Lost to history are the days when harana — the quaint practice of serenading with a guitar — played a role in Filipino courtship, having been succeeded today by Facebook, Grindr and Tinder.
The internet has sped up the courtship game, but there is nonetheless a “sex recession” underway among Filipino youth. Survey data suggest that Generation Z, or “Zoomers”, born between 1997 and 2012, have less conventional sex than previous generations did, reflecting global trends and local challenges.
These changes have been accompanied in the Philippines by a rise in risky sexual behaviors such as unprotected same-sex relationships, as well as an alarming uptick in HIV cases.
To get a feel for the changes now underway, consider this delphic utterance by a young woman describing her sexual orientation as “biromantic demisexual, leaning AFAB and transmac partners.”
Translation:
“Biromantic”: She experiences romantic, non-sexual, emotional attraction to people of two or more genders.
“Demisexual”: She develops sexual attraction toward someone after forming a strong emotional connection.
“Leaning AFAB and transmasc partners”: Her preferences are for partners who are AFAB, “assigned female at birth”, and transmasc — transmasculine, or transgender men, or gender-nonconforming people who lean toward masculine identities and presentation of self.
This illuminating passage is from a book by The Guardian reproductive health writer Carter Sherman, “The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation’s Fight over the Future”, published earlier this year.
In sum, the good ol’ days of “boy meets girl” are history.
This is supported by data from the Philippines 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, which reveals a notable decline in premarital sex and an increase in risky behaviors since the early 2010s. Low condom use, an increase in sexually transmitted diseases, and high teen pregnancies add to the picture.
The YAFSS series, conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute, has tracked these shifts for decades. In 2021, 22 percent of youth aged 15-24 reported a premarital sex experience — a drop from 32 percent in 2013.
This decline is more pronounced among females — from 29 percent in 2013 to 16 percent in 2021. Early sexual initiation before age 18 fell from 23 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2021. Sex with multiple partners decreased from 24 percent to 19 percent in that period.
These changes suggest a “sex recession” echoing global patterns among Zoomers, where economic pressures, digital distractions, and heightened awareness of risks lead to less sexual activity.
Nonetheless, this drop in sexual activity has been accompanied in the Philippines by a rise in risky behaviors, due partly to a lack of comprehensive sex education. A 2025 study analyzing YAFSS data found that among sexually experienced Filipino youth, 65.5 percent engage in risky sexual behaviors such as unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners, with males at 74.9 percent — far higher than females.
Factors like drug use, smoking, suicidal thoughts, and “virtual sex” — phone sex and sexually suggestive texts and photos — are associated with increases in risky behaviors. Drug use alone is associated with a fourfold increase in these behaviors. After alcohol, the most common abused drug in the Philippines is “shabu”, or methamphetamine, according to the Dangerous Drug Board.
Condom use is low. In 2021, only 8 percent of males and 6 percent of females used a condom during their first premarital encounter, according to survey data. Only 27 percent of males use condoms in high-risk scenarios like paid sex.
Risky behaviors contribute to a surging HIV epidemic in the Philippines. A recent HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report said there were 5,101 new cases of HIV reported in the first quarter of this year, compared to 3,409 cases in the same quarter of last year. Some 46 percent of new infections in 2022 were among 15- to 24-year-olds.
The Department of Health in early June recommended declaring HIV a national health emergency. It said that there was a 500 percent increase in the number of HIV cases from 2010 to 2023 and that the department recorded 57 new cases per day in the first quarter of this year.
Left unchecked, this rate will result in 400,000 cases of people living with HIV by the year 2030, according to the DOH. Antiviral treatment for HIV costs approximately ₱15,000 to ₱20,000 annually.
The Philippines leads all other nations in the Asia Pacific region in terms of the growth in new cases of HIV.
Sexual contact is the main means of transmission of HIV, according to the Department of Health, but since 2007 this has largely shifted from “vanilla sex” — sex between one man and one woman — to sex between young men. In the Philippines, there is a stigma surrounding homosexuality that prevents young men from seeking treatment and prevention services.
Also, comprehensive sex education in schools is frowned upon by the Catholic Church, which believes sex education should be the responsibility of parents rather than schools. Teaching contraceptive use in schools encourages promiscuity, the Church believes.
Furthermore, there is limited access to treatment and prevention services due to lack of funding at the local level.
Bryce McIntyre, PhD, resides in San Andres. He holds a doctoral degree from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA. Grok AI was employed in research for this article.