Let’s Discuss Transgender People in the Pre-Colonial Philippines

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One of the most controversial, interesting, and popular subjects here at The Aswang Project is the discussion on articles about gender – particularly the role of trans women.  It’s a concept that I have tried to understand for several years.  Any valid study and research in the area seems to be set back by wildly popular, and inaccurate, statements like, “gender didn’t matter in the ancient Philippines”, or “the pre-Spanish Philippines was genderless”.  This couldn’t be further from the truth. I think these blanket statements come from modern social conceptions of what defines ‘gender’ today, and a misunderstanding of what it meant in the early animist societies of the Philippine area. I am not posting this article as an authority on the topic, but rather as a starting point for an educational dialogue. Please share your thoughts so we can all learn more about this very misunderstood and important topic.  I believe the topic of gender is one of many important pieces as we put together the puzzle of Philippine Mythology.

*note: I am using the term “trans woman” in this article even though the term as it exists in today’s society did not exist in the precolonial Philippines.

Shedding Modern Gender Preconceptions

What were the gender roles in the pre-Spanish Philippines?  Well, that is a subject where there is no consistent pattern or view.  It depends entirely on the tribe, region, and outside influences through immigration and trade.  What we have is a great deal of educated guesswork and academic speculation. Anyone speaking in certainties about the differentiation between sex and gender in the precolonial setting is speaking in falsehood.  The best we can do with the available information is present plausible hypothesis.   I can , however, paraphrase one truth about gender in the ancient Philippines –  “The social arrangements, regarding the terms ‘male’ and ‘female’ were not primarily ‘about’ biological differences between the sexes in the same way that Western gender concepts are. Rather, in the relations between male and female, early [Philippine] culture seemed to be ‘anchoring’ in the physical world important aspects of any meaningful system – the relation between ‘male’ power of differentiation and stable order and ‘female’ powers of integrations and transformation.”  One consistency that can be found while looking at any study of early Philippine culture, is that there was a balance between the two.  For instance, the warrior ideal of the Ilongot male headhunter was often balanced by the powerful role of the female ritualist.

This isn’t to say biology mattered less, gender roles were very important in the precolonial Philippines and in all societies since man first walked the earth. It does however mean that to some societies there were more aspects to gender than biological assignment. Whereas much of modern society judges a trans woman on her biological differences from assigned females and may deem it as ‘abnormal’ because of those differences, some pre-colonial societies accepted it as a natural, albeit less common, occurrence. It does seem that trans women were accepted into a societal role as female even though they could not biologically bear children.  The Boxer Codex presents an observation where an Asog (trans woman shaman) did have a husband, but we don’t know the sexual orientation of the husband – or how that was viewed by the community. Francisco Ignacio Alcina SJ notes in his documentation, the asog “consorted with men”. What we don’t know is if this was viewed by the community as male-female relations or male-male relations.

It can’t be understated that gender roles in reproduction were very important – there are a myriad of spirits, creatures and traditional practices in Philippine myth & folklore to prove that. But it is equally important to remember there were no known social or religious repercussions for identifying against the assigned sex at birth. Modern religious and patriarchal thinking has placed an emphasis on the sexual preference of gender and gender identity – forcing us into a perverse, and unnecessary, analysis of other people’s sexual preference as opposed to their individual contributing social function.  This ingrained thinking, in my opinion, is the number one hurdle in understanding how and why trans women may have been so readily accepted in pre-colonial social structures.

Trans women rise to Shaman

Third gender, or gender variant, spiritual intermediaries are found in many pacific island cultures, including the bajasa of the eastern Toradja people of Sulawesi, the bantut of the Tausūg people of the south Philippines, and other shamans of the pre-Christian Philippines. The  Babaylan and Katalonan (shamans in the Visayan and Tagalog regions) were female, but were sometimes trans women (also called Bayoguin or Asog) who were assigned male at birth, but appeared to identify – and were socially accepted – as female. In regards to the Philippines, it is important to point out that the transgender shaman is almost exclusive to the areas that were influenced by the areas of the archipelago under heavy Hindu influence, leading one to speculate that this acceptance could be a spiritual understanding rather than an entirely social one.  The trans woman shaman does not appear to exist in early anthropological and ethnolinguistic studies done in Northern Luzon, the mountainous areas of Mindanao, and about the indigenous Negritos.  There are instances documented of gender variance, but not in the role of a religious or spiritual leader. As noted by John Garvan in his studies on the Manobos of Mindanao: “Hermaphrodites,( (Bán-tut, Mandáya bi-dó) in a secondary sense, are found occasionally.  In every case they were womanly in their ways, showing a preference for sewing, and other occupations of women, and frequenting the company of women more than that of men.

In one case at San Isidro, Simúlao River, an hermaphrodite, a fine specimen of manhood to all appearances, was dressed as a woman. In another case a Mandáya hermaphrodite of the Báklug River, a few miles south of Compostela, was married. I was informed on all hands that the marriage was for the purpose of securing the alliance of the hermaphrodite’s relatives against certain hereditary enemies and that probably there would be no issue. I hope to get further information on this point at a future date.

On the Lamíñga River, a tributary of the Kasilaían River, there lived a woman who presented all the outward characteristics of a man. Her voice was deep and resonant, her countenance of a male type. She constantly carried a bolo, by day and by night, and in manual labor, such as building houses, was the equal of any man in the settlement. She had never married and had always rejected overtures toward marriage.”

Garvan’s documentation is important because it provides more insight to the societal acceptance, rather than just a sentence or two noted by Spanish chroniclers. It seems clear that men and women who identified as the opposite gender were readily accepted into those societal roles.  However, it should also be noted that, in one instance, they were ‘traditionally’ married.

The Brahmic Influence

The “Brahman Period” of the Philippines refers to the Indianized Influence in the Philippine Area through the spread of Hinduism.  In Hinduism, Brahman connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists. It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a metaphysical concept is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe.

The Hindu influence can be seen in terms and concepts like diwata (devata), aswang/asuang (asura), Bathala (Batara) etc.  The Hinilawod and Ibalong epics have been connected to the Indian Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharta, as well as countless folktales. Why this influences is not taught as part of Philippine history will forever remain a complete mystery to me.  Every reputable scholar, historian, and folklorist I have met in the Philippines, readily acknowledges and accepts these influences.

Hindu philosophy has the concept of a third sex or third gender (tritiya-prakriti – literally, “third nature”). The people in this category of sex/gender are called Hijras in Hinduism. This category includes a wide range of people with mixed male and female natures such as homosexuals, transsexuals, bisexuals, the intersexed, and so on. Such persons were not considered fully male or female in traditional Hinduism, being a combination of both. They are mentioned as third sex by nature (birth) and were not expected to behave like ordinary men and women.  Their participation in religious ceremonies, especially as crossdressing dancers and devotees of certain temple gods/goddesses, is considered auspicious in traditional Hinduism. Some Hindus believe that third-sex people have special powers allowing them to bless or curse others. However, these beliefs are not upheld in all divisions of Hinduism. In Hinduism, the universal creation is honored as unlimitedly diverse and the recognition of a third sex is simply one more aspect of this understanding.

 

Here is where I contribute educated guesswork. The Hindu philosophy integrated beautifully into the existing animist balance of gender, and aligned with the emerging polytheistic religions and the more ancient, yet evolved,  beliefs in the “skyworld”.  As mentioned in “The Soul Book”, the trans shaman became even more important as “the intermediary  between the two cosmological planes – earth and sky – also from the fact that they combine in their person the feminine elements (earth) and the masculine (sky).” This, coupled with the auspicious views towards the “third-sex”, made trans woman shamans an accepted role in the pre-colonial Philippines.  The “third-sex” shaman evolved without the prompting of Hinduism in other areas around the globe, but regionally, it does seem to align with its influence. There is little known about what happened to those trans women who did not follow the path to becoming a shaman, but the above mention by John Garvan seems to provide enough evidence that they were accepted in their chosen gender role.  No blanket understanding can be attached to the beliefs regarding trans women and  “third-sex” shamans for the entire Philippines, as each tribe developed their own philosophy around it.  It is worth pointing out that the role of shaman in many ethnolinguistic groups falls to the male gender.  When sharing information on this topic (or Philippine beliefs in general) – we must include the ethnolinguistic group and/or regions in our statements.

Contribute to the Conversation

It is tempting to use “in the pre-colonial Philippines…” when we read something we like, but there are many major and minor cultures throughout the region that still practice their precolonial beliefs.  It would seem entirely unfair to bypass their living traditions for the advancement of modern social movements, particularly the very American led approach that hijacks the narrative from the indigenous peoples of the Philippines, and elsewhere. The important take-away is to remember that all evidence based research can conclude gender in the pre-colonial Philippines played a very important function.  The society was not ‘genderless,’ but they may have approached gender more in terms of societal functions, than sexual preference – although we don’t know exactly how that worked with marriage.

I would love to hear what your thoughts on this are as I am always learning, and always open to differing opinions.

Please comment on our Facebook page, share the article, and keep the dialogue going and growing.

 

SOURCES:
Conner, Randy P.; Sparks, David Hatfield; Sparks, Mariya (1998) Cassell’s Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit
Herminia Menez (1996) Explorations in Philippine Folklore
Himani Bannerji, Shahrzad Mojab, and Judith Whitehead (2001) Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism
Fancisco R. Demetrio, Gilda Cordero-Fernando (1991) The Soul Book
John M. Garvan, The Manóbos of Mindanáo, , Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir (1931)

 

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