Pinay Femmes Dwelling in Hesitation: Spatiality Tactics in Urban Manila

What is it about?

This article considers the centrality of the Pinay femme lesbian and her representational tactics in Manila’s urban spaces. In examining Manila’s urban politics through its collision and collusion with the global diffusion of LGBT norms and rights making, the article argues that the Pinay femme’s failure to relinquish illegibility to fixity registers her as a “subject-in-waiting” (Eng, 2010). Her representational tactics afoul of the conditional politics of the proper modern LGBT subject. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, film analysis, and conversations with Pinay femmes living in Metro Manila, the article proposes an invitation towards a shift in perspective, one that offers insights on how Pinay femme subjective practices and representational tactics queer Manila’s urban spaces.

Featured Image

Photo by ethan on Unsplash

Photo by ethan on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article addresses the gaps and dearth in the literature regarding Pinay or Filipina queer lesbians.