My own views on pornography don't matter here.
Here, the thing we must focus on here is personal liberty, plus how we must approach topics like these.
Recently, the Government of India 'banned' 857 websites because they had 'pornographic content'. Why? The reason was some vague nonsense about 'their concerns over child pornography' and, as some accounts go, to 'also reduce sex crimes'.
How asinine. How incredibly stupid. How myopic and ill-informed.
It reveals the short-sightedness of the people who control policy-making at the highest levels of the administration.
Now, I'm not opposing the ban because I support porn. I don't- I think it demeans women and reduces them to sex objects and humiliates them. And porn which promotes bestiality and sexual violence against women is especially disturbing.
And of course, child porn is disgusting, vile and a punishable offence.
But the question here first is- will a forceful ban on porn work as a deterrent to sex offenders? Then the question comes- How do we approach a slippery slope like whether to ban or not to ban porn?
Yes, it is true that many, many sex criminals- rapists, molesters, child sex abusers and child rapists-, all over the world, have confessed to watching porn before they committed their heinous acts. And why not? Porn encourages a very misguided, perverted, view of both women and children, hypersexualizing them, reducing them to mere sex objects, to be raped, and then killed or left for dead.
But.
But, not all people who watch porn are sex offenders. Also, we need to ask ourselves- will banning porn bring down sex offences and child sex abuse? How? Why?
By forcefully banning porn in a society where sexuality is repressed,sex is a 'dirty thing' and not talked about openly, and men and women cannot easily mingle, fall in love and live together happily, DOES THIS GOVERNMENT REALIZE WHAT A COLOSSAL BLUNDER IT IS COMMITTING?
No, it doesn't. Because it seems to have thrown all sense out the window.
In a sexually repressed society, a lot of people find their only succor in porn, because of many reasons. Whether porn is wrong or right, it is what keeps them sated. Take that away and one day, they will turn on real women and rape them brutally.
Let's not talk about pedophiles here-they need a shrink anyway. And child porn involves child sex abuse- so it's a crime. Adult porn, at least to some extent, is filmed by consent.
We must be careful to see the gap porn is filling. Porn is illegal, porn is taboo, and yet, people across the world watch it- in secret. No one wants to announce they watch porn- it has been known to destroy relationships too. And yet, the porn industry thrives. Why? There is some need it is exploiting by filling it, some gap it is addressing.
So how do you find that gap and find another way to fill it?
By having a scientific, open discussion. On sex, sexuality, psychosexual aberrations and sexual violence, and the psychosocial implications of pornography. Because all these things are related to pornography- very deeply related. We need to involve men, women, even parents, sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, criminologists and behavioral scientists. Even writers, academicians and other such intellectuals should be involved. We need to have an open, healthy debate on these topics. We need to establish the link between porn as a cause of sexual violence and child abuse too perhaps- develop a scientific correlation, present empirical evidence. THAT is the right way to do it. Informed, scientific, ratiocinated debate, and an educated consensus reached.
And then, the consensus to ban porn, or at least, not watch it, must come from the public themselves. Because the gap that had to be addressed has now found a way to be alternatively addressed. No need to watch porn any longer, perhaps.
But what does this government do?
Look at the hypocrisy. The government will shy away from sex education, saying it's against 'Indian culture' and that 'adolescents will want to have sex if we teach them about it'. What bullshit! Adolescents and young adults indulge in risky sexual behavior because of the LACK of knowledge. They are not so dumb that a sex education class will spur them to try sex in real life. Instead, it will encourage them to be open and frankly talk about sex, and not have to turn to porn to fulfill their curiosity and assuage their libidos. Their curiosity is being fed not with trashy porn sites and Fifty Shades of Grey, but with proper, interesting knowledge about sex, sexuality, sexual behavior and how to live with one's partner.
But they won't listen.
They won't make the streets safer for women and kids. They won't maintain a registry of sex offenders and child abusers, and keep a watch on them. They won't build rape crisis centers for rape survivors, they won't sensitize and train doctors to deal with, and provide care to survivors of sex crimes. They won't sensitize society towards gender violence and respecting and supporting women, acknowledging their rights and freedom, and kicking patriarchy and misogyny in the butt. They won't sensitize the police to register FIRs and be sensitive and helpful to sex crime survivors and abused children. NO. Because this takes REAL effort. Besides, how will they sensitize the public when MPs and MLAs are famous for making sexist comments, without shame, and they won't even apologize? MPs watch porn during running Parliament sessions. How the hell can they tell the lay citizen to not watch it?
So what do you do when you don't want to put any real effort to change the ground situation?
You ban porn. As if that is the sole cause of sexual violence against women and children, and banning porn will make the rape and child abuse rates go to ZERO.
This is one of those half-baked, ill-informed, asinine, irrational methods one adopts when they don't want to take any real action, or make a real, concerted effort to being about positive change.
This ban, and then revoking it two days later, holding the ISPs responsible for 'filtering child porn' show how much judgmentally impaired this government is. It does not make its decisions based on scientific data and educated opinions, but instead, on whimsy and its changing moods. Is this a responsible government? Is this the 'Acche Din' bullshit that was being bandied about in May 2014? Can this government be trusted to make proper decisions to bring about progress and development?
NO.
And thus, we sit and watch as this government makes an ever greater fool of itself in the future.
Here, the thing we must focus on here is personal liberty, plus how we must approach topics like these.
Recently, the Government of India 'banned' 857 websites because they had 'pornographic content'. Why? The reason was some vague nonsense about 'their concerns over child pornography' and, as some accounts go, to 'also reduce sex crimes'.
How asinine. How incredibly stupid. How myopic and ill-informed.
It reveals the short-sightedness of the people who control policy-making at the highest levels of the administration.
Now, I'm not opposing the ban because I support porn. I don't- I think it demeans women and reduces them to sex objects and humiliates them. And porn which promotes bestiality and sexual violence against women is especially disturbing.
And of course, child porn is disgusting, vile and a punishable offence.
But the question here first is- will a forceful ban on porn work as a deterrent to sex offenders? Then the question comes- How do we approach a slippery slope like whether to ban or not to ban porn?
Yes, it is true that many, many sex criminals- rapists, molesters, child sex abusers and child rapists-, all over the world, have confessed to watching porn before they committed their heinous acts. And why not? Porn encourages a very misguided, perverted, view of both women and children, hypersexualizing them, reducing them to mere sex objects, to be raped, and then killed or left for dead.
But.
But, not all people who watch porn are sex offenders. Also, we need to ask ourselves- will banning porn bring down sex offences and child sex abuse? How? Why?
By forcefully banning porn in a society where sexuality is repressed,sex is a 'dirty thing' and not talked about openly, and men and women cannot easily mingle, fall in love and live together happily, DOES THIS GOVERNMENT REALIZE WHAT A COLOSSAL BLUNDER IT IS COMMITTING?
No, it doesn't. Because it seems to have thrown all sense out the window.
In a sexually repressed society, a lot of people find their only succor in porn, because of many reasons. Whether porn is wrong or right, it is what keeps them sated. Take that away and one day, they will turn on real women and rape them brutally.
Let's not talk about pedophiles here-they need a shrink anyway. And child porn involves child sex abuse- so it's a crime. Adult porn, at least to some extent, is filmed by consent.
We must be careful to see the gap porn is filling. Porn is illegal, porn is taboo, and yet, people across the world watch it- in secret. No one wants to announce they watch porn- it has been known to destroy relationships too. And yet, the porn industry thrives. Why? There is some need it is exploiting by filling it, some gap it is addressing.
So how do you find that gap and find another way to fill it?
By having a scientific, open discussion. On sex, sexuality, psychosexual aberrations and sexual violence, and the psychosocial implications of pornography. Because all these things are related to pornography- very deeply related. We need to involve men, women, even parents, sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, criminologists and behavioral scientists. Even writers, academicians and other such intellectuals should be involved. We need to have an open, healthy debate on these topics. We need to establish the link between porn as a cause of sexual violence and child abuse too perhaps- develop a scientific correlation, present empirical evidence. THAT is the right way to do it. Informed, scientific, ratiocinated debate, and an educated consensus reached.
And then, the consensus to ban porn, or at least, not watch it, must come from the public themselves. Because the gap that had to be addressed has now found a way to be alternatively addressed. No need to watch porn any longer, perhaps.
But what does this government do?
Look at the hypocrisy. The government will shy away from sex education, saying it's against 'Indian culture' and that 'adolescents will want to have sex if we teach them about it'. What bullshit! Adolescents and young adults indulge in risky sexual behavior because of the LACK of knowledge. They are not so dumb that a sex education class will spur them to try sex in real life. Instead, it will encourage them to be open and frankly talk about sex, and not have to turn to porn to fulfill their curiosity and assuage their libidos. Their curiosity is being fed not with trashy porn sites and Fifty Shades of Grey, but with proper, interesting knowledge about sex, sexuality, sexual behavior and how to live with one's partner.
But they won't listen.
They won't make the streets safer for women and kids. They won't maintain a registry of sex offenders and child abusers, and keep a watch on them. They won't build rape crisis centers for rape survivors, they won't sensitize and train doctors to deal with, and provide care to survivors of sex crimes. They won't sensitize society towards gender violence and respecting and supporting women, acknowledging their rights and freedom, and kicking patriarchy and misogyny in the butt. They won't sensitize the police to register FIRs and be sensitive and helpful to sex crime survivors and abused children. NO. Because this takes REAL effort. Besides, how will they sensitize the public when MPs and MLAs are famous for making sexist comments, without shame, and they won't even apologize? MPs watch porn during running Parliament sessions. How the hell can they tell the lay citizen to not watch it?
So what do you do when you don't want to put any real effort to change the ground situation?
You ban porn. As if that is the sole cause of sexual violence against women and children, and banning porn will make the rape and child abuse rates go to ZERO.
This is one of those half-baked, ill-informed, asinine, irrational methods one adopts when they don't want to take any real action, or make a real, concerted effort to being about positive change.
This ban, and then revoking it two days later, holding the ISPs responsible for 'filtering child porn' show how much judgmentally impaired this government is. It does not make its decisions based on scientific data and educated opinions, but instead, on whimsy and its changing moods. Is this a responsible government? Is this the 'Acche Din' bullshit that was being bandied about in May 2014? Can this government be trusted to make proper decisions to bring about progress and development?
NO.
And thus, we sit and watch as this government makes an ever greater fool of itself in the future.
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