SEASA celebrates Aguman Sanduk and gender identities

Pitt students celebrated gender identity and optimism with their version of a traditional Filipino cross-dressing festival Saturday in the William Pitt Union.

Southeast Asian Student Alliance and Global Ties, a program that aims to facilitate cultural awareness in the Pitt community, hosted its version of Aguman Sanduk, a Filipino festival in which men dress up as women and dance to spread positivity, Saturday at 5 p.m.

About 30 students watched cross-dressing models strut down the runway and listened to presentations on gender identity, followed by a screening of a cult classic that embraces cross-dressing — “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Thai Hana, a traditional Thai and Japanese restaurant in Oakland, catered the event, which collaborating organizer Global Ties funded. 

Although the Filipino event does not traditionally focus on gender-related issues, SEASA used the cross-dressing aspect to learn more about gender identity. Through the movie screening and a presentation from Erin Cullen, vice president of Rainbow Alliance, SEASA president Sarah Suhaimi said the event aimed to provide students different perspectives on transgender and cross-dressing culture. 

“We can widen the conversation about transgender issues and the way that we talk about gender in our communities and extend that discussion to other communities,” Cullen said.

Sarah Suhaimi said Aguman Sanduk, which is around 84 years old, began when male villagers in Minalin, Pampanga, in the Philippines dressed up during a drought to cheer up their fellow townspeople, despite a food shortage. Traditionally, the festival features cisgendered men dressed as women, but Pitt’s version had female cross-dressers because not enough men attended to hold a competition, according to Jiahui Wei, SEASA’s vice president.

Wei, also a Global Ties member, competed with two other women for the title of “most handsome,” modeling blazers, dress shirts and black pants.

Hua Lang, SEASA business manager, strutted down the runway in a leather jacket after creating an alter ego, Sam, for the event.

“Before, I never thought [cross-dressing] would be an event,” Lang said. “I thought it would be interesting, like someone would make it a funny thing to do.”

SEASA board members decided not to name a winner to keep the competition friendly, but for Lang, the event was more about the education on gender identity than the competition.

“I’d like more people to do this kind of event and for more people to get involved,” Lang said. “If later the Pitt community has more events like that and more people join us, they will know more about gender identity.”

According to Suhaimi, the festival is not typically centered on issues of gender identity. 

“It’s meant to break the machismo,” Suhaimi said of the tradition. “Culturally, it’s meant to have fun … it’s meant to entertain.”

For guests to learn more about the gender aspect of cross-dressing, Suhaimi invited members of Rainbow Alliance to present at the festival.

Erin Cullen presented definitions of different gender expressions and identities on a PowerPoint, including definitions of cross-dressing, transgender, cisgender, gender identity, gender expression and nonbinary genders from the website Transequality.org.

“A lot of people, of all ethnicities, will not understand that we talk about biological sex differently than we talk about gender identity,” Cullen said. “For a lot of people, it’s a huge problem in their lives that the people around them don’t understand their experience of gender.”

After Cullen’s speech, attendees watched “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” while Thai Hana served steamed rice, fried rice, curry and pad see ew, a Thai noodle dish.

Runqi Wang, a junior triple major, said she’d never celebrated Aguman Sanduk before, but SEASA and Global Ties’ version of the festival was fun and educational.

“I feel like I learned more about the LGBTQ community,” Wang said. “I found it really interesting.”

For Wei, the cross-dressing, cultural learning and collaboration among organizations could help Pitt understand and appreciate students’ differences.

“In different cultures, they perceive gender identity differently,” Wei said. “So I think it’s really important to realize the difference and where that difference comes from.”