Sunday, October 3, 2010

The "Bi" Confusion


Hairstylist Ricky Reyes personifies the "bakla"
in Mass Media

Here's an interesting comment about the confusion of the "bisexual" word as commonly used today in Manila:

i have to say this here lex but i really am beginning to hate that word - BI. it is the most abused word in the GLBT lingo. ang lalake pag takot na sabihin o aminin na bading siya, automatic yan, parang yes FM, ang ililabel niya sa sarili niya bi siya. so yung mga contestants ng mr posh walang bading, puro bi. eh lahat yan puro bayarang lalake sa boytoyforhire ni paris. and again, pagtatanungin mo sila ano ang orientation nila, sasabihin pa sayo straight sila kung makakalusot. pagna corner na, ang sagot, the most convenient answer in the gay world nowadays, bi ako in a major major way. i wonder what others will have to say to that.

Anonymous

*****

Hi Anonymous,

Allow me to offer my own speculation on how all this "bisexual" term confusion has happened. Before the mid-20th century, Filipinos categorized the queer men into two: one is the "bakla" or "binabae", which refers to men who dress up like women. The other term is "silahis", men who are into other men but are masculine in nature.

Ogie Diaz personifies the "silahis"
Now, here's where the confusion begins. "Silahis" may refer to any man (whether gay or bisexual) as long as they choose a masculine appearance. In simpler terms, Ricky Reyes in his red pants and make up is "bakla" and Ogie Diaz, in his jeans and shirts, and the fact that he has a wife despite of his publicly "gay persona" is "silahis" following this categories.

 
So, when the term homosexual and bisexual permeated our culture, they simply became a synonym of our existing terms. Homosexuality conveniently took the seat of "bakla" and bisexuality became "silahis". In this case, the homo/bi - sexual concepts became "filipinized".

Ergo, in Manila, if a man claims to be "bi", oftentimes, he means, he is silahis. He prefers masculine clothes, and may or may not be attracted to the opposite sex.

Lex

17 comments:

Bb. Melanie said...

Perfek ang explanasyon mo Lexie!!!

Tanong ko lang kung ang isang "bi" ay masculine sa pananamit, pano kung ang fes nila ay maputi dahil sa funda? Gay na ba silang maika-categorize?

Anonymous said...

I super Agree its the most abuse words ung BI. If ull use it in a Psychological Perspective. Yes OGIE DIAZ is really what you call bi.

KAYO DUN SA NAGPAPANGAP NA BI. THE RIGHT WORD NA GAGAMITIN NILA DAPAT AY "STRAIGHT ACTING GAY"

PANO SILA MAGIGING BI KONG NEVER SILA NAGKAGUSTO SA BABAE. IN THE LATEST RESEARCH NG MGA PSYCHOLOGIST SA HARVARD. UNG MGA NAG AADMIT NA BI. UN PALA UNG MGA TUNAY NA BAKLA WHO CNT ACCEPT NA THR GAY. WHILE UNG REAL BI GAYS UNG MGA TAO NA HINDI AWARE NA THR BI OR NEVER ADMITED THAT THR BI.

Im also gay and im proud to be gay. Kaya tigilan na iyong mga baklang closeta na tawagin sarili na bi. How can a gay support you kong kayo mismo ayaw ninyo ma accept na gay kayo. PLS USE THE WORD STRAIGHT ACTING GAY WAG KAYONG GAGAMIT NA BI.

Anonymous said...

thanks lex for the explanation. at least, it has given me some leeway into understanding the basic definition.

but would you say now that regardless of whether bakla o silahista, it is safe to say that they are both bading?

my apologies now for the graphic words to come out now: what it simply mean is that kese hodang bakla o silahista yan, pareho yang nagnanasa o numanasa ng burat ng lalake, di ba ganun lang ka simple yun?

GB said...

In a country like ours where fear of coming out is so imminent, these categories are made scapegoat by those all who wanted to retain respect from the society. While it is all right to categorize so as to understand our true nature, it is most important to recognize these fearful PLUs. Let us not create prejudice, but let us start to respect their choice of words and being. Or better yet, let us start respecting ourselves and I'm sure these categories will become obsolete terms, thereby giving us one ultimate category that is worth respecting.

Anonymous said...

si OGIE "bi"... bakit kung "bi" sya ganun ang pananalita nya at kilos ang sabi ang "bi" daw
"is str8 acting" ibig sabihin lalaking lalaki sya sa pananalita at kilos pero nagkakagusto rin cya sa lalaki,

hindi si OGIE ang categorize na bi...

mayron isa arita pero sabi sabi lang c paulo yun chanel 2 kapariha ni juday..siya ang bi na categorize pero hangang gyon shismiz lang...

tama rin naman papaano sila magiging bi never sila nagkagusto sa babae

ang alam ko bi ito yun may gf may asawa at anak pero ginagawa rin nila ang ginagawa ng bakla sa isa lalake kung sex ang pinaguusapan...

Anonymous said...

I really like the comment made by the 2nd Anonymous reader. Yup, dapat talaga ganun na lang ang gamitin nilang pag describe sa sarili nila. Straight acting gays. Kasi nga to my mind, when you say you are a bisexual, by the very term itself, it means that consciously or unconsciously, you are doing it or having sex with both the male and female kind.

And therefore going back to the other post of Lex here, I would say that the Mr Posh guys/candidates are really straight acting gays. Again, to my mind, if the guy is really straight, or even a bisexual, he will not need nor want to flaunt that anymore.

I want to make one thing clear. I am not against guys entering beauty pageants or whatever you may want to call it. All I really want to raise here is the question of whether one is actually deceiving oneself and more importantly, his clients because in the case of the guys in the said pageants, most, if not all of them are really for hire guys.

I wonder if these cases can ever be brought over to the DTI for mislabeling cases? (pun, intended - just a joke, ok?).

Anonymous said...

why categorized such issue/! bakla is bakla, gay is gay, period.! call spade a spade!

Anonymous said...

another point is that.. pag ni label mo sarili mo na bi eh... i guess mas mabenta sa paningin ng ibang gays. Nauso kasi yang label na yan sa mga gay networking site... so usually nilalagay nila sa profile eh " BI" most kasi ng mga kapatid eh ayaw sa kapwa gays di ba?? and its a fact! So to avoid being dislike and attract future mate eh nili-label nila sarili nila as such.

Actually... sa totoo lang eh nakaka irita talaga pag nakakita ka ng super bading with all the pilantik and tili tapos ili label sarili nya as bi.. major major nakakaloka yun sarap sabunutan.

Anonymous said...

nasa preference ng tao yun kya bi ksi prefer nya sex s boy and girl yun mga bayaran s boytoy lahat yun bakla kya nga takot sdila s customer n baklang mukhang babae ksi mas malandi p sila yun mga guys n my gf n pumapatol s gays bi tawag dun ksi bisexual

Anonymous said...

exactly...exactly...exactly....dun sa nag comment na nagsabing nakakairita na makita yung nagsasabi na bi sila ang yet obvious na obvious na malanding gay naman sila.

ok, just to be clear. i have nothing against my kind, whether straight acting, pamhintang durog o buo, bi's, screaming fags,lahat sila ay tanggap ko, respetado ko. for my part and this is just my own personal belief and issue that i am raising. if you are a for hire na guy, don't hide under the protection of labeling yourself as straight, even as a bi guy kung ang totoo naman ay gabi gabi nasa palawan bar ka at kasama mo ang mga amiga mo na nagtitilian kayo dun hanggang madaling araw. again, nothing wrong with the act per se. but to label yourself as straight or even as a bi guy and at the same time sell yourself as a for hire? medyo may off na dun para sakin personally. kung sa inyo, ok lang yun, then, i will respect your opinion as i hope you will respect mine too.

Anonymous said...

mali yan Lex. ang term sa kanila, mga PAMINTA o CLOSETA. yang bisexual na yan ginagamit lang yan ng mga chuserang froglets na in denial pa, kunwari attracted pa rin sila sa girls eh deep inside babaeng babae naman sila. pampataas daw kasi yan ng market value nila sa mga kapwa nila paminta at sa mga becky. for others kasi, they have this false assumption na basta may natitira pang pagkalalaki sa kanila, mas magiging attractive sila. and for others rin na kinahihiya ang pagiging bakla, they believe na they will face a lesser social stigma by pretending to be bisexual instead of showing the whole world what they really are: 100% bakla.

Anonymous said...

di na sana ako makikisawsaw dito kasi nga itong usapin na to will really not reach to a good conclusion because of the complexities ng mga iba't ibang labels na yan. sa states, they also have what they call yung mga butch types. they are gays, pero as one of the readers here said, sila yung mga straight acting gays, but gays nonetheless.

and as reader GB said which is true to form, because of the fear of being ostracized there in the philippines, or even in other countries, they couldn't afford to be labeled as pure gays, kaya yung bi's naging popular para man lang mabahiran ng konting ka machohan o mabawasan ang pagka total gayness as far as what these labels really conote.

but i have to make an exception here as far as yung issue na na-raise regarding men for hire. sa states din kasi, there is such a thing as gays for pay. and to be honest, there are really gays who chose another gay rent guy to service them. ako personally, if i were to get a rent guy, i would want to get a straight guy. magbabayad na rin lang naman ako, dun nako sa straight talaga. so it is important for me na alam ko ang orientation ng lalakeng kukunin ko. and a bi rent guy for me is still not pasado. i think that is where all this issue is coming from. so in a way, naiintindihan ko yung point nung isang reader's comment.

Anonymous said...

yan ang malaking problema sa karamihan ng mga bakla, mahilig sa labels... they call themselves "bi" because they believe they are the more superior, more acceptable, and more "palatable" gay-beings... what the f*ck!!!

i pity those self-proclaimed "bi" because surely, they're still in great denial... i am a straight-acting gay but i don't want to label myself "bi" because i am 100% sure that i am gay, no more, no less... nanglalalaki ako kung kelan ko gusto.... but i can penetrate my tool inside a vag*na if i want to just like any other screaming faggots out there if they, too, want it... madali lang naman yan kung gugustuhin lang...

at pwede ba, kung kuto-an nyo ang grupo ng mga "bi" kuno jan, mabibilang lang sa inyong mga daliri ang totoong may nakant*t ng babae... karamihan jan nagkukunwari lang para makachup* ng libre.... role playing is the name of the game para makalibre mga dear sisters.... kaya tantanan nyo ako, mga pretensyosang bakla!!!

Anonymous said...

You're correct Lex, there's no such word as "bisexual" sa isang lalake ng mahilig manlalake and/or magkainterest sa kapwa nya guy.

I agree with "STRAIGHT ACTING GAY" as the perfect word dun sa mga komportable na nakabihis lalake sila in public.

All the best sa'yo Lex and to you guys!

Anonymous said...

question po. kung sabi mo na si ogie diaz is a sample ng isang bi, so ganun din ba sila tita swarding, ang namatay na na si jun encarnacion? sino pa nga ba? kilalang mga out and "loud" na bading celebrities mga yan. kahanay din ba nila ang tinatawag na bi?

Anonymous said...

naisip nila ogie, tita swarding at jun enc..

na paano sila kapag matanda..

na kaya nagasawa sila...

natakot sila..

sa magiisa kaya...

(wag masasaktan.. kaya niloko na nila ang emotion nila na kailagan na magasawa sila ng babae at magkaanak..kahit na alam ng babae na nakikipag relasyon sila sa lalake)

mabuhay sila at nakapagmamalaki sila sa mga bakla dahil tangap sila ng pamilya nila.

syempre tangap ng pamilya nila ..ikaw ba naman magpakain..

kaya bakla pa rin sila hangang mamatay...

lukohan na lang yan na nagkakagusto pa rin ang "bi" sa babae mas mataas pa rin ang pagkagusto nila sa lalake.

eh malandi pa ang boses nila sa atin..

Anonymous said...

ikaw lex bonife, bi ka ba?

bi, silahis, acdc, o yung favorite term ni jm cobarubias ng nakalimutan ng show na "out" tungkol sa mga bakla sa gma 7 dati. pagbalibaliktarin mo man ang mundo, itaktak mo man o pigain ng husto...ang bakla ay bakla.

kung pinili mong magmahal ng bakla aba choice nyo yan. kung man lalake man sya aba dapat nung simula palang e tanggap mo na.


wag mong isipin o pangarapin na pagkatapos nya maglublob at magpakasawa sa nota eh dadating ang isang araw na tatalikuran niya ang buhay na yon.

ang bakla ay bakla. ano mang katawagan,anyo,hugis,kilay.