Editor’s Note: The following story contains details which may offend sensibilities. This is not to glorify or justify the actions of the protagonists.This is an attempt to call the attention of the government and the society on this social phenomenon.

IT all started when a friend told me people could be feasting on him on social media. My friend, 37, has just parted from his partner. It was a bitter parting. They were fighting for hours. Soon after, the many photos and videos documenting their intimate moments, well, steamy nights, have been uploaded on Twitter.

My friend’s partner was fighting back. The uploaded visuals were meant to blackmail him, his former partner wanting to get even.

Expression of rage

Now, my friend’s new-found “stardom” happened simply as a repercussion of a love gone wrong. But his case wasn’t something new. It happened to so many other gay couples. Too many sex videos have proliferated in social media, as if it were any normal post, though it may be appear shocking to the public at large.

Now most of you may ask, why is it a norm? When has uploading private photos and videos on a public space, whether intentional or accidental, been a norm? While some are victims just like my friend, others are bold and shameless in displaying their meat online to look for love, validation or simply as a form of expression. 

  Monetizing sex videos

Eventually, several others turned this vulgarity into business. The potential of social media to expand  communications  twinned by the ease of internet transactions became the lethal combo that propagated the commerce of online pornography and prostitution. 

Through the years, virtual flesh trade broke ground and evolved so irrepressibly that it made room for more convenience, innovation, and matter-of-factly, safety, or whatever it is the alter could provide.  

So many young men and women, from all walks of life, show videos, using not their real names. 

 

 Welcome to the Alter world!

Alter can be “a pseudonym, often a second account used to express oneself in a discreet way or without risking one’s true identity.” 

It is intended to provide space specifically on Twitter for individuals yearning to express another side of themselves they rarely or simply cannot show to the world, not unlike some kind of freedom wall.

However, there are those who managed to use the platform to modernize the flesh business and tailor-fit the ropes to make the industry thrive amid life and health crises, and it did. 

And so to fully understand the trade I decided to explore the alter world and here is what I found. 

I started by making a dummy Twitter account and searched the space using the word “alter.” 

The search revealed men and women, mostly juvenile, teasing the alteraudience with provocative photos carrying explicit and oftentimes commanding sexual invitations. 

 Women usually sell out videos showing them playing with their breasts and genitals as well as using sex toys. They sometimes showcase actual sex which they film with fellow alters in what they call a “collaboration” or “collab.’’ When you encounter the word collab, it always refer to sex, involving a man and a woman, a man and another man, a woman and another woman, or a group sex, or orgy.

 Noticeably, these alter accounts carry a bio description “Not followed by anyone you’re following.” 

As I was told, there are two kinds of alterstars. Some show their faces while others don’t. Those who show their faces tend to earn better than those who hide. 

Usually, they would use screen names, just like in the movies. 

 I tried messaging a number of alters and noticeably, most of their invitations carried their Telegram IDs. Telegram is a popular messaging app preferred by many because of its features for enhanced privacy and in a business like virtual pornography, Telegram perfectly goes together with Twitter. 

Once you take your pick, you may message them on Telegram to negotiate. So I did to compare their rates. Here are some of them.  

 I searched further and I found a girl who sells her stuff for an unbelievable bargain of P200.   I was taken aback. At first, I could not get over how any woman could reduce herself to that price but thinking big on the flip side, the business flies not by the price but by the number, or categorically in today’s terms, subscribers. 

Just like a regular business, they have a menu of services. What was so surprising to me was the cheap rates alter stars settle for compared to that of a traditional hooker. 

Based on the rates, a buyer may choose to purchase pre-filmed videos usually showing all kinds of  “self provided pleasures” as well as actual sex with a partner for the price of a movie ticket or a fancy dinner. On the other hand, if the patron prefers some live action, he can go for video calls which are priced by the minute. 

Interestingly, if anyone wants longer fandom, he can  have unlimited access to an alterstar’s content by paying for their premium or VIP channels.

From here, I honestly felt appalled by the flagrancy of virtual flesh trade and the bargain price they sell themselves for. Then again, I reminded myself I am in no place to cast judgments because people have reasons for doing the things they do.  

And so we had negotiations on telegram. I would bet, this girl probably sensed I was a newbie with the way I asked and answered questions.

Taking from the chat, she said I could purchase fairly longer content for P499, but I only paid the cheaper one. 

Next, I forwarded her the payment through GCash. I was told that most, if not all, alter stars transact payments through GCash. 

And here comes the exciting part. 

Beforehand, I subscribed to Telegram premium first for P131 as a requirement. Once I sent my receipt, she sent me back a link and when I opened it, boom, as if something pricked my eyes.

I am no stranger to porn, everyone pretty much watches it fairly regularly especially us Filipinos who, according to data, spent the longest time on a particular porn site in 2021. However there’s that feeling of uneasiness that rushes in when you come across the content of a real-life virtual “porn star” or at least what they’re commonly called because they are people  we can come across with anytime. 

Before I did this, my skepticism was at peak.  I was worried to let myself in such a universe because I was afraid to be hooked, I was afraid to imbibe the culture and eventually but very remotely possibly, be influenced to try alter and join the “norm”.

But it also feels weirdly empowering to be knowledgeable in these kinds of industries so that we, at the very least, can help in blustering this systemic problem that corrupts the youth. 

Lastly, I do believe in the idea of having a sacred space, to express one’s hidden self. It sets you free and it makes you live another life you wish were your reality. 

Surely, we all have that hidden self sitting quietly somewhere inside of us. It’s just up to us however to use it to simply express and be instrumental for public good or be at odds with it.