More Pinays watch porn, website claims

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MANILA, Philippines — For the fourth time, the Philippines has again dominated the viewership metrics of the pornography platform Pornhub, which claimed that the country is the only nation in the world where there are more female than male viewers.

According to Pornhub’s promotional “Year in Review 2023” website article, female viewers now constitute 58 percent of the country’s Pornhub audience, an increase from 53 percent in 2022, while male viewers make up the remaining 42 percent.

The article did not contain any independently-verifiable number on which its percentages were based, nor did it indicate how or whether the sexual genders or preferred sexual genders of the viewers were factually determined.

But it did mention that “since Google Analytics began tracking demographics data in 2015, we have seen our proportion of female visitors steadily increase over time.”

The report also claimed that Filipinos spent approximately 11 minutes and 15 seconds viewing pornography per session, the longest average visit duration.

Filipinos also spent the most time per visit to Pornhub in 2017, 2018, and 2021.

In Philippine law, pornography is considered a crime against public morals since the Revised Penal Code (RPC), a modified version of the Spanish Codigo Penal of 1870, was enacted in 1930.

Crimes against public morals include grave scandal (Article 200, RPC), immoral doctrines, obscene publications and exhibitions, indecent shows (Article 201, RPC), and vagrancy and prostitution (Article 202).

In the 1970s, there was a glut of pornographic materials from the United States amid the “sexual revolutions” in several Western nations.

To stem the flood of pornographic magazines and movies, then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 960 amending Article 201 and increasing the penalties for obscene publications and exhibitions.

Block child pornography

In 1992, Republic Act No. 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act, was enacted to protect children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, and discrimination.

But adult entertainment websites, like XVideos, Redtube, and Pornhub, continued to provide pornography, even child pornography.

Last year, Sen. Joel Villanueva proposed Senate Bill No. 734 to again amend RPC Article 201, increase penalties, and widen the coverage of crimes against public morals.

More recently, the National Telecommunications Commission ordered internet service providers to block child pornography specifically, rather than all adult sites.

Earlier this year, the Anti-Money Laundering Council flagged transactions amounting to P1.5 billion related to online child sex abuse.

Last week, Aylo Holdings, the parent company of Pornhub, reached a deferred prosecution agreement in response to charges of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions linked to sex trafficking proceeds, as revealed by federal prosecutors in New York.

The agreement mandates Aylo Holdings, to pay over $1.8 million to the US government and provide separate compensations to women whose videos were posted on the platform without their consent.

Additionally, an independent monitor will oversee the company’s activities for three years, with charges set to be dismissed upon compliance.