Othering within the gay dating community?
Tensions in gender identity representations between Filipino gays and the bakla in mobile dating
applications
Gay men and the bakla in the Philippines have long battled invisibility that any chance to
perform their gendered identities is a welcome gamble and opportunity to self-represent and be visible. This study looked into the
nature of self-representation among gay and bakla in dating applications and how these representations become
source of tensions in the LGBTQ+ community. In this study, ten gay men and ten bakla were interviewed to
construct their self-representations and unearth the reasons why such presentations are enacted in the dating apps. Findings
showed that gay men displayed heteronormative gay masculinity. Further, most of the bakla self-censored their
profiles to get matches and dates. There were some bakla, however, who refused invisibility and used the apps as
space for showing their authentic gender identity. Results of this study also identified the role of technology in enabling
masculine idealizations that emphasize hegemonic masculinity while reinforcing bakla invisibility.
Article outline
- Introduction
- The bakla and the gay man of and in the Philippines
- Gendered gay identities in digital spaces
- The rise of Tinder and Grindr as go-to dating applications
- Research problem and objectives
- Materials and methods
- Results and discussion
- Self-representations of Filipino gay and bakla in dating applications
- Masc for masc preferences among gay men
- Hiding the local, loud, and proud bakla
- Show and tell: Breaking the stereotypes
- Platform affordances and predicaments
- Relational tensions between the gay and the bakla
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Declaration of interest
-
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