Sex in the Philippines

Want to know more about sex in the Philippines?

The Philippines is a nation made up of over 7,600 islands covering an area of just 300,000 square kilometres. With a population of 103.3 million people it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The country is a hugely popular destination for tourists with many curious about the country’s sex culture.

In this guide, we take a look at the attitudes towards sex in the Philippines, the legal situation of prostitution and LGBTQ rights as well as the latest porn viewing statistics for Filipinos.

Sex in The Philippines

The Philippines is a predominantly Christian country that, despite recent globalization and western influences, is largely a conservative nation. The country is influenced at a political level by the Roman Catholic Church which has, to some degree, helped shape some of the legal framework around prostitution, pornography and sex education.

Attitudes towards sex in the Philippines is polarised across the country with more ruralised communities adhering to traditional cultural views which include sex only being permissible between a man and women in a legal marriage, that homosexuality, prostitution and pornography is amoral and that women should remain virgins until they marry. Of course, there are exceptions to some of these beliefs with many tolerating sexual relations between unmarried couples and even acceptance of homosexuals. In some areas of the Philippines, sex outside of wedlock is permissible from the onset of puberty.

However, a huge percentage of the population is urbanised and this community represents a different face of the Philippines. More than 55 million Filipinos have access to the internet (over half the population) and this has allowed them almost unlimited information about sexuality, sexual health and sexually explicit content. The combination of this exposure alongside more cosmopolitan city living has led to an increased tolerance and acceptance of diversity in sexuality.

Sex education was first introduced into schools in the Philippines in 1972 in response to statistics which showed the country’s birth rate was the highest in Asia at the time. The curriculum was basic at best and attempts to update the module to include sexual wellness, health and rights along with parenting information were repeatedly blocked by the Catholic Church. A new piece of legislation entitled the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act 2012 has taken five years to implement due to a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court following continued objections from religious groups. The bill should now allow universal access for all to family planning methods and comprehensive quality sex education.

sex education philippines
President Rodrigo Duterte has faced opposition from religious groups to a change in the law around sex education. Image via Wikimedia.

In a nation with one of the fastest growing birth rates, the enactment of this legislation is long overdue. The Philippines has a big problem with STIs, lack of knowledge surrounding sexual health and an ever-increasing population of sex workers. Around 40% of sex workers are reported to have an STI with many not using protection. A report in 2002 surveying a group of prostitutes revealed that only 6% had used a condom during the previous seven days of work.

In July 2017, the country registered the highest growth rate of HIV infections in Asia-Pacific with a 140% increase over the last six years. The current prevalence rates are very low at under 0.1% of the population but the rise in infection rates is worrying. With more than 90% of the population believing you can contract HIV by sharing a meal with someone, the government has its work cut out to improve education.

Overall, the face of sex in the Philippines is one of contradictions and contrasts. Whilst much of the nation condemns premarital sex, prostitution, homosexuality, cohabitation and sex tourism, they are all widely and frequently practiced.

The Philippines is one of the youngest nations in Asia with a median age of just 23.5 years old (Singapore is 34.6, Thailand is 37.7 and Japan is 47.3) and this demographic is having an influence on the shape of the country. A more savvy population widely influenced by a digital age is seeing a gradual change towards liberalism.

sexuality philippines
A land of contrasts, large sections of the Philippines live rurally where attitudes towards sex are more conservative and traditional. Image via Pixabay.

Adult Industry in The Philippines

In 2009, the underground porn industry of the Philippines was ranked as the 8th largest in the world, reportedly generating around $1billion per annum. Since 2009, no official figures have been produced on the sector but it is largely believed to be growing commensurately with other international porn markets.

Whilst the prevalence of amateur porn available for free online has seen many porn production companies go under, the lack of overheads in the Philippines is thought to have created a perfect haven for ongoing production. There are various directors and producers in the country with bases across the Philipines including Manila, Quezon City and Angeles City.

Though the country has produced a good number of porn stars who have gone on to work with large studios in America and Europe, much of the porn produced is commissioned by foreign film producers using paid prostitutes (male and female).

Top Filipino Porn Stars

The Philipines has contributed plenty of adult film stars to the global industry with several names of note on an international stage.

Filippino born, Charmane Star, is one of the countries best known porn exports and was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2017. Since 1998, she has starred in over 330 films and is best known for her oral sex scenes. She regularly ranks as one of the top Asian female porn stars and has modeled nude for Penthouse, Hustler and Club.

American porn star, Shay Jordan is one of the best known Filipino adult performers. Starting her career in 2006 with Digital Playground, Jordan won the 2007 NightMoves Award for Best New Starlet (Fan’s Choice). She has been voted one of the top Asian adult stars by the youth culture magazine, Complex.

Other stars of note include Mimi Mayagi, Michelle Maylene, , Kaylani Lei, Annie Cruz, Charmane Star, Lily Thai and Lana Violet.

The top ten most viewed porn stars from the Philippines (according to the popular tube hosting site, XVideos) of all time are:

Performer Total Video Views Asian Ranking World Ranking
Lucky Starr 29,123,508 31 1,379
Kina Kai 28,806,983 61 2,222
Kat Young 95,901,707 65 2,342
Sabrine Maui 21,612,273 67 2,351
Gianna Lynn 30,256,256 71 2,452
Loni Punani 35,600,793 76 2,521
Alannah Li 4,296,470 78 2,568
Lady Mi 14,979,953 100 3,090
Jazmine Leih 5,714,436 108 3,249
Arcadia Davida 6,914,628 123 3,564

 

Prostitution Laws in The Philippines

Prostitution in the Philippines is illegal yet there is a degree of tolerance at both a national and local level when it comes to enforcing these laws.  It is estimated that prostitution earns the country around $6 billion each year with most of this being generated by sex tourism. Eradicating this level of economic input would cause a huge drop in income to the country, irrespective of whether this is legal or not.

Another contributing factor to the attitude of ‘turning a blind-eye’ is the legal income generated by sex workers in the form of tourism.

As a result, sex can be procured from many bars, clubs and massage parlours across the Philippines with very little policing occurring to deter would-be punters. Street prostitution is also rife with prices ranging from $20 to $50.

The younger and/or more beautiful women tend to work as escorts with many being students who provide sexual services doing so to help pay for their education. Other women seem to have a knack for the industry and simply enjoy meeting western men for sex.

It is estimated that over half a million prostitutes are working in the country though this could be as high as 800,000 women. Most are Filipino by descent with some other Asian nationalities represented here.

Generally, prostitution is socially tolerated (if not accepted). With so many people involved in the industry and the clear benefits to the economy, there is less of a social stigma towards prostitution.

There are red-light areas in some of the larger cities including Angeles City (about 80km north-west of Manila). Nicknamed ‘Sin City’, Angeles was the historic base for the U.S. Navy and Air Force during the Vietnam War. In keeping with the trends of ‘hospitality’ sectors thriving to service the American armed forces in Asia, Angeles has continued to be a centre for the sex industry despite the closure of Clark Base in 1991.

The Philippines: Porn Viewing Trends

Each year, the global porn tube hosting site, Pornhub, publishes statistics for the traffic trends on its site by nation. The top 20 countries visiting Pornhub account for more than 80% of the sites traffic with the Philippines being ranked as the 13th most frequent visitor.

In 2017, the Philippines proved yet again that it has the longest staying power for watching porn online. The average visit from this area of the world was clocked at 13 minutes and 28 seconds; almost five minutes longer than the global average of 9 minutes and 59 seconds.

So, what are Filipinos watching whilst they are online?

The most popular search categories for 2017 were Hentai, Babe, Lesbian, Popular with Women and Big Dick with the top search terms being:

  • Pinay
  • Hentai
  • Pinoy
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Pinoy Jakol
  • Step sister
  • Anime Hentai
  • Filipina
  • Celebrity Sex Video

With both Pinay and Pinoy being colloquial terms for a Filipino, it is obvious that local porn is very popular (‘Pinoy jakol’ refers to gay sex).

2017 saw a big surge in new search terms versus 2016 with the top trending searches being:

  • Cheerleader (up 890%)
  • Korean Sex Scene (up 353%)
  • Anime Hentai English (up 178%)
  • Hot Mom (up 153%)
  • MILF (up 88%)
  • Hentai (up 80%)
  • Japanese (up 78%)

The most popular porn stars being searched in the Philippines were:

  • Maria Ozawa (Canadian/Japanese AV star)
  • Mia Khalifa (American/Lebanese)
  • Kim Domingo (Filipino actress)
  • Leah Ghotti (American porn star)
  • Abbie Tolentino (Filipino Facebook star of two viral videos)
porn viewing trends philippines
Maria Ozawa (far right) is the most watched porn star in the Philippines. Image via Wikimedia.

Of course, Pornhub isn’t the only popular adult site accessed in the Philippines. According to SimilarWeb, the most visited sites by traffic in the Philippines include many with XXX rated content:

  • pornhub.com – ranked 6th
  • xnxx.com – ranked 8th
  • xvideos.com – ranked 9th
  • youjizz.com – ranked 12th
  • sexx.center – ranked 15th
  • beeg.com – ranked 18th
  • youporn.com – ranked 21st

Top Filipino Porn Sites

As well as the popular amateur tube hosting sites, you can also find porn from the Philippines via some niche websites.

Our top picks for Filipino porn are:

LGBTQ in The Philippines

Being ‘gay’ in the Philippines is not restricted to homosexuality and the terms is used interchangeably for anyone who identifies as LGBTQ.

Homosexuality is legal in the Philippines though there is little legal protection against discrimination. There is no national legislation but some local laws do provide civil liberties in this respect.

However, diversity in sexuality is largely accepted in the country and certainly tolerated by most. You can find examples of gay Filipinos across the country including a Miss Gay Philippines beauty pageant.

The gay Filipino community is an active one and there is even a recognised sub-culture which has its own language. ‘Swardspeak’ (or gay lingo) is derived from both English and the Austronesian language of Tagolog as well as some Spanish and Japanese. Some words are based on trademarks, brands and the names of celebrities to create a secret slang spoken only by the gay community.

Homosexual men are referred to as ‘bakla’ or ‘bading’ which are Tagalog words for a man (or men) who act, dress or identify as feminine. Unlike the English word ‘gay’, the meaning is often considered to represent a third gender.

It is thought that over 10% of young Filipinos have had same-sex relationships by the age of 24 which may have helped create a more accepting society. Culturally, it is believed that Filipinos do not perceive gender in the same binary sense that westerners do.

There is no legal recognition of same-sex partnerships though the official Constitution of the Philippines does not explicitly prohibit it.

The Philippines is seen as the most gay friendly nation in Asia and one of the most accepting countries for sexual diversity in the world. The Philippine Congress has an openly transgendered representative and the Filipino Ang Ladlad party is an active member of the political landscape. The party’s founders belong to the LGBTQ community and they are seeking legislative change to deliver equal rights in the Philippines.

lgbtq philippines
Though the legal situation is less than ideal, the Philippines is a gay-friendly country. Image via Wikimedia.

Overall, the Philippines is a safe place for LGBTQ tourists and incidences of crime and discrimination against people from this group are very low. The capital city of Manila has a very vibrant and welcoming LGBTQ scene and hosts an annual Pride event which is well attended from across the Philippines and other Asian nations.

Top Classified/Personals Sites in The Philippines

Dating in the Philippines, much like in most countries, is popular online and many young Filipinos use the service to advertise for dates. Most of these services are targeted at Western men with some offering free accounts and others being subscription sites. There are also some free classified personals sites which offer free advertising and no sign-up; the quality of these sites can be questionable at times so always exercise caution when responding to these ads.

Chaos Ads

www.chaosads.ph/category/64/

Covering all the major cities across the Philippines including Manila, Quezon City, Makati and Pasig, Chaos Ads is a free personal classifieds site.

At the time of writing, there were over 1000 listings of women seeking men and almost 1000 casual encounter ads. Many of the listings were posted by professional escorts but there were also some

The site is free to use but has very little functionality in terms of searches.

Locanto

http://manila.locanto.ph/Personals/P/

Locanto is another free to use classified site which offers a good personals selection. In addition to women seeking men and casual encounters there is also a fetish encounters section and couples category.

Unlike Chaos Ads, Locanto has a dedicated area for escort services which usually filters out most professional listings from the personals selection.

Though the majority of ads are based in the Manila area, there are other cities covered within the site.

At the time of updating this guide, there were over 1000 casual encounters listings and 100+ women seeking men.

Love Awake

www.loveawake.com/free-online-dating/Philippines-dating-service.html

Love Awake receives over 1.5 million hits per month and is ranked in the top 250 ‘Relationship’ sites in the world. The site offers international dating with personal ads being listed from across the Philippines.

It’s a basic but free service although you can pay to get your own listing featured.

There’s a good selection of profiles online but they offer only a very simple summary of each user.

Craigslist

https://manila.craigslist.com.ph

Craigslist is one of the original homes for the casual encounter and hook-up and has a good coverage in Manila.

The listings are restricted to personals ads but you will find professional escorts and masseuses using the site.

There are plenty of ads to browse and they are arranged by most recent posting. There isn’t a great deal of choice when it comes to searching  these classifieds other than via keywords so unfortunately you will need to browse.

Dating Walk

www.datingwalk.com/personal-ads/ph/

Dating Walk offers free registration to access the few hundred personal profiles of singles from the Philippines. It is a freemium model site which you can use to browse at no cost but must pay to contact other members and receive messages.

You can sign up using Facebook or VK to make creating a profile more straightforward.

It’s an international site so you can use your account in other countries if you are a frequent traveller.

Profiles are pretty thin and there is no data available on how much traffic the site receives from the Philippines.

Best of the Rest

The following sites offer a more premium dating service for singles in the Philippines with the aims of most user being for more serious relationships. Subscription fees vary but most of the women on these sites are looking for steady dates; however, you can find some serial daters and hook-ups.

dating filipino cupid
Filipino Cupid might be a premium service but they have over 3.5 million members to choose from. Image via website.

They also have in common the fact that these sites are geared towards Western men and Filipina women.

Featured image via Pixabay.