Love and Other's Drugs

Guess who left the macho dancing gay bar "Home Base"* last March and has now returned two months after? It's that money-hungry dancer Derek* whom I passionately wrote about a few months back (read the first, second and third entries on him). He didn't sit well with the perahan ways of that macho dancing bar, so he decided to look for greener pastures in another bar "Kingdom Come." 

During his absence, I found out from his co-workers some stories about him, particularly about his addictions. At first I thought it was his addiction to money, as I encountered that first hand. But what surprised me was his true addiction.

Posted this pic for inspiration. And no, it's not sex addiction.

What it is, and how rampant it is? After the jump:

Drugs. Daw.

Insiders say he's a frequent user of crystal meth. In short, shabu. He can finish a few thousand's worth of shabu in a night, and even offers the gay bar's wardrobe guy (alalay) to join him. I don't know if this is true or just a fabrication to destroy his reputation (he's one of the more popular dancers there). But if I had to believe this, I won't be surprised if this is the reason why he kept on asking money from customers.

It's not the first time I've heard drug use by macho dancers. Like I've heard tales such as how this certain Gerald Anderson look-alike macho dancer seems always praning and whose erratic behavior was rumored to be from drug use. Or how this dancer who transferred to another bar was always lethargic and had red eyes, and not due to lack of sleep.  

Even in another gay bar, the "Lord"* of all gay bars in Quezon City, there was supposedly two factions of macho dancers. No, it's not the well-endowed vs. the not-so-well-endowed. They were split into the shabu-user vs. the marijuana user. Drug use is rampant in that said gay bar, which does not ban drugs nor gambling in its premises. "Kahit ano, pwede mo gawin, hindi bawal (You can do whatever you like)," said a former Lord dancer. Well, thinking about it, even sex is not banned there (not amongst the men dancers though, asa pa you).

There are also customers who they themselves are drug-users, and offer the drugs to the dancers. For example, there's this regular matrona client who apparently is a frequent shabu-user. She goes to the bar "high", as evidenced by her very shifty eye and body movements. Often paranoid, she snaps easily at her beloved macho dancer once she feels a hint of jealousy, even if the dancer hasn't done anything to make her so. According to this guy who's been tabled by her in previous visits, she often invites him to join her when she has sessions outside. As he said, he always refuses, and prefers to go back home to sleep in the company of his family.

But not all gay bars nor macho dancers are into drugs. Home Base has a strict policy on drugs: you use it, you're out. There are even ex-Home Base dancers who've been expelled already just because of drug addiction. Most of the mild-mannered men I encounter also don't, as they claim, due to their strict upbringing ("I refuse even if my friends offer. My dad said I can do anything I want, except drugs"), or their responsibilities at home ("I'd rather use the money for my kids"). 

As for the percentage of these men using drugs, I couldn't give an answer, even from gut feel. I'd like to say that drug users working in these bars are just a minority. From the speculations of the dancers I meet in every bar, I believe each bar has a few cases of such users. In their less-than-privileged environment and in this industry where money seems to be flowing due to the wealthy customers' own love addiction to these men, I am not surprised to find out drug use among macho dancers.

Give a poor man some fish, you'll feed him for a day. Give a poor macho dancer with some loads of cash he won't know how to spend, you'll hear about him using drugs one day. Derek, case in point.

*Names here are not the actual names. These pseudonyms though are somehow connected to the original real name.

Photocredit: http://dznice.com

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