FERIA, Andr Lorenz B.

2013-78284 DCPMA Music Education

NSTP Common Module

Mid-Year 2016

A Reflection Paper for Gender

The topic about gender has always been a very sensitive topic for me to discuss. Being raised in
a very conservative christian family, gender has always been black and white and no gray areas: either
you're a male or a female. I have had this kind of mentality since I was a kid so you could just imagine
how hard it was for me understanding other people with different point of views. I have encountered
numerous and countless debates, hate messages, and even backlashing.
Everything changed when I entered UP. Its not to say that my beliefs have changed because I
will always stay true to values I was brought up with, rather it made me keep an open mind and
understand more. Being in UP made me understand that there is diversity in everything and what I hold
true may not necessarily be true for another person. This applies greatly to my opinion on gender. I
learned to respect more people whose beliefs differ from mine and made me understand the concept of
LGBT(+) and what they stand for.
Third day to our common module lecture, we discussed about gender and the similarities and
differences between LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and SOGIE which means sexual
orientation and gender identity and expression. In all honesty, it was my first time hearing the former
term ever in my life. I got so confused as to what it meant given that I am not really familiar and
accustomed to these new concepts. We were given a short 20 minute video to watch that explains
gender, LGBT, and SOGIE and its context in the Philippine setting. It was a really interesting take on
the matter as it tried to accurately explain the situation of these groups within our culture.
An interesting thing I got from the talk was how people identify themselves as. Being in UP, it
has really opened my mind to be more diverse and understanding. If theres one thing I learned from
being in this school for the past four years, its that things are always never as they seem. In the talk,
the speaker tried to discuss how people tried to identify themselves. And true enough, I have found
myself to be in these familiar situations before. I have friends who dress the most lady-like in the world
and unexpectedly you just learn that they're into girls as well. To no surprise, I also have guy friends
who lifts things (that weigh more than I do) who prefer to have sexual encounters with other guys as
well. And oddly, I have friends and acquaintances who identify themselves as halaman which in my
stay I learned that it meant relatively as asexual.
All these experiences Ive learned first hand are the things that ground me into understanding
other people better. In a way, it has become an effective tool into engaging in a more efficient and
effective communication with others regardless if our views and beliefs are of great differences.

Reference:
Tan, M. L. (2014, November 07). SOGIE. Inquirer Opinion, INQUIRER.net. Retrieved from http://
opinion.inquirer.net/79936/sogie
FERIA, ALB 1!