2 in 100 youths get paid for sex

CEBU, Philippines -  Two out of every 100 youths in Central Visayas get paid for sex while one in every 100  pay for sex.

These figures came out after a 2013 research conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute showed that of the 1.4 million young people in Central Visayas in 2013, around 17,000 of them pay for sex, while 24,000 have been paid to have sex.

According to UPPI’s 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality study, which was published online (drdf.org.ph), of the 1,425,883 youth in the region, 503,000 of them engage in pre-marital sex. Of this number 73,000 have had casual sex. The summary was also released to the public last week by the Commission on Population-7 during its population and development policy forum.

Two in five young people in Central Visayas between 15 and 24 years old (21.7 percent are 15-19; 20-24 years old comprise 69.7 percent of the pie) have had sexual experience.

This study also revealed mothers are becoming younger; as young as 15 to 19 years old. As of last year’s record, as per said study, 376,411 young women got pregnant.

In that forum, PopCom-7 chief Bruce Ragas admitted the trend is getting alarming, especially as young women are becoming mothers.

Ragas said teenage pregnancy robs the young people their future, and only sex education and good parenting would have solved this problem.

According to the same study, Region 7 youth source their information about sex usually from books, the Internet and television; and that there is “very little discussion” of it at home or only nine of 100 youth talk about it with their parents while growing up.

The study said that one-tenth of the young people seek help from their classmates or friends when they want general information about their sex-related problems.

Only about 38.6 percent of the young people interviewed wanted to know about contraception, while about 11 percent of the males and 5.2 percent females were inclined to learn about sexually transmitted diseases.  The study also noted that Region 7’s youth is “among the highest” in terms of exposures to X-rated videos, slightly below the National Capital Region’s mark.

The region’s young people are also engaged in media-related sexual activities, or 1.3 percent of them have recorded themselves having sex, 3.5 percent of them have sex with someone they met through text messages or online, and 9.6 percent do phone sex.

The YAFS is a series of surveys on youth aged 15-24. The study interviewed 19,178 young people in the country from different sectors, both males and females. For Region 7, there were 1,037 young people interviewed. — /BRP (FREEMAN)