Attack of the lady/boyz
Hello sir. Is there anything I can do to make your stay in the Philippines more enjoyable? These were the first words that I heard when I arrived in the Philippines. I got off the plane and walked up to the information counter. Here was a young man with a pretty face and make up with tons of eyeliner. He was flirting furiously with me. He kept looking down at my crotch as he repeated, Is there anything at all that I can do for you, Sir? He looked like he expected me to be attracted to him, there was no doubt in his mind , but I wasn't . I wasn't offended or shocked, after all there are lots of gays in San Francisco, but this felt a little different. While San Francisco accepts and is tolerant of gay culture, The Philippines seem to revel in it .As soon as I left the airport, there was a big billboard with 5 attractive looking men, bared to the waist that said, Appreciate male beauty.? Traveling by taxi through the dense ghettos of Manila, I looked out the windows, not knowing what to expect. My Pilipino friends cautioned me to be careful, not to get robbed. My mood was tense.
What I saw around me was a whole litany of different kinds of vehicles, motorcycles, buses, bikes, tricycles, (a motorcycle with a sidecare or cart attached), cars, and something new, the jeepney. The jeepney looked like a cross between a jeep and a truck. People piled in the back and sat on long benches, about 8 to a side. The walls on each side were open the air. That was both good and bad. It was cooler than the taxis with airconditoners that shot air out as if through a straw but then again the black smutty smoke from cars and buses were right in your face When I got to the hotel, I put my things in my room and walked around. Of course I was a little nervous. All around there were armed guards, even at my hotel. Each guard had a different kind of weapon. The sawed-off shotgun seemd to be the weapon de jour. The guy around the corner at the bank had a piece that looked like something Machine Gun Kelly might have used, complete with that disc-shapped gizmo near the trigger. The guards wore reassuring names on their uniforms like Attack Security and Dead Eye Patrol
Walking around Manilla is an adventure. Sure I look different, and everyone assumes I'm rich , which I guess I am by their standards. Walking back to the internet cafe earns me 3 propositions, Hey Joe, you want a beautiful woman? Hey Joe, you want my sister? It would be funny except of course it's a sign of the dire poverty that so many women are selling their bodies. I saw a friendly-looking woman in the market, so I said hi. "500 pesos," was her reply. The cities in the Phillippines are hell. The cars are burning leaded gasoline and great puffs of black smoke are belched out. The streets look like they've been bombed , with great patches of mud and standing pools of water. Riding in the cars feels like you are being dragged on a sled across the rough pavement. I got out of Manilla as fast as possible and escaped to the resort town of Sagang, on the next island down from the main one that Manila is on. It was about an hour and a half boat ride. I arrived and quickly found a cheap hotel room (about 10 dollars a day). Sagang is famous as a nice diving spot and also a night spot with many bars, girly bars, discos and bars with music. Prostitution and massage seemed to be big businesses here with the two costing about the same about 7-10 dollars for a 1 hour massage or Whatever. I was curious about the girlie bars, but didn' want to go in. I knew it involved buying expensive drinks for the girls while they talked to you. After a few days I was curious about the disco and went in with a Korean friend I had met. There were many people dancing about to the piped in music. Some single women, some couples. "Go ahead and dance with one of the girls? my friend urged. Not wanting to be a wall flower. I did. She was a very attractive curvatious Filipino wearing a miniskirt. I asked her to dance and she agreed enthusiastically. She was a good dancer and it wasn't long before things started heating up. Soon the dancing got sexier and sexier, but nothing obscene. When we finished my friend came over and said, ?Wow I didn't know you could dance like that.? What do you mean? "I didn't know you liked ladyboys? What? THAT was no boy? Sure that was a lady boy? No way." Ok I'll go ask? And before I could stop her she walked over to the dancer. I went to the bathroom. As I came back I told my friend I wanted to go. As we left, the dancer was standing outside. She walked up to us? Your friend asked me so I have to tell you the truth, I'm a boy? I was flabbergasted and disgusted? You mean I was bumping with a boy? The ladyboy smiled demurely. She was so genuinely sweet. My friend complemented her, "You look so feminine and sweet?" The ladyboy seemed to light up and we walked out of the club. Outside there were about 6 prostitutes outside the club. They were eyeing me furiously, even though I was with my Filipina friend. Then it struck me, they were all ladyboys. I looked closely and noticed something a little odd about them. "How about it handsome? I realized that anything was possible with them. I looked over at my friend and jokingly whispered, "How about it do you want to take one back to my room with us? My friend laughed and said, Sure why not? Suddenly I had an inspiration, "I want to hire you all. Everyone come back to my room with me" A great cheer went up. I realized that if I wanted to do that I could, it would cost about 30 dollars and maybe that would be the classy thing to do, bring them all back and have a party, but I couldn't. My statement was taken as a joke and in good spirits. Walking back to my room I realized that I had to be careful in the Phillipines, the ladyboys were so skillful in looking and acting like girls. I realized that any woman that pays attention to me or tries to talk to me must either be a prostitute or a ladyboy. But those ladyboys, what makes them tick? The next time I met a woman I looked at her and asked, "Are you a boy or a girl?"The woman was not amused. This I learned is not flattering to a woman to have her gender questioned. Sometimes you just can't win.
After about 4 days in Sagang, I made my way to the most famous resort in the Phillipines, Borokai. Luckily I had a recommendation for a place to stay for only about 9 dollars including breakfast, but I was given that special rate perhaps because the owner thought I was gay, though I didn't do anything to encourage that conclusion. Unfortunately the nice coral was not on the resort side of the island. It didn't stop me from snorkeling from the beach though. Even though I didn't see the amazing coral that I saw at Sagang, still there were interesting things to see. I swam every morning off the beach for an hour and enjoyed it a lot. Sometimes in the afternoon I caught a motorcycle ride to the other side and viewed outstanding coral. On Wednesday a typhoon blew in and it was raining very hard, but the water was calm so I decided to go out anyway. After all, what difference did it matter if I was going to be wet anyway. I had a great time and saw some things I had never seen before. Upon coming out of the water, I rushed into a beach cafe to get dried off. There, 2 pretty girls were looking at me invitingly. The one was gorgeous and looked very intelligent and interesting. Maybe they were surprised to see anyone swimming on a day like that. I said hi and sat down next to them. The conversation flowed easily. It seemed they were eager to talk to me, maybe because I was a foreigner or maybe because they were just friendly people. The one woman was really beautiful with exotic blue end ye contacts and an easy intelligent smile. We talked for a long time honestly and without reserve. The talk turned to music and I told them of my hobby playing the saxophone. Samantha, the pretty one, told me she played piano. I checked her hand size against my own. "Wow! You have a good reach, I think more than an octave.?She smiled shyly. "And you look strong too.?That's because its my job to give massages.? "Really!? My interest perked up. I love massages. I could see living my existence just getting massages all day. Like those Japanese cows that are fed and pampered and massaged. Yup. You can do that to me too. Even eat me at the end, I don't care. Massages in the Phillippines are much cheaper than in the USA. These are not sexual massages, but real massages by trained masseurs. In the city massages go for 125 pesos , (about 3 dollars) and at the tourist resorts anywhere from 300-500 pesos. Samantha said that she charged 300 for a room massage. It sounded good to me, so I just went with it. I was tired from swimming for an hour and it was raining so there was nothing else to do. "Let's go"Her friend looked a little dismayed. "What am I going to do? "Come with us.? That would solve 2 problems, remove any temptation to get carried away with the beautiful Samantha, and keep her friend occupied. We went up to my hotel. She waved to the owner as she walked in. Obviously they knew each other. "I have a client." she beamed at him, and up we went.
I layed down on the bed. Samantha took out her oil and materials. Her friend curled up on the other side of the bed and went to sleep. It wasn't long before I realized that Samantha was an excellent masseuse, maybe the best I had ever had. She focused sensitively on my body and seemed to feel what I felt. Her pressures were challenging sometimes but never too much. I felt energy being released and small explosions erupting all over my body. She took her time, put on the oil and seemed absorbed in her task as was I. We were one in a way. She moved my energy around, played with it, put it back recharged. I was wearing shorts but it didn't keep her from pressing on my buttocks and inner thighs. Once or twice she got a little close and touched briefly a sensitive region. It was an accident and I ignored it but a part of me was regretting that her friend was there. The massage went on and on. When it was finished I looked at my watch. Wow. An hour and 40 minutes had passed. We both were spent. She gave me a few minutes to collect myself and get dressed and then we went down together. "That was fantastic. You are really good." Her electric blue eyes beamed at me. Under the circumstances I gave her a big tip, 500 altogether. "When can I have my next massage?" "Hmm I'm booked tomorrow. How about Friday?" We made the arrangements. I was happy to have found her.
I went swimming the next day again but I didn't see them around. Later that night I went out to the part of the beach road where the bars were. Many of them had live music. I wanted to sit in. The performers were happy to accommodate the tourists. I had a great time and met some nice local musicians. I left around 1 am. It was about a 15 minute walk home along the beach road. "Hi there. Where are you going?" I looked up. There was a sexy looking woman standing there hungrily eyeing me. "Do you want a massage? I can come to your room?" The person addressing me looked like a woman but something was wrong. There was a masculinity about her. It was if a womann's face and body was superimposed on a man's body. Because of my prior experiences I knew it was a lady/boy. She walked over to me and touched my arm. "I think we can be friends., good friends? and stared down my body to my private parts. I felt revulsion and backed away. "No thanks. I'm not interested in that. I like real girls anyway." "Don't you think I'm pretty?" she said touching my back. "You know really I don't feel comfortable with all this touching. Would you mind not touching me again and not walking so close?" She looked genuinely hurt. I took the chance to walk away quickly. I stopped into another bar and played a tune. I looked up and she was there waiting for me with determination. When I left she followed me. "You know I really like you." She said licking her lips. "Thanks but I really don't like you. Maybe if you stopped flirting with me so much we could be friends. I just don't feel comfortable with lady/ boys.?She looked shocked as if I had slapped her. She started after me. I turned and almost shouting said, "Please leave me alone. I'm not interested.Okay? If you don't leave me alone I'm going to take your picture and show it to the police." I took my camera out and held it out like some kind of gun. She sauntered over sexily. " I warned you,."and I snapped a picture. Almost instinctively she assumed a sexy practiced pose. "How do I look?" She drawled in her best May West impersonation. "I'll ask the policeman when I see him." I hated to be so mean but she left me no choice. Suddenly her face lost its feminine look. She looked like a distorted man. She took an aggressive stand and like pulling out a sword she unleashed this verbal attack. "You say you don't like lady/boys but you had Samantha and her friend in your room. You let her give you a massage. He is my friend. He told me about it. He even said that he touched you down there."She smiled suggestively. You may think you don't like lady/boys but I know you do." I was dumbfounded, stunned. The truth slowly dawned on me. Samantha was Sam. Her big strong hands were natural. Her strong massage was understandable. It scared me how close I had come to making a mistake. Desperately I shot back. "That was just a massage." But the ladyboy could see she had scored points. She smiled triumphantly at me and eyed me hungrily. She came closer. I can make you feel better than Sam did." I raised my camera like a shield and snapped. "I'm going to the police right now." This time she backed off. I walked away and she didn't follow me . I carried out my threat and walked over to the police station. On the way over, 2 more lady /boys walked up to me and lightly touching my arm and back. "Hey how about a massage?" "No thanks. Not interested." They persisted and moved in closer so that their hips were touching mine. I felt like punching them out. I took out my camera and snapped some pictures. "I going to the police. Leave me alone." "You didn't go to the police for Sam. We know you like lady/boyz Frank. You like lady/boys" A few other tourists were walking by. They turned around and looked at me. I shoved my hat further over my face. The ladyboyz laughed as I walked away. All of them knew all about me. They were like ants communicating everything they knew. I arrived at the police station and I explained that the lady/ boys were harassing me. The policeman looked at me and tried to suppress a giggle. "The lady/ boys? Bothering you?" He looked over at the other officer and shared a grin. I explained that it was a serious prob lem and if they didn't do something about it I was going to have to take matters into my own hands. I showed them the pictures I had taken. "Yes we know him. Ok we will talk to him about it."
I walked home unmolested and thought about the lady/boys. It seemed that their entire existence was centered around the effort to get people to see them as female, to have their feminine sexual identity validated. They felt they were female and needed that verification from others. Just being seen as a good person or as a fellow member of the community was not good enough for them. They needed to feel that they were capable of attracting a male in order for them to feel good about themselves. Somehow they didn't feel complete without that. I thought about Samantha and how happy she seemed because I never suspected she was a man. She was delighted when I complimented her on her looks and grace. In a way don't we all need others to verify our self-concepts of who we are. Don't we all need some positive feedback to bolster up our self created identity. What is that identity but a paper mache mask that we carry around and need to face the world. I invited the lady/ boys to take off the mask, but they couldn't and I wondered to what extent I could . I thought about those things as I slipped into bed. That and about how I would miss Samantha.........but not Sam.
exhibit a
