Premarital Sex Is Not Longer Something Unusual
The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, deeply rooted in its Catholic beliefs and practices. Filipinos are reared in a society that values purity and virginity. For the longest time, premarital sex has been considered a taboo in the Philippines but the youth today are more involved in the “hook-up culture”; this is a new phenomenon that has changed young adult and adolescent sexual relationship development, as clear boundaries and stages appear to no longer define dating relationships.
Casual sex relationship (CSR) refers to a sexual encounter where the persons involved do not necessarily expect future physical encounters or a committed relationship. Earlier terms include permissiveness without affection, premarital coitus, or premarital sex. More recent terms include: sex that occurs only once, sex outside a committed relationship, non-relational sex, or the commonly used “One Night Stand”. The ONS is often used as the representative term for a range of non-committed sexual relationships but the term failed to take the changes that emerge over time that exist within CSRs that extend over more than “one night”. “Hooking up” is another increasingly popular term for CSR. This term is used to describe a single, episodic, or ongoing sexual activity between individuals who are not in a committed relationship. The term “hookup” focuses on the uncommitted nature of a sexual encounter rather than the behaviors that occur during casual sex encounter. Hookups may be characterized as a form of “casual sex” or “uncommitted sexual encounter.” On the other hand, Paul, McManus, and Hayes stated that sexual encounters with friends and/or previous partners do not count as “hooking up” since the term is usually reserved for sexual activities lasting only a night between two people who are strangers or reported that they had casual sex during the last two years.
Human sexual behavior has been shifting for decades if not centuries. With the popularization of internet dating and as well as society’s increasing tolerance with the different perceptions of sex, “casual sex or “hooking up” has become a trend among young people. While many young people (64%) reported having engaged in a hook-up, another (51%) saying that they did so while expecting a romantic relationship to commence from the encounter. The rise of online dating apps has further made it easier to find casual sex partners. It appears that the old-fashioned value of ‘waiting for marriage’ is no longer considered to be significant by a large portion of millennials as the hook-up culture begins to normalize in the Philippine society.
The question now was why do these young people engage in casual sex relationship instead of forming stable and committed ones? We need to understand the behavior of millennials involved in this kind of relationship. We need to be able to seek to uncover the motivations of these people and had a deeper understanding of casual sex relationships in the Philippine setting as well as to determine its surge in popularity.
Since most parents are not aware of the sexual activity of their children, the we need to bridge the gap between families in terms of discussing sexual health. I hope that the findings of such a study will contribute to a better society where individuals, especially the millennials, are well-educated on positive sexual health.
