Mapping the Trans Pinay Body and Transitioning As Going Home

Literature on the transitioning of Filipina trans women, or trans Pinays, often focuses on its medical and pathological aspects, highlighting gaps in the Philippine healthcare system and how these render trans individuals invisible within programs and services (Alegre 2022; Abesamis 2022). While this focus is crucial, there remains a significant gap in the discourse on how trans Pinays understand their bodies beyond gender-affirming hormone therapy and other medical modes of transitioning.

This paper seeks to explore how trans Pinays conceptualize their bodies in relation to their environment, particularly in the context of the Philippines. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from 2021 to 2024, this study utilizes Emmanuel David’s (2018) concept of "transgender archipelagos" to argue that the trans Pinay body, much like the archipelagic geography of the Philippines, is not monolithic and cannot be reduced to a singular, totalizing definition. This perspective challenges the colonial Filipino notion of transness that privileges "passing" while marginalizing those who do not conform.

Furthermore, this paper contends that the process of transitioning for trans Pinays can be seen as a return to their roots—a return to the pre-colonial Filipino notion of home, which was open, accepting, and free (Jacobo 2011). Finally, this paper positions the trans* body as a metaphor for "home" in both domestic (household) and nationalist (nation) contexts, arguing that whatever actions trans Pinays take with their bodies serve as a critique not only of the cisheteropatriarchal orientation of the home but also of the hegemonic construction of the Philippines as a nation.