Locating Their Penis: Pilipino American College Male Performativity, Sexuality, and the ‘Bahag Syndrome’

This research examines the role of online social media and its influence on Pilipino American college male’s performance of Igorotness at Pilipino Culture Nights (PCNs) stage productions by Pilipino American college organizations and how such constructions of masculinity counter stereotypes of Asian American male bodies. I observe at how college male students look to Igorot dances such as “Idaw” (also known as the “Bahag Dance”) to perform a Western notion of masculinity and maleness as both a performative identity and as a vehicle to find social acceptance of their gender identity as Asian Americans. Using netnography, or online ethnography where social media is both a site and subject of research, I analyze YouTube©, Facebook©, and Tumblr©, not only as a site of research, but as a subject that contributes to the (mis)understanding of Igorot identity and Pilipino American racialized, gendered, and sexualized performative identity. I relate the “bahag” (the loin cloth worn by Igorot males) as a phallic symbol that contributes to the performative masculine identity of Pilipino American college male students and a catalyst to (re)claim heteronormative masculine identities through the performance of the indigenous other. I conclude by tying these online identities to the concept of the cyborg (Haraway, 1991) as a socio-cultural and geo-political hybrid of indigenized (de)colonial performativity and Western heteronormative masculinity.