The recent decision of the Telecom Ministry directing the internet service providers to block access to 857 websites hosting pornographic content has resulted in a massive outcry. The ban has its origin in a public interest litigation (PIl) filed in the Supreme Court in 2013 by Kamlesh Vaswani, a lawyer, on the pretext that porn plays a destructive role in society and promotes violence against women.
Though Communications and Information Technology Minister Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has explained that “it is not an attempt at ‘Talibanisation’ of the internet but a move based on the SC’s observations while hearing Vaswani's petition”, social activists have highly criticised the directive as a restraint on individual freedom. However, given the public criticism a new order has been issued asking the service providers to block access to only those sites which have child pornographic content.
Children and porn trade
Child pornography is considered one of the most established businesses in the United States associated with the runaway children. R Barri Flowers in his book Runaway Kids and Teenage Prostitution: America's lost, Abandoned, and Sexually Exploited Children explores the complex and relentless problem of street kids in America, children who run away or leave home on compulsion.
They have a history of complex trauma that usually begins with a dysfunctional or neglectful family. Childhood sexual abuse and neglect, drug abuse, mental health and behavioral problems, sexual promiscuity, and issues related to gender identity are some of the common problems that they suffer and which compel them to run away.
Barri provides the data collected by the National Incidence Studies Report on Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children in America (NISMART).
NISMART estimates that approximately 4,46,700 children run away from their households every year among which approximately 60 per cent are female. According to the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), nearly 40 per cent of runaway youth had parents who received public assistance or lived in public housing.
This in fact indicates that poor economic condition of the family often leads to family homelessness which in turn may lead to a youth being homeless on their own as they turn older or are separated from their families. Barri further explains how these children often become victims of sexual exploitation by pimps, prostitution customers, pornographers, and pedophiles.
Barri elaborates how these children exposed to pornography undergo multiple psychological and physical traumas. As these children are exploited they experience anxiety, withdrawal, hopelessness, low self-esteem, and hence develop suicidal tendency. These apart unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual assault, substance abuse, and violence are frequently experienced by the hapless children.
Johnson in Teen Prostitution writes that pornography of children is not just physical nakedness but an emotional stripping as well. The loss of innocence is another irreparable harm that pornography does to a child.
Porn business: Few facts
Unlike the USA, India doesn’t maintain reliable statistics on missing, throwaway and runaway children. Nor does India have reliable statistics on children forced into the porn business. However, the complexity of the issue can be understood by analysing the following facts related to porn business.
· Demand for child porn is much higher
· Demand for porn, shot without the consent of women involved, is higher
· Most of the porn clippings are the result of betrayed relationship
· A large number of porn clippings enter the market after being used to blackmail the women
· The life of a woman involved in forced or consented porn is more vulnerable than a prostitute as it becomes difficult for a porn actor to overcome the freezed image and get rid of the stigma
· High digitalisation has made the situation worse as things go viral within a few seconds. In other words it takes just a few seconds to strip a woman publically.
· Tendency among people, habituated to porn, to frequently demand change, excitement, and new innovations in porn
· Most of the porn actors in India belong to the poor and oppressed class
· Children of the porn actors, not being accepted in the mainstream society, are often forced into this industry
· The porn actors, in India, are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases
The market demand for porn clippings, especially MMS shot by hidden cameras, is much higher compared to the adult movies. So high is the demand that even high brands are unable to safeguard the modesty of the women. Reprobates seep through security and implant hidden cameras in washrooms, hotels, hostels, trial rooms, either to gratify their nauseating mentality or make some quick money. HRD Minister Smriti Irani noticed one such hidden camera in the trial room of a Fab India showroom in Goa. A few well-known names too have experienced such humiliation. A lot of cases related to school kids have been reported. Of many the MMS scandal of a Class X student of DPS has been the most infamous. Only a few cases come to the notice of general public whereas innumerous incidents which ruin the lives of the youngsters go unnoticed.
The privacy of others is breached for the amusement of a few sick people. Vulnerable underage girls are often beguiled by perverts into emotional relationship and are not only exploited but are also blackmailed on the basis of the video clips. The clippings are further used to compel these exploited girls to bring their friends into the trap. The infamous Ajmer blackmail scandal is an instance where more than 100 young girls were sexually exploited and were being used to oblige high profile people.
The movie, Kalyug, directed by Mohit Suri addresses the issue of MMS scandal and shows how innocent people oblivious of the hidden camera get entrapped in controversy which often compels them to commit suicide.
Frivolous citation of Indian constitution
Citing Article 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the annoyed citizens are trying to substantiate their arguments against the move of the Government. Article 21 guarantees the protection of life and personal liberty. It says that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by the law. Similarly Article 19 guarantees freedom of speech and expression. These two articles are included in our Constitution to safeguard the rights of the citizens but not to ensure loopholes to exploit the weak.
We are fighting for our rights but at what costIJ Watching porn within the confinement of our bedroom is of course our personal choice but is it limited to our personal spaceIJ Are we watching animated movieIJ When other human beings are involved, it doesn’t remain a personal choice.
Many would argue that some do enter this industry deliberately. True, sometimes they do but we need to analyse the complex structure of our society to understand the reason. In a patriarchal society women are either worshipped as goddesses or consumed as an object, denying them human rights. Both the constructed images constrict the horizon they live within. Once they trespass the “laxman rekha” they are not taken back. Often young women who leave home to be with the men they love are betrayed. Sometimes women entrapped in difficult situations, be in terms of physical or mental abuse, elope to escape but fall prey to another entrapment. Returning for them becomes difficult. This apart from financial troubles, mounting responsibilities coupled with illiteracy, lack of professional education, and ignorance lead many helpless women to opt for this profession.
Even many aspiring actors who fail to create a space for themselves in the mainstream cinema take refuge in porn industry in order to sustain. In a patriarchal society, it becomes nearly impossible for the underprivileged women, especially who step out, to survive without being exploited.
Porn industry is based on the physical attributes of a person. With age our body withers away. Given this limitation how long would they manage to survive in this industryIJ Are we mature enough to incorporate them in the mainstream societyIJ Do we, who advocate our personal choice and liberty, allow them their personal spaceIJ Do we let them live a normal lifeIJ Don’t we get judgmental and deny them respect that they deserve as a human beingIJ
Sunny leone, a well-known name in Bollywood who also happens to be a former Canadian porn star, has described her experience in India as one of the worst. In an interview to a national daily, she accused the Indian filmmakers of discrimination. She stated, “I had lot of bitter experiences in the beginning of my career, during that time a few producers approached me I thought they came for a movie agreement so I signed for them and later they wanted me to act in that films which I don’t want to do.”
In another interview, she revealed, “There is discrimination in Bollywood in terms of the roles that I am offered, and also in relation to my past. I am not here to follow my past, but to carve my future in Bollywood. However, there are a lot of people in Bollywood who discriminate against me. I don’t want to do something that is illegal in this country. I want a chance, and I hope that there is some sense of acceptance.”
Despite all her attempts to change her image she is still addressed as a porn star. If a world renowned name is not able to overcome her past and start afresh how can we expect others who are less privileged in terms of beauty, name and fame to start anewIJ
Since time immemorial it has been the policy of men in power to criticise women in public whom they have exploited in private.
Many have argued that India even being the land of Kamasutra and Khajuraho temple considers sex a taboo. The aesthetic representation of love and union transcends the erotic images of Kamasutra and Khajuraho into something spiritual. Apart from other Hindu values depicted through the sculptors of Khajuraho, “the Kama scenes, when seen in combination of sculptures that precede and follow, depict the spiritual themes such as moksha.” As Stella Kramrisch puts it, “This state which is ‘like a man and woman in close embrace’ is a symbol of moksa, final release or reunion of two principles, the essence (Purusha) and the nature (Prakriti).” The deities and nymphs symbolise eternal beauty to be worshipped; not to be objectified or exploited.
Can we still claim that watching porn is our personal choice and it doesn’t harm anyoneIJ Either we ban porn completely or grow up to be mature enough to accept and respect the porn actors as other professionals without any hypocrisy.
(Anish Gupta and Aaleya Giri teach Economics and English respectively at Delhi University. They can be reached at pioneer.article@gmail.com)