Preserving macho ideals: The barberya as third place for Filipino machismo

Added Title

Pamana at sining: Valuing the arts, rediscovering heritage, and reaffirming identities

College

College of Liberal Arts

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Source Title

DLSU Arts Congress 2020

Publication Date

2020

Abstract

Positing as an exclusive space that quietly perpetuates a culture and branding of Filipino machismo, the Filipino barbershop or barberya has fashioned a space that evokes and cultivates facets of Filipino hypermasculinity, thus evidencing a silent preservation of macho ideals. This paper will discuss how barberyas in Manila, the country’s principal and highly urban city, serve as a third place for Filipino machismo in which its patrons actively avail of hair cut services while being exposed to cultural tropes that enforce hypermasculine prowess and macho ideals. Adapting the method of visual anthropology, this paper examines photographs of the interiors of select barberyas in Malate, Manila in the substantiation and analysis of it as a third place for Filipino machismo. The discussion will primarily utilize Oldenburg’s theory on third place and Lefebvre’s theory on representational spaces as primary frameworks.This critical discussion culminates with the acknowledgement and analysis of non-conforming barberyas that exist within the territories of the traditional ones, serving as progressive spaces which fashion a more queer/ed aesthetic due to the overt grooming of its male customers and absence of imageries and tropes of Filipino machismo, thus transcending its profile as barberya from a mere third place to third space.

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Disciplines

Gender and Sexuality | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Note

Conference theme: Pamana at sining: Valuing the arts, rediscovering heritage, and reaffirming identities

Keywords

Machismo—Philippines; Barbershops—Philippines

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