Sexuality in the Philippines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sexuality in the Philippines encompasses sexual behavior, sexual practices, and sexual activities
exhibited by men and women of the Philippines past and the present. It covers courtship strategies
for attracting partners for physical and emotional intimacy, sexual contact, sexual reproduction,
building a family, and other forms of individual interactions or interpersonal relationships, as set and
dictated by their culture and tradition, religion, beliefs, values and moral convictions, psychology,
foreign influences, and other related factors.

Contents
[hide]

1Core ideas and main influences

2Historical perspective
o

2.1Indigenous culture

2.210th century

2.3Spanish Catholic influence

2.4American Protestant influence

3Sex education in the Philippines

o

3.11960s

3.21970s

3.31980s

3.41990s

4Filipino youth and sexuality

o

4.11994

4.22009

5Sex industry

6Pornography

7See also

8References

9External links

Core ideas and main influences[edit]

Although Westernization and globalization have influenced Filipinos who live in the metropolitan
areas, the overall culture remains quite conservative in its sexual values. [1]Filipino sexuality is
affected by education received by Filipinos from schools, the media, the rise of the internet, religious
teachings from their churches or other similar spiritual institutions, legal policies and laws, and the
influence of urbanization or urbanized regions in the Philippines. There are provisions and policies in
the constitutionof the Philippines which promulgates that the sexual act should happen only within
the framework of married life between a man and woman, because this personal human expression
is solidly connected to the family unit and to society as a whole. [2]
As a predominantly Christian country, the Philippines considers that the only sexual behavior morally
and legally acceptable and appropriate is heterosexual intercoursewithin a monogamous marriage,
with the exception of polygamous marriage as practiced by some Filipino minority groups and by
Muslim communities in the Mindanao, southern, and southwestern regions of the Philippines, as
long as the men of these population are financially capable of supporting their multiple wives. [2][3]
The following forms of sexual behavior are still considered illegal in the
country: prostitution, pornography, nudity, extramarital sex, and similar variants. Although considered
morally inappropriate, quiet homosexuality and heterosexual cohabitation have become socially
accepted to a certain degree.[1] Homosexuality is legal in the Philippines, and the idea of
allowing same-sex marriage remains being debated by "both Church and State".[2]
Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church became the primary influence in legal, political, and
religious views and issues on sexuality, birth control and contraception, abortion, education
(including sex education, sexual roles of men and women, and homosexuality) and other aspects of
civil life in Philippine society. Among the views of the Catholic Church include that premarital sex and
masturbation are immoral behaviors, and that homosexuality similar to the form of Catholicism
introduced by the Spanish missionaries is an abnormal human conduct. [3]
One of the general pronouncements for the majority of Filipinos is that men should choose to marry
virgin women and that women should keep and maintain their virginityuntil marriage. However, there
are some tribal Filipino communities who permit young men and women to engage in sexual
activities beginning from the stage of puberty.[3]

Historical perspective[edit]
Indigenous culture[edit]
Before the arrival of the first group of Spaniards in the Philippine islands on the shores of Cebu,
under the leadership of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, the ancient native Filipinos already had their
own sexual and relationship practices. One of them is the carrying out of polygamy. Early Filipino
tribal men had five or more wives, a marital ethnic norm of the archipelago at the time. [3][4]
Ancient unmarried Filipino women were encouraged by their cultural orientation at the time to
participate freely in sexual activities. According to Antonio Pigafetta and Friar Juan de Plasencia, as
explained by Stanley Karnow in his book, In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines and
in The Body Book by Fe Maria C. Arriola, apart from penile piercing through the use of rods made of
tin or gold with dimension similar to a goose-quill which may or may not have pointed spurs, the men
were also using other penile adornments such as the sagra and an item known in Tagalog as pilikmata ng kambing or "goat's eyelashes".[5]

Pigafetta further described that there were adornments that are similar to the size of a cart nail, and
that the middle section of the rod had a hole to facilitate urination. During sexual intercourse, the top
of the spur while attached to the penis was smoothly introduced first into the woman's vagina,
followed by the bottom portion. Once the penis becomes stiff, the rod or bolt stayed firmly, and
cannot be withdrawn from the female's sex organ until the penis becomes flaccid. [5]

10th century[edit]

A 1917 photograph of anIfugao mother and her son.

In addition to this, about one thousand years ago, the Filipino Ifugao people of northern central
Philippines already had well-established values regarding marriage and sexuality. An example of
these is their custom of equating the size of a woman's breast and the wideness of her hips with the
price of the dowry.[3]
In 10th-century Philippines, the Chinese Limahong already introduced the concept of monogamy to
ancient Filipinos, as exemplified in the cultural practices of the Ifugaos, the Negritos, and the Igorots.
These Filipino ethnic communities also permitted marriages between girls and boys who have
reached the age of puberty.[3]
Filipino historian Ambeth R. Ocampo described that during 19th-century Philippines the sexually
attractive female body parts of the time were the "bare arms, a good neck or nape" and "tiny rosy
feet". This is exemplified by Ocampo's chosen passages from Soledad Lacson-Locsin's
unabridged English-language translation of the 25th Chapter of Jose Rizal's Spanishlanguage novel, the Noli Me Tangere:[6]
"At last, Maria Clara emerged from the bath accompanied by her friends, fresh as a rose
opening its petals with the first dew, covered with sparks of fire from the early morning sun.
Her first smile was for Crisostomo (Ibarra), and the first cloud on her brow for Padre Salvi..."
(Padre Salvi, although a priest, is an admirer of Maria Clara.) "Their legs were up to the
knees, the wide folds of their bathing skirts outlining the gracious curves of their thighs. Their
hair hung loose and their arms were bare. They wore striped gay-colored blouses... Pale and
motionless, the religious Actaeon (i.e. Padre Salvi, who was hiding in the bushes, acting as
a voyeur) watched this chaste Diana (i.e. Maria Clara): his sunken eyes glistening at the
sight of her beautifully molded white arms, the graceful neck ending in a suggestion of a
bosom. The diminutive rosy feet playing in the water aroused strange sensations and
feelings in his impoverished, starved being and made him dream of new visions in his
fevered mind."[6]

Spanish Catholic influence[edit]

As a part of the process of converting ancient native Filipinos into Catholicism, the Spaniard
missionaries forbade the use of penile instruments, and promoted Christian ideas of the wife's
fidelity to her husband, premarital virginity, the notion of a woman's role as a "nurturing mother",
and the reverence of the Virgin Mary.[4]

American Protestant influence[edit]

After 1898, Protestants from the United States brought and shared their attitudes on sexuality
with the people of the Philippines, which were based on the doctrines
ofJudaism and Christianity. The branching out of this American-introduced Protestantism led to
the establishment of similar restrictions and rules regarding sexuality as imposed by the Filipino
founders of the Philippine Independent Church and the Iglesia ni Cristo or "Church of Christ".[3]

Sex education in the Philippines[edit]

Prior to 1969, sex education in the Philippines was . Instructions were limited only to
discussions on pregnancy and childcare within the confines of the family unit, specifically
between female members of the home. Outside the family or the home setting, available
informal information in the form of television and radio programs, illegal adult or sex
publications, and the like was imprecise, flawed, or deficient. [7]

1960s[edit]
After the World Health Organization and the Philippine government's introduction of programs
on family planning and birth/conception control in 1969, suburban and rural Philippine
communities received training in these programs, with instructions on basic biology, pregnancy,
and contraception that focused on the use of birth control pills. This program was clandestinely
sustained by the Roman Catholic Church to "reduce the family's burden of child rearing because
of poverty".[7]

1970s[edit]
In 1970, Philippine high schools and colleges began to include teachings related to public
health, sexually transmitted diseases, and limited information on human reproduction and
human sexuality in the curriculum for science courses, such as biology. The limitation was
truncated by the Filipino tradition of not explicitly mentioning or showing images of the male and
female sex organs even for educational purposes.[7]
In 1972, the government of Ferdinand Marcos formally offered sexual education programs at all
levels of education.[7] Human sexual development and population were topics in science and
biology subjects in elementary schools.[7]
High school students received elementary and basic-level of biological information and family
planning, with emphasis that separation and divorce are illegal in the Philippines.[7] Information
about legal separation or de facto separation were also taught in Philippine public schools due to
its high incidence of occurrence in lower-class families.[7]

1980s[edit]
During the 1980s, seminars and international conferences were held by schools of medicine as
an addition to ongoing courses on human sexuality.[7]

1990s[edit]
Research on population control, sexually transmitted diseases, premarital sex, sexual
harassment, and AIDS began to be conducted during the 1990s.[7]

Filipino youth and sexuality[edit]

Contemporary studies and surveys show the effects of ongoing sex education in the Philippines:

1994[edit]
A 1994 survey was carried out by Dr. Z.C. Zablan, a demography professor from the Population
Institute of the University of the Philippines, in relation to the views on sexuality by 11,000
Filipino youth whose ages ranged from 15 to 24 years old. The result of this study that he
entitled Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey showed that 80% of Philippine youth do not
endorse premarital sexual encounters, 18% of young Filipinos accepted the occurrence of
premarital sexual activity, while 2% gave a neutral position about the subject matter.[1]
Zablan also found out that 35% of women who graduated from colleges implement female
liberalism and flexible attitudes toward sex, compared to 40% who preferred the use of
contraceptives, and that 65% of less-educated and dependent females residing in rural areas
have more conservative sexual values and behavior, but are more prone to not using
contraceptives. In connection with this, Zabalas study also revealed that there is a trend for
refined and professional males to become relaxed and comfortable with copulation, with
seduction and sexual stimulation, and with alternating active and passive social roles. [1]

2009[edit]
In 2009, a survey was done by Irala et al among 3,726 Filipino student teenagers regarding their
opinions on relationships, love, sexuality, and related items. This study that targeted third year
high school to third year college participants aged 13 to 18 years old revealed that they primarily
received information and opinion on love and sexuality from friends and parents. Most female
teenagers also oppose sexism.[8]

Sex industry[edit]
Main article: Prostitution in the Philippines
As of 2009, one source estimated that there were 800,000 women working as prostitutes in the
Philippines.[9]
Prostitution caters to local customers and foreigners. Media attention tends to focus on those
areas catering to sex tourism, primarily through bars staffed by bargirls. Cities where there is a
high incidence of prostitution are Angeles City, Olongapo, Subic Bay, and Pasay City,[10] with the
customers usually foreign businessmen from East Asianand Western nations.[10]

Pornography[edit]
Further information: Pornography and erotica in the Philippines
Based on the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines and Republic Act No. 7610, pornography is
defined as doctrines, publications, and shows that are immoral, obscene, and indecent.
Philippine legislations penalize involvement in these activities, including
the abuse, exploitation, prostitution, and discrimination of children.[2]

See also[edit]

Courtship in the Philippines

LGBT rights in the Philippines

Obando Fertility Rites

References[edit]
1.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Florante, JJ. "Demographics and a Historical

Perspective". International Encyclopedia of Sexuality.

2.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Hunt, Dee Dicen and Cora Sta. Ana-Gatbonton. Filipino Women
and Sexual Violence: Speaking Out and Providing Services, cpcabrisbane.org

3.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Florante, JJ. "Religious and Ethnic Factors Affecting

Sexuality".International Encyclopedia of Sexuality.

4.

^ Jump up to:a b Andaya, Barbara Watson. A review of Carolyn Brewer's Holy

Confrontation: Religion, Gender and Sexuality in the Philippines, 1521-1685, Manila:
Institute of Women's Studies, St. Scholastica's College, 2001, ISBN 971-8605-29-0,
fromIntersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, Issue 8, October
2002

5.

^ Jump up to:a b Unusual Sex Practices of Early Filipinos, tribo.org

6.

^ Jump up to:a b Ocampo, Ambeth R. Fan Language, Looking Back,

news.google.com

7.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i Florante, Jose J. Sexual Knowledge and Education, (see

also:Interpersonal Heterosexual Behaviors (Adolescents section)), www2.hu-berlin.de

8.

Jump up^ De Irala, J.; Osorio, A.; Del Burgo, C.; Belen, V. A.; De Guzman, F. O.;
Calatrava, M. A.; Torralba, A. N. (2009). "Relationships, love and sexuality: What the
Filipino teens think and feel". BMC Public Health 9: 282. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9282.PMC 2907520. PMID 19656369.

9.

Jump up^ "Number of prostitutes in the Philippines".

10.

^ Jump up to:a b Empowering Str