Outline:

Introduction

a. Eye opening
b. Arose lots of differences in beliefs

Body

a. Salome: Normalize Sex Work or not?

1. Hindi
 Kasalanan ito according to mostly Christian Beliefs
 Hindi pa handa ang society rito dapat muna itong pagdiskusiyunan ng nakararami
upang maging pamilyar ang mga tao dito at hindi ito magdulot ng pambabastos
 Nakababahala sapagkat ang pagnormalize dito ay magiging daan para matuklasan
ito ng mga wala pang kamuwang muwang na minors gayun din naman maari
itong pagsamantalahan ng mga mambubugaw upang makapangbiktima ng mga
mapipilit nilang mga tao na pumasok sa ganitong klase ng trabaho.
 Maaring makabuo ito ng masamang perspective sa mga tao. In a way na-
oobjectify ang mga sex workers dahil nga sa nature ng trabaho nila and masama
pa kasi it translates sa iba ring mga tao mostly on women.
2. Oo
 Ang pagnormalize sa sex work ay makakatulong upang maproteksiyunan ang mga
taong involved dito dahil may mga batas ng magagawa for them to be able to do
their practice legally and safely.
 Sex work is just like all kinds of work.
 Legalizing and normalizing of sex work allows sex education and awareness to be
talked more.
 Normalizing it promotes healthy sexual expression and body positivity.
 The government can monitor the industry closer to combat forced sex work.
b. Mervin: Genuine Interaction Online
  Upon hearing Mervin’s story, I was struck by the realization that we all have
created an online persona
c. Sugar Dating
 Sugar Dating vs Prostitution
 As an Unbalanced Relationship
d. Risks in these relationships
e. What we can do?
f. Conclusion
“Sexpectation vs. Reality” is a documentary that is a part of the docu-series, “The Atom Araullo
Specials”. It is an eye-opening documentary about the different modern sex-related topics and
relationships prevalent in the online world, challenging different stances and beliefs of the
mostly conservative Filipinos. The documentary features three individuals with their unique
stories intended to represent specific topics relating to sex.

Decriminalizing Sex Work

First, Salome Salvi who is a sex worker that sells pornographic videos and photos online. She
does it mainly to express her self specifically her sexuality which is different to the most
common assumption that sex workers do their work only for the money. Looking on her
workspace, we realize how passionate she is with her work to the point that she makes conscious
efforts to make her videos interesting like looking for the best angle to shoot her videos,
incorporating toys on them and responding to her subscribers so often.

With that in mind, we focus on to the chance of legalizing sex work here in the Philippines.
Some agrees to it citing that it would be beneficial to the sex workers because the government
can now pass laws protecting these people as they practice their chosen job. The government can
also now closely monitor and combat human trafficking and forced prostitution. Aside from that,
legalizing the sex industry means another taxable industry that the country can benefit from
considering how huge the sex industry truly is. Normalizing Sex Work promotes sex-related
topics such as Sex Education to be discussed in our daily lives creating healthy sexual expression
and relationships among people.

On the other hand, some opposes to such idea arguing that it is a moral sin as stated in the
Christian Beliefs which most Filipinos subscribes to. It will also be concerning as normalization
of sex work will result to minors easily accessing such contents online which will then leave
unrealistic views of what sex is and other aspects that goes along with it such as objectification
of women and unrealistic ideal body not only to minors but to everyone who will happen to
watch such videos.
Online Persona

The next story in the documentary was Mervin’s. Mervin is a student who has a part-time job as
a “chatter”. A chatter is hired by an online personality to use their account and respond to their
subscribers. In Mervin’s case, he is hired by a foreigner model to use their OnlyFans’ account
and his main goal is to entice subscribers to buy more of his employer’s pictures all the while
disguising as his employer. This job was very foreign to the most of us and it shows how huge
the scope of the Sex Industry is.

Mervin’s story reminds us that not everything in the digital world is true. Online influencers and
creators only share a part of their life online which would usually be edited first to be appealing.
Some would even have a team of people working behind to maintain this internet celebrity’s
image. So, we must be careful in choosing what contents would influence us and to whom we
choose to build a parasocial connection with.

Unbalanced Relationship

Finally, we have Diana. Diana is a sugar baby which means that she is involved in sugar dating.
Sugar dating or “sugaring” is a type of relationship where a sugar baby would be compensated
by another person who will usually be called as a sugar mommy or daddy in exchange for their
time and companionship. People like Diana would prefer this kind of dating rather than a normal
one (vanilla) because the needs and wants of both partners can easily be satisfied in a short
period of time without further attachments to one another.

However, this kind of dating produces an unbalanced relationship with the sugar parent having
the dominance for they can manipulate the sugar babies into doing actions that are out of their
comfort zone. Trust between the partners is also uncertain because they do not have enough
attachment to one another prior into the relationship.

A Person’s Dignity

A given fact in these three people’s stories is the presence of harassment towards them due to the
nature of their job or way of life. Salome would often receive nasty messages, Diana was almost
forced into unprotected sex and Mervin though protected by his anonymous status, is still
threatened by the possibility of people finding out about his work. They are often met with
critical eyes for some would consider their line of work as degrading.

We now ponder if being involved in Sex Work degrades one’s dignity. For some, they believe
that it does degrade a person’s worth for respect as they believe that the body is God’s temple.
Using one’s body for sex work will tarnish the body and is considered a sin.

On the other hand, some believe it does not affect a person’s dignity.