Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora

by Martin F. Manalansan IV

Book Overview

A vivid ethnography of the global and transnational dimensions of gay identity as lived by Filipino immigrants in New York City, Global Divas challenges beliefs about the progressive development of a gay world and the eventual assimilation of all queer folks into gay modernity. Insisting that gay identity is not teleological but fraught with fissures, Martin Manalansan IV describes how Filipino gay immigrants, like many queers of color, are...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822332175
• ISBN13: 9780822332176
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 221 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great, Informative Book

I basically agree with Jeffrey's review but wanted to add/debate a few of his points. To add: if you're someone who reads other works about queers, whether white queers and/or queers of color, this book presents a different take on ideas many of us have been exposed to a lot by examining the gay Filipino male diaspora. One major example is the idea of the effeminate gay Asian male and interracial relationships with white males, which also brings to mind the popular discourse (in some circles) about the prevalence of (and why) Asian female/white male relationships. The author discusses a lot of centralities to gay Filipino male identity, such as religion and family, and backs up his points with quotes from his interviews with gay Filipino males, i.e. "informants." These informants often reframe the "why" of Asian/white male interracial relationships away from the typical response of white oppression/control and self-hatred towards the suggestion that many Asians may simply be, in a sense, using white males' status (primarily financially) to get what they want/need, thus presenting the image of the Asian as the one who actually has some control. This is not to say there isn't any real love in these relationships, as one informant basically makes clear. Another "why" framed in a new light is the possibility that many gay Asian males embrace and even self-label themselves in feminine terms as opposed to Asian male femininity being a negative that is always imposed on Asian males by racist/sexist/etc whites, regardless of sexual orientation, as some Asian writers such as David Eng seem to suggest. Other incredibly interesting ideas presented in this book are that many Filipinos don't feel accepted/connected with other Asians and even reject being labeled "Asian," and the notion that "coming out" is a white American ideal that is shunned in the Philippines. The book also demonstrates that many of these men do not come to the US looking to assimilate or, if they do, assimilation for these men is essentially impossible, not so much because whites won't allow them to but more because of unbreakable ties to their homeland. Many of these ideas are very similar to ones you'll find in works by other non-Asian queer of color writers, especially the idea of blatant outness being more of a white norm. However, the major task of the work seems to be demonstrating the ways in which gay Filipino males who immigrate to the US/NYC integrate various/divergent aspects of their identities (race, class, sexuality, gender, nationality)/homeland with aspects of their new home, creating spaces for themselves where they don't fit in (i.e. the white gay community, despite many white gay males' affinity for [feminine and darker/yellow] gay Asian males) and creating the identity and freedom that they, in a sense, have always longed for. I completely agree with Jeffrey's point about NYC/CA, and I've noticed that a lot of queer writers mainly seem to discuss major areas.

Manila Must Be Burning!

This book starts of with the author and another gay Pilipino man going up to a bakla and asking, "Why so sad, sister?" Miss Thing responds back, "My beauty can't stand the drama in this gay club!" SNAP! [They didn't really snap but this whole book will put you in a diva!, swishy mood, so I added some flourish.]Now if some camp like that doesn't convince you to read this book, then I don't know what will. Seriously, many have noted that homosexuality is the love that dare not speak its name, Pilipinos are the forgotten Asians in America, and the subaltern has no voice. Thus, by creating a book where gay, immigrant, femmy, Pilipino men are the center, Manalansan has valiantly filled a tragic void. This book says much about gay men of color and gay immigrants. It shows how many gays have other issues on top of homophobia to battle. This was a critical intersectional text.In this book, the author places a minority within a minority within a minority at the center. His main point is that non-Western same-gender-loving immigrants are not some homosexual primitives waiting for white, Western gays to liberate them. The subjects here are active agents in their lives. They balance multiple cultures and influences. They oftentimes look at this country and its mainstream gay community and find it lacking. This book is quite empowering.Manalansan covers multiple topics here, including how gay male Pilipinos juggle Pacific and Western constructions of homosexuality, an argot called swardspeak, the difficulties that these men face in New York City, everyday struggles besides homophobia, bakla beauty pageants, and bakla anti-AIDS activism. The author does an excellent job in inviting the reader into the gay Pilipino immigrant's world. I thought the chapter on AIDS was the best; activists from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds should find it useful. The author ends many chapters with a review of the literature that I found somewhat awkward and at times overly opinionated, however. Like many academic books, this is just an amassing of the author's individual articles (and a celebration of his tenure?), but readers who haven't been exposed to extensive Manalansan writings will find this whole book especially refreshing.Quotes from interview subjects are first cited in Taglish (Tagalog mixed with English phrases) and then translated into complete English. Even without being a comparative literature or cognitive science major, I found this code-switchi fascinating. Moraga and Anzaldua have already demonstrated how they practice Spanglish as U.S. Latinas. This is the first time I've seen gay men's and Asians' use of this intriguing practice. Manalansan discusses swardspeak, a gay Pilipino slang. So the Brits are not the only ones with their Picadilly parlary. Along with the Latino practice of picardia as detailed in Fernandez-Alemany's book, this is another example of gay men of color having their own catchy phrases and in-words.To the book's cr