Hosto Files: Part 3

(Continued from Part 2)

Ang mga hosutos ng Japan

All-hosto bar. Macho dancing bar. Despite these bars employing similar kinds of guys offering paid personal entertainment, my experience inside the hosto bar is different from the macho dancing bar.

For one thing, the bar's stage is without any stripping man. There is nothing to look at, except for the stage lights, the clean walls, the occasional shows on the bar's TV set, and the waiters walking about. There are bars which have some singing on-stage, some comedic performances, and some dance routines, performed all throughout the night. But depending on the bar's entertainment lineup (if they do have performances scheduled that night), these usually happen at a much later time in the night. 

Yes, at a later time. While the bar usually opens around 10 or 11PM, the party only peaks at 3AM. I remember my friends and I being the only customers in the all-hosto bar around 12 midnight. We were not bored as we had some hostos in our company. But we were wondering why, time and again, the bar gets filled only after 3AM. What's so special about the time?

Oh yes, the bar girls. This is the time they arrive.

Hosto Files: Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

Our first foray into a hosto bar was around this time last year, when my friends and I got somewhat tired of the macho dancing bars and decided to explore other types of bars. 

When we entered the bar, we knew the bar didn't feature naked strippers. But that fact didn't stop us from staying and even returning again and again. What got us hooked were how decent-looking the men were -- properly gelled/waxed hair, their version of porma clothing, and entertaining one-on-one conversations. The lack of something to watch (ie. male strippers on stage) forced these men to entertain us with stories and jokes, unlike in the macho dancing bars where a customer can be content with just watching a naked guy dance onstage.

And of course, what we liked the most was how cheap the MD drinks were in that bar. Our bill was way below our average in the macho dancing gay bar. Even just half, I think. Not bad for a paid one-on-one "date" with a guy of your choice. 

Some hostos during their modeling

Hosto Files: Part 1

There was a time in my gay bar going that I frequented a hosto bar. Almost every weekend night, and including some weekdays, I was there with my gay bar going friend.

Now I realized, it's been a year since my misadventures with hostos.

Thinking about it, I haven't written about hostos that much in this blog, despite the term being included in this blog's URL "machos and hostos." Most of the entries focused on macho dancers, but nothing specifically on hostos. 

It may be because I haven't encountered them again since I started this blog.

What is a hosto anyway? Funny thing is, I get a lot of questions about this, even though I thought the term was widely known, as the term "macho dancer." Perhaps, talking to actual hostos, I got a sense of what they are, and how different they are from macho dancers.

Ang Muling Pagpasabog

May nag-text. Madaling araw na noong natanggap ko ang pinaka una niyang mensahe. Pauwi ako sa isang lakad noon, at noong nabasa ko kung kanino galing, nagulat ako.

Aba, nagparamdam. Ang para na lang naglahong hosto na si Air* (na naisulat ko na dati). Kaboom (cue in Boy Abunda's "Pasabog!" tuwing lingo sa The Buzz).

Left (in gray): Si Air*

Right (in green): Me

Syempre, dahil may nakaraan, napa-ngiti ako. Mga ilang buwan ko na rin siyang hindi nakikita. Siguro, wala pang closure sa aming relasyon, kaya't mayroon pa rin akong nadarama para sa kanya. Kinilig ako kahit na masakit ang naging nakaraan.

Hanggang sa nabasa ko ang mga susunod na text...

Stabbed At The Back

"Actor-turned-director Ricardo 'Ricky' Rivero was stabbed 17 times in his Quezon City apartment yesterday morning, June 13, reports ABS-CBN News. The 39-year-old director survived the incident and confirmed that Hans Ivan Ruiz, 22, attacked him after he refused to give Ruiz money. 

According to the report, Ruiz has known Rivero for five months after meeting him through Facebook. Last Sunday, June 12, Rivero brought the suspect home after meeting him at around 11 p.m. along Timog Avenue, Quezon City. A fight between the two started after Ruiz claimed that his father was sick and asked the director for money..." 

"...'From the circumstances, the stabbing came first at the back. 'Yung taking could have come before or after, when there was no violence or intimidation on the person,' Mingao said in the report. Police also suspect that robbery was a primary motive." (Taken from spot.ph dated 2011-06-14 and 06-15, as reported by Dharel Placido and Gus Abelgas from abscbn-news.com)

I first got to know "Air"* last September 2010. He was a hosto model working in the then-hosto bar in the Malate, "Neighborhood." He was 21, about my height of 5'9, mestizo, and most of all, chinito. He was the shy-type, not too brash, introverted, and not the loud, out-spoken kanto boys that are typical of hostos or macho dancers his age. But he reminded me of a little boy who had child-like innocence - a true boy-next-door. Among all the guys I've met in these bars, "Air" was the most ideal. "Champion 'to, Slam dunk!" kumbaga.

The first time I tabled him couldn't have been more memorable. It was on the bar's big night, and because the guy I used to table was busy (remember "Ruiz" alyas Boy Torrid?), I had the opportunity to request for Air. When he sat with me, he told me he was surprised that I got him. He added that he'd been noticing me from afar for some time now, and he was just too glad to finally get to know me. Of course, kinilig yung bakla, as I too had my eyes on him for weeks already but never got the opportunity to talk to him.

At the end of that night's event, as we were leaving the bar around 530 AM, a rambol / fight ensued among the drunken hostos and the MD companions of my friend Ringo. After all the punches and broken bottles thrown, and my pang-awat in the middle of Manila's streets, what left an impression on me was not the memory of the crazy street-rumble itself, but the little phone call afterwards. Among the guys there, it was only Air who called to ask me how I was. He was obviously worried about me.

That sealed it for me.

More on my personal story:

Alias, "Boy..."

You'll hear it in the streets of Manila, among kanto boys drinking their beer bottles. In high schools, among barkada of boys teasing one another. In men's locker rooms, amidst sniggering of name-callers. In shady drug lord dens, among whispering policemen for a crime bust to report to media.

And much more popular, in Philippine movies, as part of action film dialogues and comedy film posters, all featuring male leads.

All these are aliases that start with "Boy", like Boy Tondo ("Lumabas ka na diyan, wala ka nang takas!"), Boy Dako ("Padaplis nga sa iyong malaking..."), and Boy Bawang ("Pabili po").

Remember these films? So who played the roles of Boy Ahas,
Boy Recto, Boy Pana, Boy Tigas, and Boy/Kanto?

It has been part of our pop culture and society, to attach this short tagline at the end of a feared, respected, or ridiculed guy's name. Usually used for males, the nickname signifies what the person is known for, like a certain trait, characteristic, physical feature, a previous deed, or recurring action. It's given by their male peers, during kantyawan or jeering sessions, and the men may be branded for life, whether they like the nickname or not.

But what's so unique in Pinoy slang is how these monickers start with an "alyas" (or "also known as"), then followed by "boy" with the unique descriptor after it.

So to hear someone called "Juan Dela Cruz, Alyas Boy Tigas" may make you go run for your life ("tigas" = hard, strong man) or make you curious about his assets ("tigas" = hard, erect thingy).

Now, in Manila's Gay Bar scene.

Given that these macho dancers are all men, name-calling among these young guys won't be that far. The names are usually hush-hushed among them, used as private jokes. But when the monickers start to spread among the bar employees, he's dead! Just listen to the DJ when he introduces some of the guys, as he'll use the ridiculed nickname as part of the spiel. ("Please wel-kem... Boy Vienna Sausage")

Two such monickers got me intrigued. The stories of Boy Torrid and Boy Kant*t

Macho Dancer and Hosto Typology

This time last year, when I haven’t had any experience inside a macho dancing bar or gay bar, I had a chat with a gay former officemate. The topic was about gay bars, and I asked if he had been inside one before. He then shared his mostly-exaggerated experiences. But what interested me most were the different types of guys one could find inside these bars.

“You have lots to choose from. Whatever your type is – boy next door, athletic, tall, etc” was his line. I got intrigued to find out more with his quite generic descriptions of these boys.

Now, based on my personal observations of going to gay bars, here are the top 10 most common types of macho dancers or hostos, based on their physical attributes, working in a gay bar:

1. Masculado (Muscle Man)

This is obvious. Why call a bar a “macho dancer bar” if no dancer is at least muscular? Bulging biceps, broad shoulders, well-toned back, 8-pack abs (whew!). They’re blessed with Adonis-like bodies, but not all are blessed with looks. Pati mukha matigas din (Even the face looks hard).  

Synonym: “Er” types, ie. Constuction Work-er

2. Actor look-alike

Their claim to fame is that they resemble someone famous in the local celebrity scene.  Gerald Anderson with the crooked smile of William Martinez. James Yap with bigger nose and wider eyes. Aljur Abrenica with a more-wooden machete face. Hayden Kho with a face lift gone wrong. Roderick Paulate with a muscular build. Oops.

3. “Junjunin”

The name “Junjun” is a common Filipino boy’s nick name, like Nene for girls. A “Junjunin” is the dark slim skinny 18 to 22 year old, who looks too young to be working as a macho dancer. You might mistake him for your neighboor’s teenage child who was instructed to buy vinegar from the nearest sari-sari store, but never came back home, to earn money as a hosto.

4. Korean pop star wannabe

You’ll notice this one as he automatically stands out. He transformed himself to appeal to the filthy rich Korean woman. He looks like he came out of a Korean teen pop fashion magazine – large hair, with long strands dyed blonde. And he dances on-stage to K-pop. It’s obvious who the boy, and the bar, want to extort money from. See related post about Koreanas.

5. The Boylet Next Door

My favorite. Especially chinitos (1st) and mestizos (2nd). You can choose from this wide spectrum of endearing guys -- either the clean-cut gentleman, or the pilyo kid (mischievous kid), or the college-aged out-of-school youth, or the undiscovered next matinee idol. But take this advice – Humanda ka. Marami kang kaagaw! Mahirap kalaban ang bading, lalo na mga tandercats!  (Be prepared. Competition is fierce. Gays, especially old ones, are tough to compete with).

6. “Mama sa Kanto” (Man from the Street Corner)

You’d wonder why the bar hired this guy. Was the bar too desperate to hire anyone, just anyone, from the streets? Fine, he may have the body, but please, the fez (face)! And the guy may be obliging – he gets paid to drink free booze in the bar. At least the bar offers some service to the neighborhood – more jobs, less crime. (Shet, ang sama ko!)

7. Shampoo Commercial boy

Just because of his perfect, long, black shiny hair. Shinampoo lang daw yan. Of course, there are guys which look like the “Before” shot, while the younger ones look like the “After.” I still wonder how shoulder-length hair on a guy can look appealing. Spill-over of the 80s-90s popular look, perhaps.

8. Angas boy (Tough Boy)

Shaved head. Tattooed. Pierced. With or without a goatee. He dances with his dagger eyes looking sharply at you. Either he wants to f*ck the hell out of you on your bed tonight… or make you the following day’s tabloid headlines (Bading, pinatay ng macho dancer). Still, bad boys do have their appeal. Ask Mariel. Or my friend, Mary.

9. Higantes (Giants)

Those 5 foot 10 and above, towering over the Junjunins and the Boylets-Next-Door. Most of them don’t wear boots anymore, as the heeled footwear will give them more unneeded height. I find them both impressive and terrifying at the same time. Just like a gi-normous d*ck about to enter you.

10. Golden Guy

Golden Guy, in homage to the Golden Girls or Home of the Golden Gays. When you look at this guy, you’ll think “Dude, ilang taon ka na nagtatrabaho dito? (How many years have you been working here)” His looks reveal the years he’s been working in the bar – the gut from all the beer, the muscular frame that’s now under layers of fat, the obvious wrinkles on his face and the hairline that’s already receding. All these at the ripe senior age of 30.

Of course, there are the other rarities – those types that are too few to be classified into their own groups. Some examples are the Amboys (Fil-Am boys), the Pasan Ko Ang Mundo boy (emo boy with long bangs hiding his eyes), and the occassional obviously promdi (from the province). Those not classified under the types above are just your regular-looking not-outstanding Pinoy guys whom you can easily find in a mall on a weekend.    

There are also overlaps, with the most common as boylets next door who can also fall under masculados, or a Golden guy higante with long silky smooth hair (I am thinking of one now, who I heard used to work for the now-closed Valentino).

I didn't know way back that there was this huge spectrum of boys to choose from. All along I thought all macho dancers or hostos were one and the same -- good-looking dark-skinned muscled men. I shouldn't have believed all the gay-themed movies I've seen in the 90s. Wait, there was just one.

If you have experiences with any of these kids, boys, guys, men, feel free to share and comment. If not, why not take a trip to your friendly neighborhood gay bar, and take a pic, errr, pick from one of these boys?

Enjoy! Skemper na!

GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; Follow at twitter: @gbgoer

"Javier": Hosto Turned Macho

I only met "Javier" once in a hosto bar. It was August, my first time in the bar, “Neigherbood.” My two gay bar-hopping pals visited the place the previous week, and were raving about the "quality" of men there -- not only good-looking. but can converse well (and even text properly in English). One of the guys they tabled was "Javier", and they told me to get him on our next visit.

I didn't get to table Javier the entire night in that August visit. He was occupied with another guest at that time. When his guest left a few hours after, he went to our group, but unfortunately, I was occupied with another guy already.

Javier, late 20s, was totally good-looking. Yeah, boys in these hosto bars were supposed to be good looking at the very least, in their own kanto-boy-ish, er-ish (constuction work-er, driv-er, etc), or korean-pop-inspired-ish appeal. At 5’8, he was not the tallest. He was not muscular at all but not too thin, had a fair complexion, quite smooth and flawless in his symmetrical face. He had a boyish face that also revealed he’s nearing 30. He had attributes that sounded like the average Pinoy man working in these bars. But he seemed different.

He seemed to have been raised in a middle-class or well-to-do family, from his manners and his clean-cut refined image, and not in the streets of Tondo or fields of the province under the scorching skin-darkening sun. He could've been a commercial model for a toothpaste or shampoo ad, with his smile and neatly styled naturally wavy hair. Or if he just had more height, he could’ve been in runway shows for some local designer. He could've been my schoolmate, possibly the popular upper classman surrounded by the campus heartthrobs, or the soccer varsity jock surrounded by fellow handsome team mates. I could've seen him before, as the lead actor's best friend in a local TV show somewhere, or the officemate who was always in demand to host the office parties, or the gentlemanly suitor of my cousin living in Alabang. But there he was, a clear stand-out from the rest of the boys, sitting among us, working in a hosto bar.

From the snippets of stories I got from him and my gay pals, apparently, he has already worked as a hosto in Japan before, for more than a few years. He has done VTRs for some modeling jobs, but never got to an actual advertisement. He said he simply wanted to try out this type of “hosto” job, but he vowed never to work for a macho dancing bar (He couldn’t see himself trying to dance bare sensually in front of crowds). He was coy about his love life, if he had a girlfriend, or wife, or even kids.

On our next visit to the same bar the following week, we found out Javier already left. He only lasted for more than a week. But during his stay, he was apparently one of the most sought-after guys there. Never vacant, he always had a customer requesting for him. A potential star of the bar had left, and we didn’t know for what reason. Pahinga (to rest), perhaps

Three months after, just last December, my gay pals and I visited “Home Base,” the macho dancing bar. We wanted to see who the new recruits were, and apparently there were quite a lot since we last visited. The manager introduced the new boys, three at a time. On the third set, to our surprise, “Javier” was being introduced to us as a newbie. Even if we knew him before, we didn’t pick him.

That night, I was observing Javier dance up on stage. He added a bit of weight -- fat, not muscle. His age of 30 was now obvious. His hairline, which was just slightly receding, was more obvious than before. He never removed his sando when he danced, though it revealed a tattoo on his arm that we never saw in the wholesome hosto bar. On stage, he just stood there, barely moving from side-to-side, and looked very awkward, self-conscious and obviously amateurish. But he had a smile on, chuckling now and then to some unseen macho friend or guest in the bar, as if he was making fun of his new job, or just in disbelief that he was on stage dancing. Amidst the macho dancers in Home Base, he now looked very ordinary.

The once-upon-a-time star of the hosto bar has become just-one-of-those in the macho bar.

Last I heard, Javier has not showed up for work for a week or two, and apparently, “resting” again.

GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; Follow at twitter: @gbgoer

Machos vs Hostos

A masseur once asked me if I had boyfriends before. I said "yes, three this year." He asked me where they worked, but I told him to take some guesses first, which he tried. For some reason, he thought aloud "ano ba mga easy-money na trabaho?" He assumed all my relationships were with guys in the "easy money" industry (what made him think that?)

Anyway, I told him I had one with a macho dancer this year and then with a hosto afterwards.

"Ano ba yung hosto?" asked the masseur.

From someone in their so-called "easy money" industry, he didn't know what it meant. Quite odd. We hear often of "hostess" in girlie bars, but almost none of those "hostos." Before I entered into this world, I've only heard of male hostos going to Japan for work. But what do they do?

I thought hostos and macho dancers were one and the same. I even thought they were the same as "call boys." But talking with guys from different bars, apparently, there would be differences... huge.

Macho dancers, obviously, dance on-stage, half naked with their signature snake-like movement.When you "table" them, they would be wearing their sando/wifebeaters, boxer briefs and their boots. Hostos (or sometimes referred to as "models" in some gay bars), on the other hand, don't dance on stage. They are fully clothed the entire night, even when you "table" them.

Both entertain you -- macho dancers impress with their faces and bodies, hostos impress with their faces and chit-chat.(Masseurs, on the other hand, impress with their face or body AND hand skills).

There also seems to be a heirarchy among them. I think they consider "call boy" as lowest (those peddling their bodies on the street). Both hostos and machos seem to find dignity that they are not sex-workers strictly speaking and offering paid sex -- just purely dancing or entertaining. One macho I talked with was thinking of "ibenta ang katawan" (selling himself) as a "last resort" just to make money. Unless the gay bar condones "bar fines"; but not all machos in these gay bars accept these out-of-bar offers. Maybe because they "respect themselves" ("parang nawawalan ako ng respeto sa sarili ko kapag gawin ko yun"), or they have sugar mommies/daddies who forbid them to go out with another customer.

In "pure hosto bars" (no macho dancing, only male "GROs"), hostos feel relieved they are not working as macho dancers -- they don't need to bare their bodies, which they think is just one step higher from being "call boys". Some of these hostos even detach themselves from "macho dancers", often referring to them as "sila"/"them", even if where they work can be considered as part of one big gay bar industry. However in macho dancing bars, some hostos (or models) feel they are not the "stars" of the bar. They feel they are not skilled enough or buff enough or brave enough to be macho dancers. The result -- these models get less exposure, thus get less customers, and less income, of course.

Who gets higher pay? I think it will only depend on the bar they work in -- how much "budget" or "daily allowance" the bar gives (usually ranges from P150-200 a day) and how much commission per drink they get (around P80 to 100 per drink). But mind you, drinks for these boys (called macho drinks) in macho bars are much more expensive than a pure hosto bar. So clientele for these two bars will also be different (and another blog post altogether).

So how did I answer the masseur when he asked me what a hosto is? Simple. Those guys working in a bar, only entertaining customers over drinks and chit-chat. In which he replied, "oh, just like a guy version of hostess". Nagtanong ka pa.


GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; follow me at twitter: @gbgoer