BEFORE 2018 ended, probably everyone must have already heard the news that the Philippines topped the year for watching online pornography at the longest average - 13 minutes, 50 seconds.
This was based on the data by Pornhub, a website that streams videos of pornographic materials. Despite the supposed blocking of the site and other porn sites in the Philippines by the order of National Telecommunications Commission, Filipinos - and Filipinas - still found a way to view them.
In fact, Philippines improved to three spots, becoming part of the world’s top 10 of most countries contributing traffic or website visits to Pornhub in 2018, trailing behind Mexico, Brazil, and Spain where porn production is legal.
From the same Pornhub data, Philippines also topped the world rankings in terms of female visitors - 38 percent, an increase of two percent. Brazil and South Africa came in next with only 35 percent. This means that there might be a growing number of Filipinas watching porn in 2018.
Although Pornhub did not show exact figures, the data left breadcrumbs that may lead to a bigger picture of what has become of the Filipino society today.
Of course, there can be many factors to consider such as total population and the number of internet users.
The Unites States topped Pornhub visits, it has an internet speed ranked in the world as 7th place in terms of fixed broadband, and 41st place in terms of mobile internet (based on Speedtest Intelligence); the US also has a 320 million actual population, but it has 312 million internet users as of December 31, 2017, based on Internet World Stats data.
Meanwhile, the Philippines, placing 10th worldwide based on Pornhub visits - is placed only at 85th ranking on fixed broadband, and 93rd on mobile data speed; while the country has 106 million actual population, it has only 67 million internet users.
Internet speed may contribute as to why Filipinos spend more time watching Pornhub videos, but imagine if porn sites were not blocked, and pornography is legal in the Philippines, the figures might contest US’ figures.
The snippets on these data are a revelation in itself, that we as a society live in complicated, self-contradicting spectrum.
We have Filipino long held traditions that we still regard highly of - family oriented, in pursuit of knowledge through formal education, and utmost reverence and obedience to God by being religious.
The recent Black Nazarene “Traslacion” in Manila and Cagayan de Oro, where millions of Catholics showed up in the procession rites, is a manifestation of tradition and religious culture. And yet - came Pornhub data - the Filipinos’ top categories about “Hentai,” “Lesbian,” and “Babe;” and trending searches including “Pinay gangbang,” “Japanese,” “Anime hentai uncensored.”
This is a polarizing reality for all of us. Maybe, we are still hiding in our closets, and this have affected our way we project ourselves on the outside, and act differently inside. Or simply put - our society as a whole, is naturally bipolar. (nefluczon@gmail.com)