Pintikunon: Ang kwento ni Perry McFairy: A short-feature film on swardspeak

• Main Authors: De Leon, Janina Faye Zata, Guevarra, Ma. Karmina Gaviola
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Gays > Language; Language and languages > Sex differences; Gender identity > Social aspects; Feature films; Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/5173
• Institution: De La Salle University

Gay lingo, or swardspeak, is mainly about resisting the dominant culture. In the Philippines it has been used since the 1950s. Several studies have outlined how it began as a secretive re-articulation of expression through mixing up the normal code of language in order for the gay community to talk about matters freely, on their own tongue. Today, swardspeak is one of the ways the Filipino gay community assert their identities. Familiar swardspeak words now pervade popular culture, like in television in turn gaining a place in the everyday conversations of homosexual Filipinos, as an item of fascination or for comedy. This, in turn, shows that swardspeak is not only used as a code in our modern culture by the homosexual community but also as a means of identifying themselves with one another and as a mode of self-expression.