the title of this entry contains three topics that seem unrelated to each other. i meant it that way, put them together, i mean, because for the first time in a longish time, i have something lengthy to write about, even if it's three disjointed topics in one entry.
ok. let's start with the hottest issue. i'm talking about the famous (or notorious) videos of vicki belo's lover hayden kho. apparently, hayden has this habit of secretly filming his romps with several women, among them katrina halili, a brazilian model, some other starlet, etc. the evening news on all channels have this story as a headline. blogs are being written about these videos. kris aquino and boy abunda have discussed this extensively on their nightly showbiz news program. even the halls of the senate have buzzed with this issue, what with bong revilla taking the floor and delivering a privilege speech about how "depraved" and a "maniac" hayden kho is, and asking the PRC or the philippine medical association to revoke kho's license due to immorality.
i had the rare privilege (really now) to watch one of the videos, the one where hayden and katrina are dancing and singing along to george michael's careless whisper. first thing i thought of was that this video was funny. then i realized that perhaps katrina did not know they were being filmed. i don't know if they had sex before or after the dancing (i couldn't care less, haha), but for 2 people who are always in the limelight, the video seemed...crass.
the other videos which the news carried showed hayden fixing the camera on differed occasions prior to his trysts. obviously the man takes pleasure in filming himself while getting all hot and heavy with these women. it's almost like a fetish. no, wait, it IS a fetish. unfortunately, he has dragged several women into this mess, and these women are personalities themselves, so there's no escaping the recognition. and the embarrassment, although i doubt if any of these women will actually come forward and say something about the videos they were in.
and i thought hayden kho was a good looking, respectable young doctor. maybe a bit on the weird side, because he went for older women. but he was ok, until this hidden side of him came out and changed the way people saw him. now he's no longer that shy guy with the singing talent who won celebrity duets. he's a perv, and in the words of bong revilla, "isa syang maniac, mr. president."
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another issue that was on the news these past few days was alec baldwin's statement that if he were to get married, he would choose to have a filipina mail order bride for a wife.
he meant it as a joke (hey, he was on the letterman show), but people took it in a negative light, calling it an unforgivable slur and a statement reeking of racism. there have been calls for him to apologize publicly for this, coming from senators, feminists, nationalist groups, journalists, bloggers, and the average reasonable man (or woman).
i'm not going to apologize for what he said. when we were in australia for a debate competition in the 90s, some of our teammates (we were an all girl group of 2 teams of 3 each plus our adviser) had the unfortunate experience of being called drunkards and mail order brides during a send up (funny) debate. although that debate was not a serious one, and maybe the opposing team meant it as a joke, but then again, it was racist, and a slap to our being filipino.
this brings to mind another racial slur about filipino doctors on the TV series "desperate housewives". and the definition of filipino roulette. how about the filipino biscuits in england?
there have been many instances that our being filipino has been made fun of, disparaged, dragged in the mud. our politicians, feminists, militant groups, and people on the street have railed against the racism and the statements, but what have we actually done to raise ourselves from the mud? perhaps we have tried, and succeeded. look at manny pacquiao, charice pempenco, monique lhuillier, lea salonga, the crewmembers of the luxury ships, the nurses and doctors and OFWs, and those who make an honest living in the philippines and survive honestly despite the crisis.
wait, we have done a lot to raise the status of being filipino. why should we let one statement affect us? instead of wasting time foaming at the mouth and demanding that this person be whipped, tarred and feathered and then set aflame, maybe we should spend more time improving our image. let's just capitalize on the fact that there are many good things about being filipino.
and i don't need to remind everyone that alec baldwin isn't exactly a superstar. maybe once upon a time he was, but not anymore. so what he says isn't exactly important. or earthshaking. or something worth listening to. i mean, who would remember what he said on that show? no one, i bet.
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last but not least, i want to touch on a serious matter.
tonight the correspondents featured a documentary on the alarming rise of HIV-positive youth in the philippines. these are young people aged 15-30, who make up about 20% of the total population of HIV-positive people. 20% is an alarming number, and so is the interval 15-30 years old. this means that more and more young people are sexually active and are perhaps ignorant of, or don't really care about, the risks of unprotected sex with multiple partners.
this brings to mind that previous episode about teen aged fathers. boys as young as 15 are already fathers or expecting to be fathers. when asked how they found themselves in this situation, they said that they enjoyed having sex without actually realizing the consequences. blame it on lack of parental guidance, family support, proper education in school, societal guidance, guidance from the church, etc.
when i was in 6th grade, our teacher showed us a video of a woman giving birth. the camera was focused on her genital area, where the baby was about to come out. i think that video gave me some sort of trauma about childbirth, which i hope will go away. in sophomore year we had sex education classes, where we were taught about birth control methods and that the best method is abstinence. by senior year we were learning about pregnancy and childbirth and the costs, pains and joys accompanying this most important period of womanhood. this is probably the reason why a lot of girls in my batch did not marry at once. we enjoyed the single life for the longest time before some of us took on the responsibility of being wives and mothers.
some sectors have denounced the plan to teach sex ed in public schools because of the morality issue. what they are not seeing is the hidden benefit of opening the eyes of young people to issues of sex and sexuality, which are better learned within the family or through proper teaching techniques in school. bereft of this kind of teaching, young people turn to their peers, to the internet, to media, or they try to discover it themselves. sometimes they realize early on that they can wait. but most of the time, owing to raging hormones, they jump into sex without realizing the responsibilities they have to face, which were not taught to them properly.
teenage pregnancy and fatherhood, HIV, STDs, and induced abortions are the consequences of unguided sexual conduct. if young people were made aware of these, perhaps they would wait until they were ready, or if they could not wait, they would at least be safe.
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so that's it for me tonight. i have to go to sleep. must wake up early tomorrow. :)
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