Pornography in the Philippines is defined by Philippine law in the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines and Republic Act No. 7610. According to this Filipino legislation, pornography are illegal doctrines, publications, shows, and other similar material or portrayals that advocate human immorality, obscenity, and indecency. Philippine legislations penalize participation in these unlawful activities, which extend punishment to those that harbor abuse, exploitation, prostitution, and discrimination of children.[1]
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Pornographic materials first arrived in the Philippines in 1946, in the form of pornographic magazines imported from the United States.[2] The early 1900s became the source of some of the first "sensual" pictures of Filipino women, such as the nude photographs of Philippine tribal women taken by Dean Conant Worcester, an American photographer and former Secretary of the Interior of the colonial United States government.[3] During the 1960s, magazines for women in the Philippines featured literary articles featuring topics on contraception, sexual health, marriage, erotica and sexual liberation with the purpose of improving marital relationship, and not as an impediment or replacement to romantic or appropriate natural and normal human sexuality. Also in this decade, pornography became accessible to interested affluent adult men and women who are in a mature relationship that can be viewed through eight-millimeter portable film projectors, before the introduction of the more affordable videocassettes. Although illegal, local video rental shops and newsstands became the primary channel of for-sale and rented pornographic materials. Locally-produced pornographic and erotic media in the Philippines became available in the forms of published materials and pre-recorded and live sex shows. The first soft-core pornographic Philippine-made movie appeared in the 1970s, entitled Uhaw (literally, "thirst", but figuratively denotes "sexual hunger" or "sexual desire"), a film wherein the lead female role was portrayed by a former Philippine beauty pageant queen. Production of homemade and poor quality hardcore sexually-oriented films also appeared later on, prior to the arrival of CDs, VCDs, DVDs[4], cable television[5], mail-order services and Internet-accessible visuals and information on sexual activity.[2]
According to a news report by the American Chronicle on May 30, 2009, the underground Philippine porn industry earned about $1 billion in American dollars in 2006, ranking the illegal Philippine porn black market in eighth place around the world, tied together with Canada and Taiwan. Pornography film producers have offices in Angeles City in Pampanga, Olongapo City in Zambales, City of Manila, Pasay City, Makati City[5], and Quezon City, where male and female prostitutes are hired to play sexual roles for adult films. According to Rolando B. Tolentino, the hardcore porn industry is non-existent in the Philippines, but such productions are subcontracted by foreign producers – including businessmen from India and the United States[5] – to local filmmakers.[4]
In general, there are three major categories of erotic publications in the Philippines:
Long after the publication of the Tik-Tik,[2] Sakdal, and Playboy Scenes[6] magazines in the Philippines, a Filipino edition of Playboy, named Playboy Philippines, was initiated in the country[5] on March 15, 2008. Its first issue was released in April 2008. There was a difference in the presentation for its Filipino audience and readership in order not to go against Filipino business, cultural, and social values. Among these characteristic differences from its Western or typically racy counterparts are the non-display of frontal nudity and human genitalia, although it features Filipino women as 'playmates'”.[7][8][9] In addition, the magazine also writes about "real people" of society, personality profiles, celebrity people, pictorials, interview sections, advice columns, editorials, humor, lifestyle, fashion trends, articles of investigative journalists, and recognized fictionists. The magazine's aim was to earn readers who belong to the 25-year old age group and older.[7][8][9]
An informal consumption survey was conducted by Jose Florante J. Leyson, a Filipino medical practitioner, revealed that modern-day Filipino men and women have different purposes for viewing or reading erotic and sexually related materials. Based on the study, female consumers evolves around the "couple context" or relationship context, while male patrons do so in relation to solitary sexual activity. Leyson’s study also found out that there is a continuous rise in preferences among “educated, sophisticated, and professional” men and women who are engaged in an intimate relationship for so-called "clean" or "softcore" versions of sexually-oriented resources.[2]