Tomboys (Philippines)

Tomboy (pronounced with two short o’s in its Philippine pronunciation) is a local and diasporic/immigrant/migrant term that is currently used in the Philippines and the Filipinx diaspora. This entry’s content comes largely from the global city of Manila and Central Luzon in the Philippines and mostly from a Tagalog perspective, which may also include diasporic Tagalog perspectives.

Tomboy Defined

Filipinx gender and sexual identities are not monolithic. There are approximately 175 different ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines, and the diaspora currently includes approximately 10 million Filipinos. Tagalog is one of the primary languages spoken in Manila, and the national language of the Philippines—Filipino—is largely based on Tagalog. Tomboy broadly suggests or signals gender nonconformity, particularly for those who were identified as female, babae, and/or girl at birth ...

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