Troll Tool  

If there’s one tool of choice for trolls that’s constantly weaponized against women in this country, it’s the sex video.  What is it with women and having sex that gains so much traction with the ordinary Filipino, anyway?

We saw it with the supposed relationship that was trumped up between Senator Leila de Lima and her driver, and then the “smoking gun,” the sex video that was deployed to assault a lawyer, a human rights campaigner, and a seasoned female legislator, on her position of power.  What a way to bring a woman down, eh? 

And after it proved successful in dehumanizing her with so many Filipinos, a few years later, here we are with another sex-vid cyber attack, this time on the daughter of Vice President Leni Robredo.

No, I have not seen the supposed video, nor am I interested.  If I wanted to get kicks, there are plenty of channels available.  Or maybe I’ll just film myself and charge money for it.  And if I wanted to get dirt on a someone I object to politically, I wouldn’t stoop to creating a fake recording.  But that’s me.  Apparently, with the rest of the country, it’s a potentially effective way to chip away at someone’s popularity. (Are we sure there aren’t any recordings of trysts by cokeheads in Eton lying around?)

I’d love to lay the blame on the Catholic guilt that’s smeared and embedded so deeply into us.  Sex is so taboo, even in the 2020’s, that it’s a scandal for anyone in a position of power to be seen in the missionary position. 

But that theory is shot when Filipinos of other religious persuasions also burst out chattering excitedly about this celebrity’s sex vid and that actress’s leaked photo and that influencer’s OnlyFans account.  It’s a never ending cycle of horror, delight and fascination, and we consume so much content that pretty much invades the privacy of other human beings, that it makes one wonder.

What is it in us Filipinos that make us so particularly affected by sex vids?

We’ve seen sex vids bursting into the scene in the West, what with the real-life examples of Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton.  But those didn’t have quite the same effect on those women.  Not only did they get past the explosive release of their very genuine vids, in fact, they bounced back (and how) into the echelons of “respectability.” (Let’s not get into an argument about what that loaded term means.)

If that same scenario were to happen here though, mention of that sex vid would probably appear as a highlight, at the very least a footnote, or perhaps just a by-the-by, in every article and every conversation on that person. (My Exhibit-A: again, Senator Leila de Lima).

Are we still that naive? Innocent? Unsophisticated?  Or do we just love gossip and scandal so much?  It’s a struggle to pin down that core characteristic.  Yet, regardless of whether it can be isolated and identified, someone else does know the Filipino psyche well, and using it to full advantage during election seasons.

The Robredo-Pangilinan campaign is all about appealing to the core decency they believe every Filipino possesses.  The tandem is campaigning on the premise of good governance, of doing what’s best for the Pinoys.  They promise they will act for the ordinary Filipinos, and Leni and Kiko have already proven themselves many times over, in disaster after disaster, that they do indeed serve the populace. 

Will Juan de la Cruz recognize that call for what it is? Will he carefully weigh the pros and cons of candidates? Will he look at concrete examples of public service? Will he take a deep dive into the numbers and the statistics? Or will he instead be attracted to, and ensnared by, sex videos? 

How sad if all we are is fertile ground for the marketing blitzes of OnlyFans and PornHub.