Originally posted 2023-02-04 17:28:54.
Over the last eleven years’ I have spent much time in the Philippines and was lucky enough to be invited into the company of Filipino families on many occasions. I was fascinated to observe a two-group social model in full operation. This two-group social model was particularly obvious at large family gatherings.
Here, the men would congregate around one or more tables — often drinking heavily — while the women and children socialised completely separately. There were never any women or children at the men’s tables. Because I am obviously a man, I was directed to the men’s group and watched from there, as the rising tide of alcohol — in the form of ‘Empi’ or Emperador brandy — rose to my gills.
This separation into two groups, however, was not to do with alcohol. As a foreigner and a guest — a person of important status in a Filipina household — I was also invited to join women’s drinking parties on several occasions and I can attest that Filipina women party just as hard as the men do.
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