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#RELATABLE

In 2004, Bea Camacho did a performance art piece called Enclose wherein she crocheted herself into a cocoon for 11 hours straight without food or water breaks. In an interview, Camacho said that the work “deals with isolation, security, shelter, and shaping one’s own environment” which was rooted in her feelings towards leaving the Philippines at the age of 11 to move away from home and grow up apart from her family. She also mentioned that she hopes her work will “speak to ideas of comfort and discomfort, familiarity and alienation.”

More than a decade later with internet memes and “relatable” posts to convey one’s feelings, stills from her performance will pop up on timelines and news feeds with users calling it “relatable” without really knowing the context. The “relatability” of it will only grow stronger due to the pandemic. 

This comic strip relates the ideas of the piece with the issues heightened, if not caused, by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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BAKLA KA NG TAON!: How Sassa Gurl appropriates Baklang Kanal Culture into the mainstream by showing us its realities.

If you've been on TikTok or Twitter lately, then you would know how Sassa Gurl took over Universe (este, the Philippines) overnight by his crazy antics and relatable "Baklang Kanal" content. But to those who aren't that well off with social media, let me introduce to you Sassa Gurl in all of his glam and glory.

 Sassa Gurl is a media personality that rose to fame on TikTok for posting content that highlights "Kanal Culture", a concept we'll get into much deeper later, and creating characters that play within his "Baklang Kanal Universe." Penetrating TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, Sassa Gurl has made headlines for his unapologetic opinions and witty skits that truly relate to the masses. He is also an activist, both online and on ground, mainly advocating for LGBTQ+ Rights. He does this through incorporating his advocacies in his content or sharing his experiences and learnings on different programs he's invited to.

But what makes Sassa Gurl and his content so relatable? I believe that his humor definitely plays a significant role in why people love him so much, but it's where his humor is rooted, which I want to take a deeper dive into: the baklang kanal culture. 

Kanal Culture came from the slums. Likening the squatter's area with smelly canals and dingy environment, Kanal Culture celebrates this culture of what we say ugaling squatter. The term has been used to stigmatize poverty and its way of life. 

This concept then created a subculture that targeted the LGBTQ+ members who live in shanty neighborhoods called Baklang Kanal. Before internet trolls got the hold of the term Baklang Kanal to use as an insult, many gay people have repurposed the derogatory term as a form of empowerment, embracing the flamboyancy and stigma revolving around being a Baklang Kanal. 

Pop culture has reinforced the Baklang Kanal stereotype in media through making them side characters for comedic relief. My earliest exposure to this stereotype was through comedians such as Chokoleit, Shalala, Pooh, and Vice Ganda. Their characters portray gay sidekicks living in poverty. Athena Charanne Presto of the Philippine Daily Inquirer writes about this in her column saying, "The rural and poor bakla grow up with an idea of who they are, and this idea can direct the choices they make and the actions they take." Baklang Kanal isn't a form of comedy; it is a way of life brought upon by the inequalities forced upon the masses and, for most gay people, a means to self-discovery.

Using the wise old words of Nadine Lustre, "C'mon guys, it's 2021." Pop culture and media have made progress in showing the realities of Baklang Kanal culture through realistic portrayals of gay characters in films and television. A great example of this is the Indie award-winning movie Mamu and a Mother Too. It tells a story of a transgender sex worker who is determined to get breast implants but unexpectedly assumes the role of a mother to an orphaned child. The movie closely portrayed the realities of sex workers, especially those out of the binary genders, and their relationship in their environment. The shanty neighborhoods, sexual encounters, and terrible work conditions are just some aspects that most of the LGBTQ+ community face while in poverty.

Baklang Kanal culture embraces both the good and bad that come of their situation. Yes, some stereotypes come to be accurate, and others come from a place of ignorance or prejudice. But at the end of the day, it is a culture that binds the different narratives under a shared space of struggle—creating a community of acceptance in a society plagued by rejection.

And I think this is why Sassa Gurl's skits and content are relatable to the masses because it doesn't sugarcoat reality. His humor is rooted in a shared struggle that a majority of Filipinos have experienced or, if not, have encountered. This shared reality is communicated through skits, which I think is the most creative way because it involves the audience. It involves us. Yes, Sassa Gurl utilizes Baklang Kanal culture to entertain his audience. Still, through this, he interjects the realities and breaks stereotypes of being a Baklang Kanal. Like all cultures, he shares it with the public to engage with it and educate themselves about the culture.

In all things, there are its limitations. We must remember that Baklang Kanal culture and those who live it do not exist merely for anyone's entertainment; most certainly, the traits presented aren't a means to gain clout. We must not stray away from its roots of marginalization and poverty, a reminder that Baklang Kanal is a continuous struggle faced by many Filipinos and LGBTQ+ members. Baklang Kanal derogatory and prejudiced attributions must never be taken out of context.

Many more internet personalities represent and portray Baklang Kanal culture in their spaces, but this is not a battle of who shows it best; it's a matter of looking beyond the humor and understanding the underlying advocacies. Equal rights and proper representation are a few of the calls that the LGBTQ+ community and other progressive groups fight strongly for. This is not just for the members of the LGBTQ+, but for everyone so that we can protect ourselves from facing derogatory name-calling, slurs, harassment, discrimination, and bigotry.

 References: Losa, Rogin. “#PangPangOnItsShowtime Is a Big Lesson on Queer Microaggression - SCOUT.” Scout Magazine, November 10, 2020. https://www.scoutmag.ph/opinion/pangpangonitsshowtime-gaya-sa-pelikula-microaggression-roginl-20201109.

Presto, Athena Charanne. “Liberating and Constraining the 'Bakla'.” INQUIRER.net, June 26, 2019. https://opinion.inquirer.net/122191/liberating-and-constraining-the-bakla.

Vilog, Danea. “While You're Living for the ‘Baklang Kanal’ Trend, Let's Not Forget Its Roots - SCOUT.” Scout Magazine, November 16, 2020. https://www.scoutmag.ph/opinion/baklang-kanal-twitter-bn-2020-daneav-20201116.

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QUERI BA TODAY?: The Podcast Episode 1

For our pilot episode, we talk about how memes can shape our communication styles and our communication in general. More importantly, we talk about how memes are the revolution.