#YKADebate REPORT: Should Internet Porn Be Banned In India? Here”s What You Had To Say!

By Lata Jha:

Some do it unabashedly. For others, it’s a personal choice they’d rather not discuss. Either way, erotica is an inescapable part of all our lives, histories and societies, in some form or another. Does it bring out the animal in us? Does it increase a female’s chances of being assaulted by males who watch it? And even if we don’t endorse its active proliferation, do we support a complete ban? Youth Ki Awaaz’s recently concluded debate on whether Internet porn should be banned in India couldn’t have been missed for all the reasons one can think of.

Porn, according to some, is severely defiling our cultural mores and beliefs. They spoke of the fact that the basic purpose of these websites and portals should be to educate the youth, but they end up impacting impressionable minds in all the wrong ways. Besides, the long, old culture of erotica in the country has only led to the commodification of women, apart from encouraging immoral practices like broken families and multiple sex partners. They attributed this phase to a ‘confused transitional culture’ influenced unduly by the West. Some even went to the extent of quoting instances of sexual offenders who have admitted to watching porn or having been sexually abused by someone influenced by porn early in life. Images and video certainly have an impact on the psyche.

Those opposing the ban had just as fierce arguments. They believe that rapes happen not because erotica has been a part of our culture, but because of perverted attitudes and mindsets. In a society where we’re yet to eradicate evils like child marriage and sati savitri, where having a female friend is the same thing as sleeping with her, and the daughter-in-law is the family’s chew toy, you can hardly attribute assaults on women to something people watch on the net. The solution, they feel is to provide sex education and counselling for people who need it, and work towards changing attitudes along with ensuring faster trials for rapists and police reforms. Banning porn will only add to the social stigma and the taboo associated with openly discussing sex. Also, it’s not like women do not watch porn, so they should be out on the streets raping people too. And rapes happened way before online porn even came into existence. Most importantly, in a democracy like ours, one has the right to watch, read and listen to any and everything one wishes and has access to.

Is banning truly the solution, or even one of the solutions? Is that how we’re looking at long term challenges of achieving gender sensitivity and equality? With incidents of assaults on women showing no signs of abating, we really to introspect a little more before we point fingers.

Check out the debate — as it happened. Click here!