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TDR: The Drama Review 53:2 (T202) Summer 2009. ©2009
New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Macho Dancing, the Feminization
of Labor, and Neoliberalism
in the Philippines
Rolando B. Tolentino
“Macho dancing” is the name of the dance performed by male dancers in gay bars, and it is
called “macho” to distinguish it from the vaudeville-like lip-synching and bar performances of
transvestites and transsexuals. In other words, macho dancing is performed solely by dancers
whose identification is male heterosexual, the primary object of desire in gay bars in the
Philippines. It is both sensual, using the male dancer’s body in the performance, and sexual,
with the performance itself mimicking overt sexual acts. Recently, dancers have added a form
of strip tease: they remove tank tops or vests and the bottom layers covering the crotch area—
denim shorts, boxer briefs, bandana, swim wear, and tanga or briefs—to display an erect penis
(see for example fig. 1); they gyrate to showcase the male performer’s body; and they mimic
Rolando B. Tolentino is Professor at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. He is author of
National/Transnational: Subject Formation and Media in and on the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila
University Press, 2001), editor of Geopolitics of the Visible: Essays on Philippine Film Cultures
(Ateneo De Manila University Press, 2000), coeditor with Sarah Raymundo of Kontra-Gahum:
Academics Against Political Killings (IBON Books, 2006), and co-editor with Bienvenido Lumbera,
Judy Taguiwalo, Arnold Alamon, and Ramon Guillermo of Serve the People (Ibon Books, 2008). He
chairs the Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND-UP).