can do jobs for men and women). Pat is also aware that discrimination is present among gays in different lines of work (ex. Law). He also feels discriminated when he is called bakla, since he's a professional, he would rather prefer bading, which is a more subtle terminology.

Analysis

     In structural functionalism, the concern has always been, “What keeps society together?” Given all these answers from the respondents and analyses formulated, we concluded that discrimination keeps the current society together. It allows society to function the way it has always functioned throughout the years. Unknowingly, and in so many ways, the society has discriminated the gay community in almost, if not all, aspects of life. This discrimination of their community can be examined using the three different functions of structural functionalism.

     For its manifest function, discrimination, from our findings in this study, lowers gay morale. Society discourages people from being gay for it induces the idea to everyone that you have to be “straight” to succeed in life. As mentioned by one of the interviewees, some of the jobs they have applied in did not accept them just because they were gay. Some institutions have certain qualifications in their respective job positions, some of which include the “no gay policy.”

     For its latent function, discrimination causes people to serve as segregators of our society. As segregators, the society assigns, in their minds, certain jobs to a certain group of people. For instance, the two parlor gays we interviewed both had jobs outside the cosmetics world before, but had the urge to enter into it because being a parlor gay was what they felt comfortable with, and what the society felt comfortable for them to be in.

     Lastly, for the dysfunction of discrimination, it can be inferred that this affects employment preferences, in favor of the gay community. In Interviewee 5’s experience, as mentioned during his interview, his employers in his previous work preferred gays over men and women in general when hiring employees. This was caused by the good performances of the gay employees, including the interviewee himself, and that gays too can do both the jobs of men and women. So their employers thought that "Why not hire gays who can do both over men and women who can only do so little?"

    The social conflict is seen through the discrimination that people tend to have against gays. Usually, there is inequality because the gays are being dominated by the other genders. If one would think about it, there are more opportunities and benefits being given to other genders especially before when the gays are not yet fully accepted in society, such as jobs, marriages, child adoptions, and many more. This leads me to the competition in getting jobs because there are scarce resources and there are certain jobs where a particular gender is preferred. However, the rich gays are an exception to this because like what the group stated in the other presentation, social capital and education are needed to be successful; here, the rich gays have these factors so they are apart from this segregation. However, the gays are fighting for equality especially in opportunities and such revolution is seen in Interviewee 5’s experience. He proved the employers wrong with hard work and creativity, and this showed the good work ethics of gays.

The symbolic interactionism of discrimination towards gays is that other people have assigned certain jobs for them. Usually they are not assigned with those jobs that are considered more serious professions such as lawyers, doctors and engineers but instead they are limited to professions that involves artistic skills such as makeup artists, comedians, and hairdressers This idea however greatly limits the opportunities gays lay out for themselves because most of them would think that they can only do as much and would not dare to break into these stereotypes set up by society. Other people would also have a preconceived notion that when they talk about gays they just limit them to these artistic professions.  Because of this, gays would have a hard time applying for more serious professions because people would say that they are 'not fit for it'. This truly hinders gays from aspiring for more for fear of rejection and even more discrimination. Just like what Interviewee 5, a hairdresser whom we interviewed, told us that he is aware that discrimination is present to those more serious professions because they do not fit there.

Conclusion

    The baklas in the Philippines have been struggling for their acceptance in the society as they are being discriminated by other people. The labeling of the bakla with parlors is the type of gays which is unaccepted in Philippine society because of their “inappropriate” acts such as acting as girls (which is more inclined to being transgendered) and because of people’s views as being “loud” and paying straight guys for sexual pleasure. Their struggle attempts to change the views of other people to them as being “deviant” and “wrong” in a period of globalization and diversity.. However, in these attempts to be accepted, they also somehow make a discrimination among themselves by labeling other people in their kind as the “others”.

Based from the findings, there were no answers by the interviewees with regards to the discrimination among themselves but it is prominent with the discrimination by other people. This shows that the discrimination among themselves does not really affect them at all for it is only a minor factor and it only depends to every individual. What really affects them is other people’s judgment as they are considered as “deviant”. Not everyone considers being gay as normal, and others even think that it’s wrong. In the hopes of discouraging other people, those gays who have not come out of the closet to become deviant, they show that gays would not succeed so might as well stick to the norm of being straight.

   

    Discrimination does two things in this area. Firstly, other people, or society in general, tends to limit gays to certain jobs. This may be seen as the cause of them being limited to certain jobs. But behind this, we can also see that the gays themselves are then formed to think the same, that their success is limited to them being gay. In this manner, it can be inferred that the gay community is slowly giving in to the discrimination they have been fighting for, in general, for a long time now, causing them to just limit themselves to being “parlor gays.” So the next time you want to have your hair cut, how straight do you want it to be?

Bibliography

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