By JAVIER FLORES
Myths mushroom around the subject of sexuality as it is in the case of anything that happens in clandestine. As such, stories with or without any factual basis have been passed on from one generation to another regarding this subject. In the succeeding orgiastic discourse, we break some of these myths.
Coital Confusion
To this day, superstitions persist. Even with a decreasing number of disciples, they have been, for so long, a part of the sexual matrix. So, we have our oral traditions pertaining to sexuality.
Cases in point: If a woman ate a banana joined at the sides, she would bear twins; if a couple made love in a certain position, they would be able to determine the gender of their offspring, and so on and so forth. All this, we know, is a product of unfounded cause-effect judgments successfully perpetuating themselves as truths because, oftentimes, older people harbor them—a factor that conspires with the societal equation of age equals wisdom.
But believers of these impressions cannot claim sole ownership of misconceptions. Even Sigmund Freud, the progenitor of psychoanalysis, once proclaimed the immaturity of a clitoral orgasm as compared to the vaginal variety. He only revealed, of course, the inadequacy of his biological knowhow in light of today’s findings bordering on the insignificant difference between the two.
In her effort to demystify sexuality, Dr. Margarita Holmes gained a kind of notoriety. The pieces of advice she dished out in the 1980s and 90s were not radical. They were facts arrived at by therapists, and some had already been written down. What was novel is that they are being discussed openly in a society where sex was not talked about at home and rarely in academic circles.
On the other hand, the series of Xerex Xaviera or Andromeda, not to be pontifical, aid the proliferation of myths. They would graphically describe the sex act and, at the end, give a sentence or two of advice, as if it could apologize for the entire column.
The greatest myth regarding sex is said to be the sex act itself. The pattern of sexual intimacy—that of foreplay, intercourse and, oftentimes, only male orgasm—seems to be an unalterable formula. This is justified by the thought that this is biologically determined, thus the proliferation of materials telling where to caress and even what to say: ”Are you okay?” “Are you happy?”
But the fact is sex could be in any form that we choose to create and may not necessarily follow any mechanistic pattern.
The Great Divide
According to Errol Serkirk, author of Sex for Beginners, the word “sex” comes from the Latin secare, meaning to divide. Thus, “sex” denotes a division and not a union as we are wont to think when we hear the word.
This has roots in Greek legends. Hermaphrodite, a creature that existed before humans, had two faces and two limbs in one large body. The gods, jealous of its self-sufficiency, divided it into two biological forms: man and woman. From then, society began to highlight the differences instead of the basic similarities of the two forms, and so was born one of the greatest myths that would persistently divide humanity.
Biology points out the divergence in functions of the two sexes, but beyond that it is the society that dictates the behavioral differences. Society sees men as breadwinners, women as housewives. These are obvious myths but transposed in the society they become self-fulfilling prophecies.
In time, the qualities became mutually exclusive that the qualities of one gender are denied practice to the other—the boys-don’t-cry, girls-play-with-dolls phenomenon. The resulting double standard contributes much to the mayhem.
A study on neo-libidinal lingo points to the dearth of terminologies regarding gender in Filipino. Those who have taken up Spanish would notice that, in referring to objects, the language announces their gender through articles like el or la, los or las. Whereas Filipino is not preoccupied with femininity or masculinity of objects.
There is also a lack of specific terminology regarding sex. In conversations, what are mostly used are euphemisms or patalinhaga or even pasaring. However, it is not possible for Filipinos not to know what sex is. The conclusions being there is less talk and more action.
Sex Trips Back in History
Antonio de Morga, a Spanish historian, noted in Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas the permissiveness in Philippine society of the early 17th century with regard to sex. He attributes this to weakness and not being so chaste of the women.
Jose Rizal debunked these reasons claiming that this was due to instinct unrestrained by any outside forces like Catholicism. He added that Spain “could not cast the first stone” about the chastity of our women. Tracing the history of European society through the cults of Venus, Priapus, Bacchus, and the orgies and scandals of ancient, civilized Rome proves the point.
Singular men and women did not practice continence because of a belief, says an early chronicler, Father Pedro Chirino, that women could not get to kalaualhatian without a man to accompany them across the narrow bridge leading there.
Another myth is the repression brought about by the Spaniards. “We have to contextualize this in terms of the classes during those days, for, in fact, two types of sexuality did exist,” says Professor Enrico Azicate of the UP History Department. One was that the elite class could go against any strict church injunction. “And if we trace our family tree, we might even stumble into a friar,” Azicate adds.
The other was the one imposed by the friars who came directly from the Iberian Peninsula and were heavily infected by the Victorian tradition. Thus, the condition of puritanism also replicated itself in terms of Philippine conditions under which it was even a sin for women to move during intercourse.
The boom of industrial capitalism also brought its consequences to our shores with the imposition of a kind of social rigidity reminiscent of a factory assembly line. Most of the women were relegated to child-rearing and the men to labor.
The coming of the Americans did not introduce liberalism but created a kind of schizophrenic situation when the vestiges of Iberian morals clashed with American Protestantism.
But the period is notable for the rise of red-light districts, the golden age of prostitution in the Philippines. Not that the practice did not exist prior to this time. There were Japanese prostitutes during the Spanish era. The Americans just popularized the practice.
There are other myths, of course. Break them. ●
Published in print in the Collegian’s August 3, 1991 issue. It has been edited for concision and contextual clarity.
