Filipino Machismo

The tendency of the Filipino to equate masculinity or virility with the ability to procreate is also at the root of some Filipino male’s irresponsibility and infidelity that occurs after marriage. Since a man is more of a man if he is able to have a woman and to beget children, his “extra-curricular activities” are regarded as part of his “pagkalalake” (being a man).

One speaks of “machismo”–possibly meaning “manhood” but more accurately indicating the man’s cultural manifestation of his virility. Through sexual relations he can prove his capability, while otherwise he has few possibilities of exercising his “prowess.” The Filipino father exercises this type of authority in his family, resulting in a state of submission by the woman and her daughters, while fostering in the male descendants a feeling of superiority.

Unlike the man, the Filipino woman is considered a true woman only if she bears children and is “close to God, is hardworking, is faithful and remains loyal to those dear to here”. Before marriage, the Filipino woman is expected to keep herself a virgin for the man she will marry. Unwed men are not expected to do so; he is in fact given unlimited freedom in sexual matters as part of his pagkalalake. This is why Filipino girls must be watched and chaperoned; they are to be protected from the fact that boys are privileged to do as they please! Incidentally, when a man has many daughters and no sons or fewer sons than daughters, people say that his daughters are his “pambayad ng utang” ng kanyang pagkalalake (payment for his debts for being a man). In short, daughters are regarded as a Filipino male’s punishments for his sexual irresponsibilities before or during his marriage: it is his turn to protect his daughters from the sexual irresponsibilities of other men.