GRANDEZA Y DEBILIDADES DEL ESPONTANEÍSMO

Twenty-five students and 25 slum dwellers were interviewed. The data obtained from these interviews were analysed using frequency distributions.

5.3.1 First intercourse

Except for 10 slum dwellers who had first experienced sexual intercourse at the age of 17, the rest of the slum dwellers, and the 25 students had first

experienced intercourse at varying ages (Figure 5.2). More than half of the 25 students first had coitus with a paid partner. By contrast, about the same number of slum dwellers first had coitus with a girlfriend (Figure 5.3).

The contexts in which respondents first experienced intercourse followed a discernible pattern. Among the 25 students, half - in particular those whose first partner was paid - experienced first coitus in the context of peer-led or peer group-led activities. Typically, respondents, together with a friend or peer group, had first had a drinking spree, a party or had watched an x-rated video, and then had visited a sauna bath, night club or brothel. Among the 25 slum dwellers, first intercourse had occurred either during dating, or in a context similar to that in which many students first had intercourse. In referring to their first coitus, some students and slum dwellers used the phrases niyaya ng barkada (enjoined by my peers), and bininyagan ng kaibigan o kabarkada

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Figure 5.2 Age at first intercourse

(baptised by a friend or peer group).

Discussants pointed out that for some adolescent men, the first coital experience represented a very significant event. It was likely for these men to feel that they had become real men once they had experienced sexual

intercourse. Discussants believed that there would be young males who engaged in intercourse just to show that they were not bakla (homosexuals). It was further stressed that the pressure to prove manhood through sexual intercourse often came from peers, and that the need to conform seemed to be so strong that some told their friends they were coitally experienced when in fact they were not, just to avoid being embarrassed. Slum-based discussants did not think that first intercourse mainly occurred with a girlfriend; they believed that first coitus was generally experienced either with a friend, a newly-met partner or a paid partner. In contrast, there was a consensus among student discussants that first coitus mostly took place with a paid partner. Some students offered explanations as to why this was so:

F ig u re 5 .3 T y p e s o f fi rs t c o ita l p a rt n e r 170 !u m dw ell er s (n = 2 5 )

In your first experience, you just like to, eh, try, really, try ... you do not want different sex yet, you only wish to have experience. In a paid partner, that's what you can readily get, right?

At age 16, age 16, what are your options to have intercourse? Either prostitutes or if you have a girlfriend. But not with your girlfriend because it's sacred, necessary that, in other words, untouchable, it's different. Therefore, the only option is a prostitute. You also cannot flirt in the bars like what they have in the United States where you meet a girl, and then easily, you go out with her. Your only option, really, is a prostitute.

In our peer group, a prostitute, that's really it. Because there are many Catholic schools in our place. So rarely can you find females with whom you can have

intercourse. So usually prostitute.

How quickly respondents had had their second intercourse after

experiencing their first is not a question that can be answered from the personal interview data. The few suggestions offered in the group discussions tend to indicate that the timing of coital events following the first varied - some were perceived to have occurred a day after their first encounter, others a month later, and still others several years later. Discussants opined that the

immediacy of the timing of the coitus following the first was contingent upon the personality of the individual, how he valued and regarded sexual

intercourse, and how much access he had to coital opportunities that matched his preferences. Although the gap between respondents' first and second coital events was not explored in the personal interviews, the available data suggest that most students (20 of 25) and most slum dwellers (19 of 25) had continued having intercourse after experiencing their first.

5.3.2 Current coital activity and lifetime coital partners

Respondents' further engagement in premarital coitus was reflected in their coital activity in the six months prior to interview, during which period the overwhelming majority of both students and slum dwellers were found to have had intercourse (Table 5.2). The frequencies with which coitally active respondents had had intercourse in the past six months did not differ from students to slum dwellers. Variations in coital frequencies were evident, though, among respondents in each group. Both students and slum dwellers had had intercourse either with one, or two or more different partners in the last six months. Most students had had intercourse with one type of partner who was variously a girlfriend, friend, paid partner, or newly-met partner. Slum dwellers had had intercourse with either one or two partner types. Those who had had one partner type had had intercourse mainly with girlfriends; of those who had had two partner types, almost all had girlfriends as one of those partner types.

When respondents were asked whether or not the frequencies with which they had had coitus in the past six months were usual, responses were varied (not presented in Table 5.2). Ten of 18 students coitally active during this period, for example, assessed that their coital activity was not usual - with about equal numbers saying it was greater and lower than normal. Some students said their activity was normal, while others could not assess whether it was normal or not. Of the 19 coitally active slum dwellers, half regarded their coital frequency in the last six months as normal, while five said it was not. Five slum dwellers could not assess whether their coital frequency during the relevant period was normal or not.

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Table 5.2 Various aspects of coital behaviour among coitally experienced personal interviewees

Variables Students (n=25) Slum dwellers (n=25)

N u m b e r o f c o ita l e v e n ts in la s t s ix m o n th s No intercourse 7 6 One 5 5 Two 1 3 Three 3 4 Four 3 - Above four 6 7 T o ta l 25 25 N u m b e r o f c o ita l p a rtn e rs in la s t s ix m o n th s One 10 10 Two 3 3 Above two 5 6 T o ta l 18 19 T y p e s o f c o ita l p a r tn e r in la s t s ix m o n th s One partner type

p a id 3 1

n e w ly -m e t b u t u n p a id p a r tn e r 3 -

g irlfrie n d s 5 8

frie n d s 2 1

Two partner types 4 7

Three or four partner types 1 2

T o ta l 18 19

N u m b e r o f life tim e c o ita l p a rtn e rs

One 5 6 Two 5 3 Three 3 7 Four 2 2 Above four 10 7 T o ta l 25 25

T y p e s o f life tim e c o ita l p a r tn e r One partner type

p a id 4

n e w ly -m e t b u t u n p a id p a r tn e r - -

g irlfrie n d s 3 7

frie n d s 2 2

Two partner types 10 9

Three or four partner types 6 7

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aged 18-19 age group as being unpredictable and often unplanned, and they mentioned several explanations. Students and slum dwellers alike identified financial resources as important in determining the likelihood of having had intercourse in the past six months. They claimed that resources were required even if coitus were to take place with an unpaid partner (for example, with a friend or a girlfriend), because of incidental expenses relating to transport, hotel accommodation, food and drinks. The unpredictable timing of coital opportunities, especially in unpaid contexts, was also specified as a

contributing factor; this unpredictability was appropriately described by a discussant: they [opportunities] just came your way, just like that. Other

discussants attributed their access to unpaid coital opportunities having to do with luck [or lack of it], or with having or not having regular coital partners. Moreover, discussants - particularly students - believed that part of the reason why adolescents lacked or had had limited coital activity in the last six months was because that they did not normally think about sexual intercourse most of the time. They added that those young men who regularly had coitus were those who placed importance on it and consequently sought out opportunities to experience it.

Approximate lengths of respondents' coital lifetimes were also calculated. Expressed in years, they refer to the difference between the ages at which respondents first had coitus and the ages at which they were interviewed. Most (20 of 25 students, and 18 of 25 slum dwellers) had coital lifetimes of more than one year (not shown in the table). Over their lifetimes, most students and slum dwellers had had more than one coital partner. Students did not differ much from slum dwellers with respect to the number of their lifetime coital partners, but considerable numbers of respondents from both groups had had intercourse with more than four different partners (Table 5.2). An analysis of the types of coital partner respondents had ever had, indicates

that most students (16 of 25) and slum dwellers (16 of 25) had had intercourse with two or more partner types. The most common partner types among the 16 students were paid partners, and girlfriends. The 16 slum dwellers had had intercourse with a mixture of partner types. It must be noted that at some stage in their coital lifetime, 15 of the 25 students and 19 of the 25 slum dwellers had had a girlfriend for a coital partner.