Sofia Costales

Mr. Elvin Valerio

COM531M

6 November 2017

The Secret Sex: A touch of transgression

“Heterosexuality is not normal, it’s just common.” – Dorothy Parker

Let’s face it: the world we live in today is socially constructed – from the way we are

brought up, the way we should look like, the color and type of clothes we should wear, the

activities we must engage in, the food we are allowed eat, the television shows available for us to

watch, down to the people we personally and professionally associate with. We have become so

obligated to adhere to these constructs that tell us a predetermined list of “shouldn’ts and shoulds”

to the point where we only interact with whom we collectively identify with. From that point, we

must return to the focus of social constructivism, where human consciousness and social behavior

are important aspects that define an “existing intersubjective awareness among people in a sense

the system is constituted by ideas, not by material forces” (Jackson & Sorensen, 162). Sociologists,

researchers, and scholars alike try to highlight that their current contributions to sociological values

(which tackles vulnerable “below the surface” topics) are all moving towards an unresolved,

“multilayered characteristics of the social in general, and gender and sexuality in

particular” (Brickell, 89).

In The Buddy Politic, films are thoroughly scrutinized through frameworks of gendered

racial representations. Buddy films are film genres wherein two or more people (mostly men) are

put together, and are frequently seen as male-to-male screen bonding. These films “offer male

movie-going audiences an opportunity to indulge in a form of male bonding and behavior usually

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discouraged by social constraints” that popularly “negotiate crises of masculinity centered on

questions of class, race, and gender, and they tend to conclude with a narrative resolution of these

questions through the buddies’ acceptance of each other’s differences” (Carroll, 74). In simpler

terms, these romantic adventures and desires are responses of repressed homosexualities of both

men and women. The world continues to mold and see masculinity as violent and hostile and men

are given standards the same way how women are ascribed to their femininity. However, not

everyone is the same. We should understand that people are sexually (and racially) diverse beings.

As the buddy film genre slowly get acknowledged, society also tried to adapt and reshape its

identities, despite transgressive differences. With the dominant declarations of heterosexuality

despite the constant attempts of Hollywood films to attract its audiences to questions of

individualism and freedom, it just shows how conflicting ideologies are perpetuated to enable

society’s acceptance and openness to disparities in race and gender.

According to Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?,

gender can be structured as both hierarchical (traditional men and women) and non-hierarchical

(alternative new genders), and to understand the complex system of racial and gendered

subordination thus breaks the binary opposition between man and woman (Haslanger, 50). LGBT,

which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, used to be sexual minorities until they

have successfully asserted their rights after a great extent. To be considered a bisexual in the old

times was generally not accepted, more so as radically stigmatized. The fact that a simple same-

sex kiss is deemed more threatening than violent acts of murder and crime indicates that we are

still living in the homophobic, heterosexist bubble.

Through the lens of television and film, the queer society was able to voice out and

communicates a kind of liberation that exposes their “true, human selves” and even taps into larger

depths such as religion and militarism. In Queer Independent Film at the Turn of the Millennium,

straight-gay binaries are often used as themes within realist images of gay men and lesbians who

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“come out of the closet”. The fluidity of sexuality permits the possibility of having both

heterosexual and homosexual desire within a person, and this “fear” is what interprets as

“homophobia” (a hatred of homosexuality) which believes that a male-female relationship is more

appropriate and “more normal” since it is the common practice throughout the centuries. Repressed

homosexuality issues are also expressed in contemporary film and cinema as gay and lesbian

characters on-screen are still envisioned “through the dominant heterosexist lenses” (Benshoff &

Griffin, 269–270), which were also “intended to increase opportunities for people of color in the

network television industry both in front and behind the camera” (Gross, 256). Scholarly articles,

related films all provide a seemingly Westernized world-view of the changes and imbalances of

society’s hesitations to push notions of being gay, lesbian, or queer “outside their boxes” – an

emerging hybrid of queerness in new media.

Sinon Loresca, the “King of Catwalk”, is a 28-year-old Filipino sensation and openly gay

model and TV actor who uses his social media accounts (mostly his Instagram account) to spread

positivity on the Internet, usually in a “mankini” (man bikini) or a long glittery gown paired with

six-inched heels. He sets a good example by understanding and helping those who are in need and

to never forget to “look back” on where he came from. Through his social media posts, he is able

to encourage people on the possibilities of turning insecurities into confidence through dedication

and perseverance. Coming out from his parents at 18 was definitely a bold move, an act of courage

that will surely accelerate the evolving process of diversification not only in the Philippines, but

throughout the world where differences should be celebrated instead of being condemned.

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List of Works Cited:

Ruffolo, David V. Post-Queer Politics. Ashgate, 2009.

Jackson, Robert and Sorensen, George. Introduction to International Relations: Theories and

Approaches. 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Brickell, Chris. “The sociological construction of gender and sexuality.” The Sociological

Review, 2006. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., pp. 87–113.

Carroll, Bret E. American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications, 2003.

Haslanger, Sally. “Gender and Race: (What) Are they? (What) Do we want them to be?”.

Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2000., pp. 31–35.

Benshoff, Harry and Griffin, Sean. “Queer Independent Film at the Turn of the Millennium.”

Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America. Rowman & Littlefield

Publishers Inc., pp. 267–291.

Gross, Larry. “Facing the Future.” Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and The Media in

America. Columbia University Press, 2001.

General, Ryan. “The Heartwarming Story Behind the Gay Filipino Man Who Slayed the ‘Miss

Universe’ Catwalk.” NextShark. https://nextshark.com/sinon-loresca-eat-bulaga-miss-

universe-catwalk/. Posted 3 Feb. 2017. Web. Accessed 6 Nov. 2017.

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