How the use of ‘Gayweather’ shows how sexist, homophobic, and pikon Filipinos are

It’s not news that Filipinos are pikon (sore losers). No matter the contest, game, or event, many of us are unable to accept loss and deal with another person’s victory. Regardless of the sport, if a winning team or player has some kind of unpopular quality or perceived flaw, we take that against them instead of the qualities that matter – skill, technique, or style. 

We called the basketball players from Iran smelly because they won. We call the Binays brown as if that’s an indicator of character (and not the color of our own skin!). We say a presidentiable’s senator daughter is ugly and doesn’t dress well instead of enumerating objectively why we dislike her and her family’s leadership policies.

Hero worship

We practice hero worship as if our idols could do no wrong. When the Pope came, we treated him like Jesus himself came to town. We strongly condemned any criticism of our god of the moment. When we worship our heroes, we excuse their offenses. We focus only on the things about them that make us feel good inside.

When Filipinos love, we put blinders on. Pacquiao is no exception. It didn’t matter to us that he was the most delinquent member of the House of Representatives, and a known womanizer who abandoned his own child. It didn’t matter that he voted against legislation that would protect millions of our women. The nation decided that he was a god and that our lives will stop for him.

It was a given that a person like Mayweather would gain the ire of the entire country. From the start, his reluctance to fight was called cowardice, even if it really was just good business sense. He is brash, rude, violent, bigoted, and truly unlikable, yet we have always found it easier to question Mayweather’s masculinity instead of criticizing his business or fighting style. We have decided to overlook his repeated offenses as a wife beater, or the fact that even his own son says that he is a coward, because apparently these aren’t big enough flaws.

Instead, we called Mayweather a woman. For what reason, really? Because we think fear is just for girls? We even made the absurd insinuation that he’s a homosexual – as if cowardice has anything to do with two men having a very good time. (If anything, that actually requires courage, but that’s another story!)

Pacquiao ran from his responsibilities too – as a father, as a husband, and as a congressman – but nobody is calling him a girl. He is as homophobic as Floyd and has as many women, but Manny is afraid of needles! Nobody is calling him gay. Nobody is calling him a woman for all these fearful and cowardly traits.

Mayweather’s vagina?

What is a “being a girl,” anyway? What does having a vagina have to with a boxing match?

Plenty, according to Raymond Gutierrez, who quickly tweeted his certainty about the presence of Mayweather’s vagina after the fight. When questioned about it, he just reiterated that fact. Maybe he checked between Floyd’s legs and that’s why he was so sure, but we all know that by his statement he likened Mayweather’s fighting style to that of a woman’s.

That is interesting coming from a guy whose mother knows how to fight. Raymond should know how vagina owners actually do not back down. He has two of them related to him by blood.

When spoken by a guy rumored to be gay, the attribution of cowardice as a feminine trait is just too obvious of a cry.  When a gay man is anti-woman or uses femininity as an insult, it says worlds about how he feels about himself. Gay men have been taunted with the word “bakla” and called “girl” or “binabae” since childhood. Most have tried so hard to rid themselves of these feminine qualities because they are considered such damning traits.

It makes sense for closeted gay men to belittle women. In their minds, it allows them to raise themselves up and think themselves better and higher than the class of people they’ve insultingly been likened to, time and again.

We all know how the most closeted gay men are the first to assert how macho they are. They are the first to brag about having many women. They are in the front lines of pointing out the cowards and calling them girls, because they’re used to being called feminine terms as an insult.

The implications of using “Gayweather”

Whether you like it or not, by saying “Gayweather” or calling the world champion Floyd Mayweather a girl, you automatically state the following:

1. You think being gay is a flaw so you insult others with that word.

2. You think Mayweather’s cowardice feminizes him, therefore you believe that cowardice is a female trait. By consequence, you are calling your mother, sister, wife, and yourself (if you’re female) a coward. You are saying that women run away from their fights, and that your mother and sister have no backbone.

3. You are homophobic and sexist – no question about it.

4. You are devoid of logic and creativity in having to result to name-calling because you cannot make a valid and objective point about your idol’s loss.

5. You are a pikon (quick-tempered) Pinoy. Believe me, it’s nothing to be proud of. 

While Pacquiao’s global success is admirable and truly something to feel proud about, being on the world stage with him exposes how shortsighted we Filipinos are about our heroes. It shows every other country how horrible we are in accepting defeat.

Most importantly, outside of sports, games, and fanfare, we declare to the world that the hopeful Asian Tiger we aspire to be treats homosexuality and womanhood as such great flaws that we throw these as insults to people who have bested our heroes. We admit that our women belong to a lower, weaker, and more oppressed class – a fact that’s so different from the economic leader we want our country to be.

At best we look like children throwing tantrums, pounding our fists on the floor, and calling people dirty names, all because we didn’t like the outcome of a game. What’s worse is that we’re adults – even the educated and “civilized” ones among us, along with those who don’t know any better.

We have just shown the whole world the kind of losers Filipinos could be. – Rappler.com