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- Topic: Indonesian >
- "Kakek saya laki-laki."
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I was wondering if these sentences have a cultural connotation. I know that in the Philippines transexualism is fairly common. Is it the same in Indonesia? I don't want to sound rude in any way, it's just out of pure curiosity.
I'm curious about this, too.
My guess is that muslim Indonesia has less tolerance for these kind of things. (Particularly with the increase of Islamism in recent years).
While the Philippines are also very religious and Catholics would socially shun such practices, they are much less likely to assault people whose lifestyle they disagree with...
But that is only my guesswork; I only have the extremely anecdotal evidence, that during my 2 weeks in Manila I saw 3 Ladyboys, in my 3 days in Jakarta I saw none...
I went for a little research. From what I reckon from diverse anthropological studies in many indonesian tribes, gender was not regarded to in a strict way. I can't find the articles right now, but for example i remember reading that women could hold religious positions and dress as men without being regarded as strange. It seems things have changed with colonisation and with muslim religion being recognized as the national religion (I found that gay rights movements are quite active there, as many gay/lesbians are considered as out of the norm), although it wasn't like this in times where tribalism was a lot stronger
Haha! XD "my grandpa is the man" has a very different connotation than the indonesian; so: no, sorry. Even if your grandpa is the man!
(For the non-native English speakers: "the man" is something like a title for someone who did something extraordinary helpful/wise/witty/cheeky... usually dudes cheering to one other dude over a glass of beer: "You are the man!"; can also be used sarcastically)
