Kaloobang Tibambaylan: Femme Reifications of Filipina Self-determination and Socio-political Consciousness

Abstract

This article explores how colonial legacies, in tandem with scrutinising the marginalisation of feminine expression, have shaped native gender significations and value systems. In doing so, I introduce kaloobang tibambaylan as a socio-political framework founded on key aspects of femme theory, Gloria Anzaldúa’s decolonial reimagining of the Chicana mestiza, and “babaylanism” (a strand of Philippine feminism rooted in indigenous spirituality). Excluding lesbian and femme voices within queer and feminist spaces calls for a social praxis that embraces contradiction. Femme decouples femininity from heteronormative expectations of womanhood. Thus, this article foregrounds the critical potential of femme as a dynamic mode of subversive self-definition. Interrogating the social construction of the Filipina exposes gender as a colonial apparatus to subjugate the native population primarily through the regulation and Westernisation of femininity. I then reimagine Philippine feminism through a femme lens by bridging the Chicana mestiza with the babaylan’s spiritual and historical legacy. Ultimately, I advocate for the validation and inclusion of femme lesbian perspectives in feminist and queer discourse to sustain the development of transformative politics, as well as creative pathways that nurture solidarity and intersectional empowerment.