Land of Sex and Videotapes

Don’t look now but the Philippines is fast becoming the land of sex and videotapes. Or it has long been a country of flesh trade in discursive and metaphorical sense and sexy movies. 

It is evident in my new book, “SekSinema (Gender Images in Philippine Sex Cinema Enfolding Pandemia)” where I tackle the employ of sex as a subject in Philippine cinema barely five years after the production of the first Filipino film “Dalagang Bukid” in 1919 toward the presentation of the first screen kiss between Luis Tuason and Elizabeth “Dimples” Cooper in the silent “Ang Tatlong Hambug” produced and directed by Jose Nepomuceno in 1926. At the time, that scene was abuzz in the puritanical and conservative Catholicism of the colonial society. 

Or more to it, “Dalagang Bukid” might not be branded or labelled as a sex film during its time in the context of general patronage advertising and promotion, a concept extended until now, but it is a sex film primarily just the same because the characters on reel plane and the actors in real life—Honorata “Atang” de la Rama and Marcelino Ilagan— are assigned with gender attributes and purportedly limited binary sexual characteristics of male and female. 

Sex has been a staple on and off-camera since the dawn of the motion picture industry at the turn of the twentieth century. 

And nothing has changed, indeed, in the attitude and perception of Filipinos about sex when it is a source of joy, among persons, average and from all other social stations. 

Born with it is a paternal society that breeds the idea that males are considered better off philandering and showing publicly sexual fantasies than females—despite the emergence of women’s liberation or at least, its movement for their emancipation gaining grounds. Quest for gender equality is still in the works but for now, the feminine vigor sizzles in the name of commerce. 

The recent Bench Fashion Week was the perfect example of marketing apparel products through subliminal messages of sex symbols. 

“If you have the body, flaunt it” persuasion seems to be the command of the day. 

It is in this vein that young actresses Janine Gutierrez and Lovi Poe filled the air on the ramp with titillating glances, gazes and whispers not to mention woman pride. 

Janine was even delighted she even noted in her social media spaces these thoughts: “The last time I walked for a bench show was in 2012!! This was so fun! Thank you @bcbench! Always a proud Bench baby!” 

We never run out of sex merchandise—magazines, tabloids, digital porn sites, girlie joints entertainment etc. 

Look at Viva Films’ prolific live streaming of bold and daring movies bordering on soft-porn via its infrastructure Vivamax. 

Sex, indeed, is a momentary panacea to social and economic ills shrouding our daily lives. 

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Romnick Sarmenta doesn’t mind breathing life to an English professor closet queen onscreen as long as it is a meaty and enlightening role such as his latest foray into queer performance in “About Us But Not About Us,” one of the eight official entries to the 2023 Summer Metro Manila Film Festival intelligently directed by Jun Lana. 

Romnick pits talent with equally versatile and young actor Elijah Canlas. 

The two are just the main protagonists in one setting for the entire film which probes into the angst and mental power of the characters.