A night to remember

My last night in Bali- at a bar, where my new friends were putting on a drag show of sorts, and if my calculations are correct, I got hit on by 6 different Balinese men. 2 of whom invited me to spend the night in their home instead of my hotel. Both offers were politely declined. In addition to the performing arts, my interests lie in gender and sexuality. After finding existing scholarship lacking in information about lesbian women, through a chain of emails with various people I finally contacted some lesbians, as well as Sisca, pictured here in the pink top, a transexual woman. Theres a project here waiting to be done, we'll see if I have the motivation to do it. But anyway, on to the funny part of the story-

Sisca was kind enough to meet with me and share her story. Her group for does performances, as well as advocating HIV testing and prevention, and education in the cosmetic/beautician field (its nearly impossible for them to find work anywhere else). Luckily on my last night they were going to perform at a bar in Lovina, a gay couple from England was hosting a gay night to stir up some interest in having a gay bar in town. (More networking for me!) The show was pretty fun, several ladies danced and lip synched in various styles and costumes, and the dance party afterward was so much fun, I had a great time. I did not have a great time with all the weird, homophobic straight guys there. Indonesians have minimal knowledge at best about homosexuality, which definitely showed here. It was so bizarre to have so many men come up to me (been a long time since I've been to a place where that could happen!), and not believe me when I said I had a girlfriend. Especially when I showed them pictures of us together. What else can I do? It was really frustrating. I didn't bother telling most of them, at least the ones that went away quickly when they received no encouragement from me. But the ones that weren't going away quickly I told, and their response was no, you're lying. What can you possibly say to that? Call my mom and ask her? I don't know, but it was really annoying after awhile. Not to mention the irony of these same homophobic guys (I won't bore you with their comments) who were then very eager to dance with Sisca and the other "lady boys." Um, hey guys, remember when you said you didn't like gay people and thought they were sick? You do realize that you're dancing with a man in a dress? Right? Or did you forget that quickly?

What a night- I had some insight into the queer community, the good and the bad, all in one evening. I feel for my new friends- they've got a lot of stereotypes to break down.