The UP Third World Studies Center invites the public to ๐๐ช๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ช๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ฃ: ๐ผ๐ฃ๐ ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐จ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ, ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ง๐๐จ๐ฎ๐, ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐จ ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐, the first installment of the ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฑ-๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฃ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ โ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป๐ดโ ๐ก๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐๐ฟ. ๐ฃ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐: ๐๐๐ด๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ ๐ป๐ด ๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ธ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐น๐๐ป๐ด๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ด๐ธ๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ.
๐๐๐ง๐: October 30, 2025
๐ง๐๐ ๐: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon
๐ฉ๐๐ก๐จ๐: Pilar Herrera Hall, Palma Hall, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman
๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ฅ: https://bit.ly/TWSCPuksaan
Amidst chants of โZaldy, Zaldy Magnanakawโ and โDPWH, Kurap Kurap Kurap,โ sexually explicit choruses implicating Jinggoy, Marcos and the Discayas were also heard and plastered all over the placards raised during the September 21, 2025, mobilizations. In an anti-corruption movement, what significance does outing a corrupt politician hold? When brewing action against state greed, why is rage propositioned in terms of sexual domination? Laughter is an immediate reaction, but it reveals to us a glossed over issue on how we use both gender and sex in democratic discourse.
Contradiction arises when we indirectly demean through the pronouncements, we deploy queer groups and victims of sexual violence with whom we share democratic spaces with. Creating such categories of un/acceptability limits the scope of our progressiveness. With LGBTQIA+ groups already under pressure from structural violence, linguistic and epistemic violence also create further cleavages from within.
Gendered language has been a major tool for political organization with the construction of โmothersโ and โfathersโ of a nation, the existence of โmother nature,โ the assignment of countries as โshe/herโ damsels, and the usage of queer terms to shame and demonize people. Invisibility and restriction of the queer lead to suffering and termination, as exemplified in cases from the West. These hidden transgressions in LGBTQIA+ politics have shaken Philippine democracy at a level we have not fully articulated yet.
To discuss queerness is to reveal normativity entrenched in the heterosexual, it is to make visible the raptures that skew what is deemed to be straight. How do we even pursue progressive queer politics when queer individuals themselves are compelled to follow heterosexual norms? If democracy is claimed as the power of the people, where is power for those whose identities are used for humiliating the corrupt? Where is power for those who are victimized by those they consider allies?
The first installment of the UP TWSC 2025-26 Francisco โDodongโ Nemenzo Jr. Public Forum Series focuses on the idea of the queerโboth as an identity marker and an analytical lensโin examining Philippine democratization today. We interrogate how imposed heteronormativity affects the political constructions of those within and outside the queer and how these can affect democratic deliberation and contestation. What challenges do we face with the rigidity of heteronormativity? In the debate between identity and difference, how can queer political liberation be realized? How do we engender genuine recognition, representation, and protection of the queer in democratization? What does queering Philippine democracy entail?
Read more about the 2025-25 UP TWSC Francisco โDodongโ Nemenzo Jr. Public Forum here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16HRevt83h/
