Badaf is an expression coined in the 1970s in the Philippines that belongs to swardspeak or gayspeak jargon. Like many other words of the time, it emerges as a non-pejorative alternative to the term bakla, however, as everything concerning the expressions of the Tagalog or the Philippines, its meaning and application vary greatly. If the expression bakla can be used, among others, to refer to a man with feminine gender expression, the term Badaf would come to refer to those men with a masculine gender expression who feel women. And all of this without really knowing if we are facing transgender women without dysphoria, or if we are facing different situations.
As an example of what we are trying to tell, we have the 1980 disco hit “Badaf Forever” by the colorful boy-band Charing (charing is also synonymous with Bakla) which reads as follows:
Oh mommy ko
Oh daddy ko
Huwag aksayahin ang panahon ninyo
Impossible na ako ay magbago
Ganito na talaga ako
Hooh
Merese, Merese, Merese
Ayaw kong umibig sa babae
Ayaw ko rin matawag na lalaki
Simple lang naman ang gusto ko
Pabayaan niyo na lang
Ako’ng ganito
B-A-D-A-F
forever
Kami ay Badaf
Itsura ay lalaki
Puso’y pam babae
Badaf forever
Whose translation could be:
Oh my mommy
Oh my daddy
Don’t waste your time
It’s impossible for me to change
This is how I really am
Hooh
Deserves, deserves, deserves
I don’t want to fall in love with her
I also don’t want to be called a man
It’s just as simple as I want
Just leave it alone
I’m like this
B-A-D-A-F
badaf forever
We are Badaf
Appearance is male
Heart is a girl
Badaf forever
Do not miss the great video. The Philippines, the early 80s:
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