“Yes, I’m Doing It”: Conflict-Induced Internally Displaced Filipino Men’s Enactments of Masculinity

Abstract

Despite the Philippines’ history of five decades of prolonged violent conflicts and internal displacements, majority of which are in its southern island of Mindanao, studies exploring the enactments of masculinities of noncombatant men are few. Using 31 life stories of Filipino men who experienced conflict-induced internal displacement, complemented by in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and community profiles, the present article demonstrates how these Filipino men constructed an ideal masculinity compounded by imprints of a colonial history, especially the resistance towards integration into colonial Philippines by Muslims in Mindanao. Additionally, their constructions of idealized masculinities are reflective of their negotiation between context and adherence to local hegemonic masculinities in Philippine society that legitimizes unequal gender relations. We argue that Filipino men’s accounts of ideal masculinity and their aspirations to this model reflect ongoing negotiation between immediate circumstances and persistent adherence to local hegemonic masculinities.