About the Podcast

Pride in Prejudice explores the existence of Filipino queer women and compulsory heterosexuality in Catholic institutions.

It aims to focus on how social institutions, such as education and religion, largely contribute to shaping queer women through the imposition of compulsory heterosexuality. It is a fact that Filipino queer women already face marginalization for being a woman in society, much more when they do not conform to their traditional roles and gender norms. This is largely relevant to our LGBTQI subgroup and analyzing gender through the lens of psychology because apart from being within families that were mostly nuclear and were conditioned to preserve conventional beliefs, many women have been in all-girls and Catholic learning institutions, aside from also participating in the Church. At home, parents teach young girls what toys to play with, how to dress, how to act, and what tasks to do, among many others. At school, the curriculum reinforces compulsory heterosexuality through modules and mandatory subjects, such as Christian Living or Religious Studies, which promulgate that women are for men and that they are bound to procreate. On top of these are policies that limit their gender expression.

Throughout their socialization, from birth to the present, women are influenced and pressured to fulfill the ways they are expected to become. Many related literature show that LGBTQI students face discrimination, deprivation of rights, and other lived struggles for being queer. This is because they do not fit into what is socially accepted, which always boils down to being feminine and being attracted to the opposite sex. Lastly, in a country that primarily practices Catholicism, most queer women are also Filipino and Catholic. Thus, it is timely and crucial to look at how not only women but all Filipino individuals are compelled to fall under the binary view of gender and sexuality, that is, either categorized as a man or woman.

Pride in Prejudice is more than just a title; it is a testament that queer Filipino women exist—and even in the face of prejudice—they stand with pride, they live with power.

Listen to Pride in Prejudice!