One of the most concrete instances of pleasure is orgasm – the intense subjective experience of sexual pleasure brought about by masturbation, sexual intercourse, and other forms of erotic behavior. To explore this, 47 Filipino students in an undergraduate human sexuality course conducted orgasm interviews – face to face conversations with 87 women and 101 men about their first and most recent experiences of orgasm. Thischapter discusses the process, outcomes, chal- lenges, and potentials of orgasm interviews as a learning tool for exploring and analyzing Filipino sexual pleasure that can be used in courses in gender, sexuality, and psychology. The psychological and political value of creating open discursive spaces about sexuality and sexual pleasure is emphasized, particularly in the context of Filipino sexual culture.

Solitude – time spent by oneself – is a common human experience, though its possible benefits may not be appreciated by many. In a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental evaluation of an exercise designed to teach the psychological benefits of solitude, 54 undergraduate students went on a date with the self, i.e., planning and deliberately spending an afternoon or evening by oneself engaged in personally chosen leisure activity. Results showed that the date with the self produced significant gains in appreciation of time spent alone, relative to a comparison group of 49 students. Of the features of solitude, anonymity and low levels of negative affect during the exercise accounted for increased appreciation for time spent alone, while feelings of inner peace, low levels of loneliness, and previous attitudes toward solitude were related to overall enjoyment of the activity.

In this exploratory study, I investigated lived experiences of unrequited love among young Filipino gay men in order to explore unrequited love beyond its heteronormative forms. Analysis of qualitative accounts from 11 out gay men who participated in focus groups indicated that unrequited love was a highly meaningful subjective experience involving a spectrum of negative affect, uncertainty, and self-esteem lowering. Non-reciprocity was often attributed to a lack of matching on dimensions like availability, sexual orientation, relationship goals, and personality. Non-homophobic social support was important in the reduction of uncertainty and management of distress, in addition to other strategies for coping with rejection and non- formation of the desired love relationship.

Although exercise motivation is a well-established research area in sport and exercise psychology in the West, relatively little work on this topic is available in the Philippines. The purpose of this study was to explore possible motives for exercise behaviour according to Filipino youth using an open-ended methodology. One hundred twenty-nine Filipinos aged 15 to 21 years old responded to a questionnaire asking them to free-list reasons for exercise. 497 responses (M = 3.9 per respondent) were coded by two independent judges using themes derived from the Exercise Motivation Inventory subscales (EMI-2; Markland & Ingledew, 1997). Data on exercise frequency and types of activities engaged in were also collected. The three most frequently identified reasons for exercise were: weight management (“to lose weight”), strength and endurance (“para lumakas”, which means “to increase strength”), and appearance (“to have a sexy body”). Challenge and competition were the least frequently cited reasons for exercise, according to respondents. Results also indicated motives that were outside those identified in the EMI-2 subscales, including: as a requirement, to boost self-esteem, and social influence factors. Future directions for research on exercise in the Philippines, including the construction and validation of a scale for exercise motivation among Filipinos, will be discussed.

In order to correctly and consistently use condoms as protection during sex, individuals first typically engage in preparatory behaviors such as acquiring a condom. This paper explores Filipino men’s efficacy beliefs about condom acquisition using data from the 2003 National Demographic & Health Survey. Results show that many Filipino men believe they could obtain a condom for themselves if they wanted to, though these efficacy beliefs were related to embarrassment about buying condoms, prior heterosexual experience, and socioeconomic status, but not to knowledge of condoms’ protective ability or to other demographic factors. The critical role of embarrassment as a social emotion surrounding condom acquisition as well as the importance of examining preparatory behaviors for research and intervention purposes are discussed.

Current reported HIV infection rates among Filipino men may be relatively low, but so is HIV testing, a necessary behavioral step for determining oneís serostatus. Using data from a nationally representative sample of N = 3,519 sexually active Filipino men ages 15 to 54 who participated in the National Demographic & Health Survey (2003), we explored HIV testing as a sexual health behavior. Results indicated that overall testing rate was extremely low (4.7%). HIV tests were more commonly taken as part of a requirement than as voluntary, self-initiated action. One out of four tested Filipino men failed to return for their test results. Other sexual health behaviors like recent condom use were associated with having been tested, unlike HIV-related cognitions. Among those never been tested, half reported wanting to undergo HIV testing, although many did not know where the test was available. The significance of HIV testing for personal and public health, as well as implications for psychological research and practice, are discussed.

How satisfied are Filipino college students with their lives and do their respective fathers and mothers accurately gauge this? In an empirical demonstration of self-other agreement in a family context, we investigated self-reports of global life satisfaction vis-á-vis father - and mother-judgments in a sample of N=68 student-mother-father triads using Diener et al’s (1985) Satisfaction With Life Scale validated using Sycip et al. (2000) measure of Filipino well -being. Results showed moderate convergence for self vs mother-reports, with a general overestimation bias for both fathers and mothers. Multiple regression analysis suggested that mother-reports, compared to father -reports, appeared to be better predictors of adolescent children's self-reported levels of life satisfaction, Students with mothers and fat hers who made less discrepant judgments also tended to have higher self-reported life satisfaction. Results are discussed using the Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM) of personality judgment (Funder, 1995) as well as findings in family psychology.

Using data from the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey, this report presents baseline findings on Filipino men’s self-reported condom use during gay sex. A nationally representative sample of N = 4,766 Filipino men ages 15 to 54 indicate that 6.8% of sexually active men had had sex with another man at least once, with a higher proportion among the young adult, 15 to 24 year-old subset (15.5%). Despite prevalent beliefs that condoms could protect against disease, the level of actual condom use during first gay sex was very low (10.1%). Descriptive findings are analyzed using a sexual culture perspective, which points to further sexuality research directions including improved assessment of sexual behaviors and more in-depth investigation of social dynamics and contexts of sex between Filipino men.

Using a learner-centered, mixed qualitative-quantitative approach, we explored the needs, experiences, and contexts of sexuality education of Filipino gay and bisexual male college students. A convenience sample of 121 self-identified gay/bisexual male Filipino college students answered a structured questionnaire asking them to rate 44 possible topics they would like to be discussed in a classroom-based college human sexuality class. Topics most wanted by gay/bisexual learners were sexual identity and orientation, love, body image, HIV/AIDS, gender roles, and friendship. Survey findings are grounded in the context of learners’ experiences of sexuality education which we explored using a focus group with seven selected Filipino gay students. 219 suggestions made by respondents for improving sexuality education are also analyzed and presented as well as recommendations for further research.

Using data from national surveys conducted by the Social Weather Station in 1996 and in 2001 (N = 1,200 each), we examined the attitudes of Filipinos as a general population toward lesbians and gay men. Secondary analysis of two heterosexism measures included in the surveys indicated that Filipinos held largely negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Many Filipinos (about 28%) considered being gay/lesbian as “can never be justified” while only 4% thought it could “always be justified.” In addition, about 1 out of 4 Filipinos expressed not wanting gay men/lesbians as neighbors. These heterosexist views did not change significantly from 1996 to 2001 and were widespread, regardless of gender, socio-economic status, educational attainment, or religiosity. Respondents from NCR had the least negative evaluations, and attitudes toward lesbians and gay men were positively correlated to attitudes toward sex work, abortion, and divorce.

The question of whether heterosexual men, as observers, would perceive sexual interest in another male’s friendliness as a function of knowing he is gay was experimentally investigated. Thirty-six heterosexual male undergraduate students read vignettes featuring conversational interaction between two men. Sexual orientations of the characters were manipulated, and participants rated both characters on various trait terms, including an index of sexual interest. Measures of liking for characters and of attitudes toward gay men and being gay were also administered. As predicted, a gay character was rated to be more sexually interested in and to like his heterosexual co-actor, compared to when the same character was known to be heterosexual. Attitudes toward gay men and being gay predicted liking a gay character but failed to mediate the perception of sexual interest. Results are discussed in terms of social perception processes and suggestions for further investigation are presented.