Pornography and it’s effects

WHAT DOES PORNOGRAPHY MEAN?

The word Pornography comes from 2 Greek words

• Porni – which means Prostitute

• Graphein – which means to write

The word in whole means – work of writing, videography, photography or etc. which are erotic in nature and are used for sexual excitements, which interm describes the life of a prostitute.

DATA RELATED TO IT?

The worldwide rate of watching pornography has increased by 10.5% during the initial lockdown in 2020 and of India by 33%. During the lockdown of 3 weeks in 2020 in India it was reported that there was a spike by 95% in traffic. India’s registration had a 20% jump in consumption before the official lockdown was announced. During the worldwide lockdown around March and April the websites were also offering free subscriptions to all.

PANDEMIC AND PORNOGRAPHY

The coronavirus pandemic has changed a lot in our lives like snatching away our freedom to move around freely to putting us slaves to the screen be it for office works or studies. The quarantine and self isolations has been causing boredom which has triggered people to think that the best escape point is pornography for getting relaxed and for pleasure. For a few it has been proved to be good for mood management and stress relief to cope up with the negative vibes from all around and also from the fear of death and dying alone. As per studies this has also affected sexual behavior of many. As for the young children they have got access to all of the namesake of studies. Since all has gone digital so the studies have also. They have a mobile or laptop or both and unlimited access to the internet and many don’t have any parental control also which leads to them to the world which must be less explored by them that is Pornography.

Fact check : Sharp increase in the number of viewers was seen in few countries like Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. In these countries brothels and sex work were shut down due to the fear of spread of virus. These countries are tourist attraction for sex workers from around and also local. Switzerland has outlawed sex work for the same.

EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY

Pornography has been called as public health hazard by many sources. The new Virtual Reality(VR) technology has increased the number of viewers  for a better experience.

1. IMPACT ON BRAIN – Addiction to anything causes unnatural secretion of a neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Watching pornography is taken as an addiction which works as release of dopamine. It may cause the brain to be unresponsive to natural ways with partners.

2. SEXUAL VIOLENCE – There is said to be no relation between watching pornography and sexual violence except that the men who love to be aggressive and watch porn are most likely to start sexual violence around him.

3. RELATIONSHIPS – Many couples like to role-play like the video they watch and at times end up being so brutal that it causes death. A new research has shown that watching pornography is one of the reason for increase in divorces as there is loss of interest in good family relations and care for each other.

4. BEHAVIORAL IMPACT – Opposite sexes mostly men think the other to be a sex object which at times causes distress. Many partners fear of expectations and start becoming uncomfortable as there is a pseudo world they have made up in their mind.

5. IMPACT ON CHILDREN – Watching pornography by mistake or change in behavior of their parents  can cause effect the mental and sexual development of the child.

6. CLINICAL CONSEQUENCES – Most Pornography promote sex without condoms which is replicated by people causing increase in rate of unwanted pregnancies and also of Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

STEPS TAKEN

1. There are no laws related to banning of watching pornography in one’s private space but steps have been taken to stop pornographic content on children under the order of Supreme court and

• IT Act, 2002

• Protection of children from Sexual Offenses (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Many states have also taken action on surveillance in schools to stop Child Pornography. Like the State of Kerala have taken action in collaboration with Kerala State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).

2. There are many unregulated data that surfaces around through Social Media and many OTT platforms. To have control over their actions IT Act 2021 or Soft Touch Overweight has made rules. The OTT platform should have all videos categorized as per age and the videos that are explicitly 13+ should have parental control. Social media sites are to prohibit the content on pornography, gambling, riot causative or effect foreign relations.

3. Recently we have seen the Uttar Pradesh government has said that they would keep check on what people are searching and if they are alerted then the person would be landing in serious trouble. This step has been taken basically to curb crimes against women and a new team has been made for the same. It is named “UP Women Protection 1090”.

STEPS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN

We see many abandoned kids around who are very likely to be adopted by a good family or fall prey to life of sex worker/ into world of pornography. We must protect these children from being bait of the bad people.

Sex education is being taken seriously by a very few schools. We must start having these classes in all schools. Due to unlimited access to the internet and mobile/laptops, children are being open to a world which has no limit causing them to imitate them or end up doing crimes they never thought of. 

In 2017 according to National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS 4) there was an estimate of 7.9% pregnancies in the age bracket of 15-19, in rural it was higher that is 9.2% and in urban it was 5% in India. Sex is still a taboo word in our society. We do not educate our children on this matter but it should be done and yes with age appropriate content.

CONCLUSION

Pornography is said to be the enemy from which we need to protect our present and future as it can deter with the love, affection and stability of Family and Society. We cannot end it in a day as we know addiction is hard to be stopped abruptly but yes we need to try and keep pornography content out of our lives.

SOURCES
1. nature.com
2. Indiatoday
3. Times of India
4. bbc.com
5. neuroscience news
6. theconservation.com
7. frc.org
8. news18
9. feminismIndia.com