Voyeurs and Savages

This is supposed to be an angry post against all the men, and women and gays and lesbos, who have uploaded and downloaded sex videos on the Internet, but it’s kind of too late, or too corny, or too moralizing to do that, besides, I dont have enough energy to be mad at billions of people around the world, especially the sex-maniacs of Quezon City, but it’s inevitable.

Early this week, my ice cream buddy showed me sex videos stored in his phone. It was the Hayden Kho series of scandals.

I scanned the first one, the one with the Maricar something in it, and saw a typical sex scandal that starts with kissing and ends with the ooohlala-end. I was so bored watching, all I did was fast forward all the time. When it was Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili with 40 minute running time, I watched the first few minutes of nothing happening until the something happening with the fingering and eating out. I became bored too so I didn’t finish. I didn’t open the one with the Brazillian model. I wasn’t engrossed; I was grossed out.

So I returned the cellphone. I saw slight surprise on his face.

What can I do. These things make me sad. I don’t care if it’s that Halili actress or that university-bred girl, I don’t even care if it’s a woman “featured” in the videos, for Juan dela Cruz’s sake, many boys are being harassed too. What I am sad about is sexuality evolving very rapidly in the Philippines.

So many products being advertised can tell you how the Filipino sexuality is advancing, if not deteriorating. Food and drinks can make you sexy. Gyms are quite active in expanding membership by promising yummy abs and chewable butt. Energy drinks make males active in sports and in bed. Hotel Sogo is just about everywhere in Manila, and so many cheap hotels that cater to couples are sprouting like poisonous mushrooms. FHM is not the only sex magazine in the (super)market now. Pirated DVDs and porn sites can outnumber all Chinese in the Mainland. And hey, noontime shows display a hell lot of boobs in it. Comedy TV shows have as many asses as boobs there are.

So what is so exciting about those scandals if the people in those videos have long advertised their bodies as sex gods and goddesses? Why is this Bong Revilla infuriated like crazy? Do we not all contribute to the commodification of SEX? Do we not all love it, the commodification not the sex (or yeah, the sex too)?

I actually thought the videos were long out in the wild until I watched the news and read the tabloid the next day. There was a huge craze over them.

Talk about yellow journalism and sensationalism. For instance, what is the purpose of extreme closing up of Halili’s nose while she was crying? Wasn’t the exposed flesh enough? Or, why do they have to divulge the background of that Maricar person? Should her University and degree be blamed?

Many people here in Quezon City joke about the issue now. Radio stations make it a laughing stock. TV hosts allude to it carelessly. But many sympathize, like that funny Shame Campaign suggested by some disgusted politician.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This summer, all I did was read theories in Feminism and understood their point. The point is, it’s not enough to pity the Woman or see her as a sorry victim. It’s always important to see the context or the environment of the issue. The woman herself may be part of the conspiracy, I mean, not in a direct way of course.

Media asks: Who, really, is the perpetuator of the sex scandals? Who cares? Ask yourself, voyeur and savages, when was the last time you watched porn or dreamed of being hot and sexy, or had sex with someone other than your partner? Ask yourselves dear politicians, why do you allow those billboards of Bench, FHM, Belo, and Tanduay, Ginebra, GSM Blue with boobs and balls? And why, despite the call to stop distributing the videos, do you still bluetooth your copy or want to see one?