Last Friday, at least one corner of Malate witnessed a queer revival of sorts as Dado’s (1812 Maria Orosa St, Malate, Manila) hosted what could well be the Philippines first-ever public fur ball, a dance party for bears, chubs and their so-called “chasers.” What was initially planned as a quiet get-together of what was heretofore a very clandestine community, Dibearsity quickly turned into a grand, boisterous street party that stretched well into the early hours of the morning after. It was a throwback to the heydays of Malate as Manila’s queer mecca, save for the fact that this merry bunch of revelers came with a new mantra for our times: Fat is the new sexy and big is the new black. Brace yourself, Manila. The bears have arrived.
For the uninitiated, gay “bears” and “chubs” are heavy-set men with varying degrees of body fat and/or hirsuteness. As such, they are contra-stereotypes to the gym-fit gay ideal, admired for their heft, hair, and (more often than not) affable character. But whereas bear communities have been mainstreamed in LGBT communities abroad for at least the past three decades, it is only now that Pinoy bears are coming out of hibernation. “It’s already hard enough to come out as gay in our conservative culture,” explains Alden, a mild-mannered call center agent who describes himself as a chub admirer. “To come out as a gay man with a specific admiration for big men is doubly difficult.”
At 31, Alden is no stranger to the gay scene, having come out of the closet during his senior year at an exclusive school for boys in Quezon City. But he was never really attracted to the boys-next-door or to any of the boys anywhere close for that matter. “My first crush was Big Bert Armstrong,” he shares, referring to one of the characters in the popular anime series, Voltes V. “I would palpitate every time he got his share of screen time!” Thanks to this Japanese fixation for oversized cuteness, Alden eventually stumbled upon G-Men, an erotic magazine featuring muscle bears in copious displays of bear-hugging and man-on-man action. “I was 18 and I knew then that that was my preference,” he recalls. “I knew then I wanted to drown in the arms of a much bigger guy.”
It can, however, be a tricky sort of preference for bear admirers like Alden when the object of one’s affection prefers men of similar built. Elsewhere in queerdom, Alden’s boyish looks could easily be the envy of many a twink. But here in this bear forest where he now finds himself, he knows all too well that the rules of the game are somewhat different. “My best bet is to find a chub or bear who prefers slimmer guys,” he opines. “Either that or I fatten myself up, sport a gut and go on a steroid fix!”
Up until recently, to be a bear, chub or chaser in this part of the world was to stand in the fringes of queer desire. Thanks to new media, including gay dating mobile apps such as Scruff and Growlr, gay men who identify with the bear identity are now finding one another, hooking up, building friendships, forming communities, and, slowly, stepping into the light. Bigger Manila, the organizing force behind Dibearsity, is at the forefront of this commune, with members swelling to more than 1,700, as of last count, on its Facebook page.
“In the beginning, maybe five or six years ago, everyone was so paranoid,” recalls Ardee, Bigger Manila’s co-founder, “no one even wanted to pose for souvenir pictures.” Those early days began online, first on MIRC and later on Friendster before eventually migrating to Facebook. “I don’t even recognize many of these guys here,” Ardee says, as he goes around introducing himself to guests. At more than 300 lbs. and with a hearty stubble on a charming face, he is the poster boy cum GRO of the night, making sure everyone, including the newbies, feel welcome.
On Dibearsity night, not only are these guys doing selfies for posterity, they are also posting these pictures online on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. For some of these men, these online accounts are the second or third of such accounts especially put up for their secret, gay adventures, accessible only to a select few. But tonight, of all nights, there is safety in numbers and digital flash bulbs explode left and right in a steady rhythm, gyrating to the beat of techno-pop, capturing this historic moment of revelry and intoxication.
By midnight, the party is well on its way. Inside Dado’s, pot-bellied twenty-somethings are scrambling for position on the bar’s makeshift stage. I worry the stage will collapse, if not from the sheer weight then certainly from the collective energy inside the cramped space. The platform holds, miraculously, and a bare-chested go-go bear with a pronounced gut wearing black pleated kilts takes centerstage. I’m surprised that I recognize him from a discreet, alternate universe where I’m a university professor and he is a gifted visual artist whose subjects are always, curiously, rotund men. A-ha! A few moments later, a drag performer summons the crowd of about 200 plus-sized men out onto the street, practically closing the road to all traffic. Tourists and passers-by join the party, dance, and sing-along to Gloria Gaynor’s “I will surivive”. By 2am, Dibearsity escalates into a musky sweatfest of half-naked bodies.
Back inside, the dancing crowd is cheering, “Momol! Momol!” and one or two couples oblige and start to “make-out-make-out-lang” in front of a screaming audience. Those in a dark corner of the bar take their cue and start cozying up. It’s wild. It’s sexy. It’s sweet. “Now we have a space in Manila we can call our own where we can be with our kind,” observes Karlo, one of the last guests to leave the bar. He says he will have to drop by a mall to buy a new shirt before going straight to work.
All this was quite the unexpected turn of events for a party that was initially seen as an experiment. “We really just wanted to see if anyone would come,” says culture advocate Carlos Celdran, whose group Viva Manila is coordinating with the local government to organize various tourism projects for the city of Manila. Part of the group’s strategy is to reach out to the LGBT community and network with Malate bar owners. Encouraged by the rousing success of Dibearsity, Dado’s owners have now reserved Fridays for their bear, chub and chaser patrons. A second fur ball dubbed ‘iBearnation,’ organized by Oso Pilipinas is also scheduled on Sept 28 at Club 1951 along Adriatico. “Bear parties are already very popular in places like Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Taipei and Tokyo,” Ardee points out. “Who knows? Manila can be the next destination.”
The author is a freelance writer who teaches a graduate course on gender, media and sexuality at the University of the Philippines in Diliman; follow him on Tumblr or email him at nathrondina@gmail.com.
For more information about Dibearsity, visit these Facebook pages: Bigger Manila, Viva Manila and iBearnation.
Photos: Nathan Rondina
