The original picture of the Filipino Bar Girl was posted on a blog called ‘One World’ and was accompanied by a description saying that it was an “untouched” picture of a “typical Subic Bay girl”. The description further stated that the Bar Girls pose with a beer in one hand and a phone in the other and that the beer should be open so it could be seen through the phone. The article further stated that it was “unlikely” that a picture could have been taken that day of this “typical” Bar Girl but that it was nevertheless a good picture because the girl was “very presentable”.
The Internet blew up after the story broke as people tried to match the girls in the picture with their Philippine counterparts. Many did not realized that the pictures were of Filipinas pretending to be “Bar Girls” to promote bars in their hometowns and to “get laid” in the process. Within hours, the story was picked up by many blogs, tabloid newspapers and national and local TV news programs. Bloggers and news articles reported that the girls were from the Philippines and the article was not accompanied by a photo of the girls or a link to the original story. Many websites and Facebook pages (linked below) started to share the original story (which had been removed from the Internet) which was eventually reposted by national news network stations and the story was picked up by more local news stations and TV news programs as well. By the next day, local TV news programs had played the story and repeated the claims that the girls in the picture were Filipinas posing as Bar Girls in order to promote bars.
The Philippines media picked up the story and repeated it again.
By the next day, the story had spread to other countries like Germany and Italy, where other news programs played it. Even local news programs in the US had played it (repeating claims that the girls were from the Philippines and that there was a connection to the story which originated in the Philippines).
On the next day, the Philippines media picked up the story and repeated the claims. There are claims of hundreds of Bar Girls in the Philippines posing as Bar Girls, and some even going as far to say that they are so good at appearing as Bar Girls that they actually get jobs at the bars to be served alcohol to paying customers.
On the next day, it made its way to the UK. A radio show in the UK repeated the claims and people started talking about it. And of course it made its way across the pond as well. And now the story has spread to most other countries around the world. So what happened? And how did this story get started?
The story which originated in the Philippines (which is part of the United States of America) claims that there are hundreds of Bar Girls in the Philippines who claim to be masters of pretending to be Bar Girls. They post pictures of themselves on their personal websites and claim to be Bar Girls in other cities across the Philippines. And they claim to be able to serve drinks at bar on every street corner as if they are local street entertainers. Some of the photos show the girls wearing traditional Barong Tagalog costumes and carrying bottles of beer. Many of the photos show the girls posing with the national flag and the slogan “Support the Armed Forces” written on their bodies. Some photos show the girls wearing sunglasses and making crude gestures with their hands. The Philippine media picked up the story, reported on it and repeated it again and again. And now the story has been repeated time and time again on the internet as well.
It has been found that not all Bar Girls are female. There are male Bar Girls who can dress as women and serve drinks. And to this day, they are still called Bar Girls. This word has now been reclaimed by all men who pretend to be female to be considered Bar Girls.
So where did the story of the 300 Bar Girls come from? Well I was told this story by a friend who used to live in the Philippines. She lived in Cebu City and claimed that 300 Bar Girls dressed up as women and danced in the streets. She also told me that one morning, the Bar Girls celebrated their first Anniversary. She said it was so exciting that it made her wish for the entire year 2013 to be spent as a Bar Girl. I was not convinced. I thought that it must be a myth or a Filipino urban legend. But the story has been repeated in Filipino movies as well. And it seems to have found an echo in many parts of the world. Maybe it is just a story that has survived the passage of time?
