More Tomboy, More Bakla Than We Admit: Insights into Sexual and Gender Diversity in Philippine Culture, History, and Politics

More Tomboy, More Bakla Than We Admit: Insights into Sexual and Gender Diversity in Philippine Culture, History, and Politics 

Edited by Mark Blasius and Richard T. Chu
Foreword by Mina Roces
 
In the Philippines, those who do not fall neatly within the dictated norms of gender and sexuality have often been rendered invisible if not condemned outright by  mainstream society heavily steeped in westernized gender roles and Catholic notions of sexual propriety. And yet such individuals have existed throughout our history, from the androgynous bayog and asog shamans of precolonial times to members of the Chinese community persecuted for sodomy in Spanish Manila, to lesbian activists of the last few decades striving for recognition within a greater feminist movement, to transpinay (transgender) movements and multiple local, regional, and national organizations, to contemporary gay and “bi” men representing themselves on Planet Romeo.

Through the essays in More Tomboy, More Bakla Than We Admit, acclaimed writers and scholars explore the unique identities, behaviors, and nuances that distinguish Filipino lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons from other Filipinos and those elsewhere in the world. The essays delve into how LGBTI identities are manifested within history, culture, race, religion, family, technology, psychology, for example, in ways that are more complex and multifaceted than we admit.
 

About the Editors 
 
Mark Blasius is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and has been a visiting professor at the University of the Philippines–Diliman, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Southern California (USC). He holds a PhD in political philosophy from Princeton University and specializes in contemporary political thought and the politics of gender and sexuality across cultures. Mark’s publications include: Sexual Identities, Queer Politics (Princeton, 2001); We Are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics (Routledge, 1997); Gay and Lesbian Politics: Sexuality and the Emergence of a New Ethic (Temple, 1994); and various book chapters and articles in journals such as Political Theory. He has been a resident fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center and the Center for Feminist Research at USC, served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist, received the CUNY Chancellor’s Award for Scholarly Excellence, and has served on the Boards of Directors of both the CUNY Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies and the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture, and Society.
 
Richard T. Chu is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of History. He holds a doctorate degree in history from the University of Southern California. Dr. Chu specializes in Chinese history and Chinese mestizo history in the Philippines. His published works include Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity, and Culture, 1860s–1930s (2012) and Chinese Merchants of Binondo in the Nineteenth Century (2011). He was also the editor of the volume More Tsinoy Than We Admit (2015).

 Watch the companion video "A Pinoy Spectrum: Being More Tomboy, More Bakla Than We Admit": 

About the Collection: Academica Filipina

This interdisciplinary series pushes the boundaries of scholarly publishing with smart, literate, and thought-provoking critical anthologies exploring the Philippine past, present, and future.