Othering within the gay dating community?

Abstract

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.