TY  - BOOK
T1  - Rethinking Bakla A keyword in Philippine conceptual, sexual, and social history
A1  - Caliguia, Gregorio R., III
LA  - English
UL  - https://tuklas.up.edu.ph/Record/UP-99946688290008939
AB  - Bakla signals "effeminacy" and "homosexuality" which stigma signifies being "weak", "fake woman" , "unreal man". This historical research interrogates the etymology of bakla, which etymology claims that bakla only became a label for gay identity since the 1960s. A newfound evidence, the Bienvenido N. Santos' "Recollections" (1982), challenges the etymology, as the document used bakla to signify "effeminate" decades before the 1960s.

Mobilizing this newfound evidence alongside theoretical, historiographic, and archival data., this thesis asks: (1) How can the 1932 "Recollections" help explain the crystallization of bakla in a label for "effeminate homosexual male" identity since the 1960s? (2)What can socio-historical processes  further reveal about the etymology of bakla, and why the word bears so much stigma? (3) How did "effeminacy" and male "homosexuality" become semantically llinked with bakla's historic senses? As its core, the study argues that sexism and political instability coincide in the social history of the bakla.

Contextualizing bakla's semantic shifts reveals that the word's stigma comes from its earliest meaning besides "fearful and weak", it was bakla as "deceptive". While tracking bakla's semantic links with the pre-existing terms for gay identity shows that bakla was forged alongside historical biases against women. These biases rendered gay men and trans women undesirable. And archival data uncover five (5) factors explaining why bakla crystallized into a gender label, which also offer insights on how bakla has been reclaimed and reworked, despite its persisting stigma, in more recent years.

The thesis exposes bakla's status as a "keyword" in the Philippines conceptual, sexual, and social history. It undresses bakla, open it to critique, and recognizes the importance its etymology can play in undoing bakla's stigma, and its potential in rethinking Philippine history itself.
NO  - Includes bibliographical references
CN  - LG 995 2021 P46 C35
KW  - Gender identity.
KW  - Sex role.
KW  - Sex differences.
ER  -