WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY–PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF NURSING AND ALLIED

MEDICAL SCIENCES
___________________________________________________
CABANATUAN CITY, NUEVA ECIJA

GENDER AND SOCIETY

GEE 3

Thought Paper
I-WITNESS: “Let’s Talk About Sex” a
Documentary by Pia Arcangel

SUBMITTED BY:
KATE VALERIE G. QUIBAN
BSN 2-1
SUBMITTED TO:
PROF. EMMANUEL JOHN PANGAN
 Sex plays a significant role in procreation. Unfortunately, there is a culturally patterned
negative attitude of the Filipinos towards this subject. In a conservative view, the word “sex” is
considered immodest or something that should not be discussed publicly because this word is
not morally right in social norms and moral taboos, that is why at early age we are already
taught that sex is a verboten and can only be discussed by married couple. The Likhaan Center
for Women’s Health Inc.a non-government organization which arranges a sex education for
mothers and adolescent aged 13 years old and above their initial reaction upon seeing
contraceptives and hearing accurate words for body parts, it is evident that the lack of
knowledge towards sex and sexuality is still high. The mere mention of the word sex evokes a
negative connotation and it induces various reactions, some probable response is a random
stare of disgust and some are uncomfortable talking about it because opening such discussion
is considered unacceptable or a mortal sin based in religious beliefs.

But why do people react in ways when they hear the word “sex”, while teen pregnancy is
prevalent in our country? The primary reason of this continuing moral taboo is the lack of sex
education because having no idea about this topic generates curiosity. According to Erik
Erickson’s Psychosocial Development adolescents undergo a search for their own personal
identity “through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals”. This stage is
said to be the most crucial part for the formation of its own identity and these two identities
involved the sexual and occupational. An adolescent then undergo sexual experimentation
without having the idea of the possible effects of it. To avoid negative consequences it is best
that at early age sex education should be introduced. One should see the reality of life that
these children will eventually learn about sex somehow, it is unavoidable. Room H. (2019)
suggests that “Early years settings should be tackling these concepts as soon as possible –
particularly in light of detrimental advertising pushing ‘perfect’ body sizes, the portrayal of
violence towards women on TV, and social/cultural gender stereotyping” Thus, sex education
should be imposed in schools and community at early age to break the moral taboo and
unwanted circumstances with the objective of assisting young people to make healthy decisions
about sex and adopt healthy sexual behaviors.

When media is getting more convenient nowadays, children will be easily exposed to
many obscene and lewd videos and websites this may result into unhealthy attitudes and will
make them susceptible to abusive relationships. In the study done by Collins et al. (2017), “New
technologies have expanded adolescents’ access to pornography. Data from a few studies of
youth indicate that sexual displays on social media sites are related to problematic beliefs and
behaviors among those who post this content and among viewers. Online pornography appears
to be more problematic for youth than off-line sources. Given the vast and increasing amount of
time youth spend online and their developmental openness to influence, more research
attention to digital sexual media is needed”. I understand that some conservative groups and
religious groups are concerned about this early sex education. As claimed by them, this process
will only encourage children to have sex. But we also need to understand that this kind of
learning is not only confined on how to have sex. It includes a focus on moral values, decision-
making, biology or physiology, gender and sexual feelings. Therefore implementing it will also
give a better perception and understanding, eliminating the stigma and discrimination against
different facets of gender. It also presents abstinence and safer sex.
 One of the segments of sex education is family planning methods and how to utilize
contraceptives which can be used for birth limiting, in improving the quality of life and birth
spacing. This is supported by Population Reference Bureau (2010) wherein they sited that
“Family planning enables women to be healthier and have more equal opportunities to pursue
an education, a career, and financial security. With fewer children to support, families can
accumulate greater assets and invest more in their children's health and well-being.” Having
family planning will help lower and control the number of population, in the documentary, it has
been said that the Philippines is 13th most populated country in the world and it remains in 2020
with estimated number of 109,581,078 according to the Worldometers (2020). The religious
groups, however, opposed to the artificial method of family planning (this includes the Pills,
condom, intrauterine device, implants and injectable), they insisted that natural family planning
should be promoted because it is morally right and decent. But, the natural family planning
(these are basal body temperature, lactating amenorrhea method and calendar method)
sometimes doesn’t work for those who have physiological problems or health problems (women
who experiences irregularities in menstruation is not required to take natural family planning, the
results will not be accurate). Hence, promoting only one plan will not going to benefit everyone.
The choice should still depend on the state and condition of a particular individual. But how to
use these and where to obtain these is the question. There should be an accessible location
and right education whether that be school or from experts.

It is better to acquire information about sex protection methods and family planning from
right sources like school it should not be limited only to the parents or guardians. Because not
everyone shares the same privilege, not all parents are educated and well-informed about it. All
of us grew up in a family with particular beliefs specifically in terms of sex and sexuality, as a
result the level of knowledge is not enough compared to what we can learn from school. Also,
how about those children who grew up in a family with poor communication experiencing
violence and lack of guidance? Who will going to guide them? Crisostomo S. (2018) have
written that eight in 10 children and young people in the Philippines have experienced some
form of violence in their lifetime that usually begins at home. The survey is done by the Council
for the Welfare of Children (CWC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in their
“National Baseline Study on Violence against Children (VAC),” the first ever national study on
violence against children in the Philippines. Additionally the CWC Planning Officer III Ruth
Limsom-Marayag said that 60.4 percent of physical violence “ironically” happened at home.
Sometimes, it is the parent or guardian who encourages bad behavior in kids. That is why,
teachers or community mobilizers are the best sex educators because they have the capability
to give us a more in-depth knowledge. They can provide us understanding about what’s
happening to our bodies and clear out the different misconceptions.

Imposing the proper education will cure the problems in early pregnancy or teenage
pregnancy. “PopCom Eastern Visayas Regional Director Elnora Puma said in an interview
Thursday the youth must be given quality information and services to realize their roles in the
national development and potentials as a catalyst for change.
 Both agencies have underscored the importance of integrating sexuality education in
lessons and activities in schools to curb the incidences of teenage pregnancy, population
growth, and sexual diseases.” (Sabalza, G. 2019) The early pregnancy problem occurs at a very
high rate every year. It has been proven by a study according to it “Teenage pregnancy affects
5.99 percent of Filipino girls which is the second highest rate in Southeast Asia based on Save
the Children’s Global Childhood Report in 2019. An estimated 538 babies are born to Filipino
teenage mothers every single day, according to Philippine Statistical Authority in 2017.” Early
awareness is not a problem because “at age 5 children are already exposed with the different
sexual stimuli, appropriately, education for sex and sexuality should start before one reaches
adolescent period” (Marshall K. 2018). According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, in 2016,
one in ten aged 10-15 years old has begun a childbearing. This is seriously alarming because
childbearing women are getting younger and younger. Although we have successfully passed
the RH Law or Reproductive Health Law there are still community who don’t have access to
Healthcare Centers as a consequence they lack the essential health services. One of those
communities is the San Mateo, Norsagaray, Bulacan wherein, accordingly the health center is 4
kilometers away from them. Nancy Modesto who has 8 children suffers from the pain of poverty
and raising a huge number of children is not easy. According to her, if this kind of education
became relevant in their community she may have had only two children. It is understood that
even though we have the resources but if the community doesn’t have any comprehensive
education towards sex and family planning the idea of sex will remain at the conventional
wisdom.

One of the participants in the documentary Angela Tan who is an 18 years old stated
that curiosity force her to explore her own sexuality without any sex education, unfortunately this
led her to experience unexpected consequences. Both Angela and her husband are not high
school graduates but they chose to have family instead, with that decision, they both agreed
that having to raise a family without plans is difficult. Angela regretted the decisions she had
made from the past because instead of getting concern on her educational fees she struggles
with managing their everyday expenses. This is just one of the negative consequences of living
in a community with an absence of proper information and open discussion. Director Lydio
Espanol, Jr of Commission on Population stated clearly the major effects of moral taboo and
wrong perception is early pregnancy forcing the students to dropout from school. Apart from
that, 48 percent of Filipino people had no knowledge about sex and sexuality. In the study done
by the University of Philippines school of Economics the economy lost an outstanding amount of
34 billion due to poverty which is supposedly an income to Filipino workers.

There is no doubt that the implementation of comprehensive sex education in the

community and allowing it to be part of the curriculum will solve the root of the problem.
Teaching the young ones the importance of sexuality will break the cycle of poverty, prevent
unwanted pregnancies and to replace those conventional insights towards sex and sexuality.
These social problems are obviously interconnected. It all started with the existence of taboos
against sex and sexuality in our culture, and if we instill the proper knowledge to both remove
that stigma and stop the sensationalism of sex through sex education the rest will follow and we
can generate a community wherein acceptance is perceived and healthier outcomes or decision
making is practiced.
REFERENCES:

McLeod, S. (2018). Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. Simply Psychology.

Retrieved forhttps://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Collins, R. et al. (2017). Sexual Media and Childhood Well-being and Health. Pediatrics.
Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/140/Supplement_2/S162

Countries in the world by population (2020). Worldometer. Retrieved from

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/

Population Reference Bureau (October 14, 2010). Family Planning Improves the Economic
Well-Being of Families and Communities. Retrieved from https://www.prb.org/

Room H. (January 14, 2019). Sex Education Should Start in the Early Years. Teachwire.
Retrieved from https://www.teachwire.net/news/sex-education-should-start-in-the-early-years

Crisostomo S. (April 8, 2018). 8 of 10 children in the Philippines experienced violence. Philstar.

Retrieved from https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/04/08/1803848/8-10-children-
philippines-experienced-violence

Marshall K. (September 24, 2018). Teaching sex education: 7 key questions. Phil Delta Kappan.
Retrieved from https://kappanonline.org/marshall-sex-education/

Save the Children calls on the passage of Teenage Pregnancy Bill as the world celebrates
International Day of the Girl (Oct 11, 2019). ReliefWeb. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/