Is Pornography Good Or Bad? Indian Women Discuss Consumption

Pornography is a very sensitive ground that invites a lot of debate. Some consider it a stress-buster while others outright reject it as unrealistic and harmful for psychology. While both perspectives might be true, can we dismiss pornography as immoral and illegal? I guess not. Pornography isn't only about providing sexual pleasure; it includes a history of arts that were so real that they manifested the beginning of pornography. 

Let's dive back into the history of pornography

Pornography finds its origin in the nude paintings and statues crafted in Western and Greek history. The nude art is considered an important section in academia not just because of its historical presence but also because of its various perceptions. The nude art reflected religious beliefs, mythology, anatomy and even the beauty and aesthetics of perfection. Such arts were earlier considered erotica which is a genre in art which allows the creator to design the subject according to their perspective, usually to celebrate human beauty and sexual gratification. It has high-art aspirations aimed at celebrating, exalting and seeking pleasure. 

This is the reason why many nude paintings of the classical times and even the statues were devoted to religious purposes. For example, the nude statues of men and women in sexual positions in Khujraho of India are solely meant for religious purposes. Moreover, Kamasutra is half-relationship advice and half-sexual advice. Many books written on sex were deemed to improve marital relationships, infidelity and even sex education. However, with the development of technology, erotica was overtaken by graphic pornography. The difference between the two was that erotica was meant for the celebration of beauty but pornography was just a medium to provide immediate sexual arousal and pleasure. 

As far as perception around nudity and pornography is concerned, it is mainly in the eye of the beholder. Some Western tourists who see the nude statues in the temple of India are appalled as they consider it pornography. Many countries consider pornography illegal, while others allow it without any objection. 

Consumption of porn in India

According to 2020 data, 89 per cent of people watched porn on their mobile phones in 2019 leading to a three per cent increase from 86 per cent in 2017. According to another research, the visits of adults to pornographic websites increased by 95 per cent with a 20 per cent jump in its consumption. 

These reports certainly show that Indians are more or less obsessed with porn. However, studies have also shown that pornography has a positive impact on consumers as it helps them in sexual development, gaining sexual confidence, sexual orientation and sexual gratification. In fact, pornography is often considered a medium for sex education. But do women feel comfortable in watching porn? Especially when it is a proven fact that porns are mainly phallocentric and objectifies women.

Women's perception of porn: Spain vs India

According to a study conducted in Spain, many women revealed their perception of pornography. Some women considered porn as a medium to learn about sex which was otherwise taboo. Some considered it as a leverage that allowed quick masturbation, curiosity and sexual arousal.

Some women talked about the distorted content of pornography. They talked about coitus-centred content that didn't allow space for other sexual activities, male-centric porn that subordinated women, creates, unrealistic sexual fantasies, lack of homosexual or lesbian porn and representation of rape, pederasty, and zoophilia. Some women also said that feminist porn, which is not as famous, does not represent women as subservient. It rather represents men, women, transgenders and other non-binary genders as equal. 

However, in the end, none of them outright denied watching porn. 

Do women in India have the same perspective? What do they think about pornography? Let's dig in

Pavi, a journalist, said that she does watch porn sometimes. She started watching porn at the age of 18 because she felt FOMO for not watching it. Talking about how porn helped her, Pavi said, "It kind of made me curious to not just explore, but also made me feel empowered to take charge of my sexual urges and not be dependable on someone even if it was my partner, it gave me the liberty of having the idea of sex was okay and venting out these urges and letting loose to those hormones was okay."

She further talked about the negative consequences of suppressing sexual desires. She said, "I realised the people who control these urges are likely to be more socially weird, kind of in a creepy way. I found many boys who now get aroused even by a stroll of their own relative's dupatta or any normal thing as they have restrained themselves from the exposure and suppressed their sexual urges."

However, Pavi believes that watching porn has a huge potential for addiction and unrealistic expectations. She said, "Searching porn indeed disturbed me with graphic things and sometimes degrading and abusive stuff that I never wished to know about. I fear what it would do to young minds exposed to it. Many of my sexual partners still seem to believe porn is real" She mentioned a 27-year-old man who asked why women scream in porn? Is sex painful? 

Adding to this, Pavi also says that the distorted content of porn doesn't lead to sex education and prefers erotica over pornography. "I also believe the porn industry has the potential of abuse of the actors working. So, ultimately, I conclude these ideas minimise literature porn known as erotica which is not graphic and also would not lead to any abuse of humans like in the porn industry, which could be better in exploring sexuality and urges which is very natural."

Paawani Gupta, a journalist, doesn't watch watch porn. However, she doesn't outright reject it as bad. She says that porn has "multifaced meanings". She says, "It is a source of pleasure but at the cost of female pleasure. So many times from the inception of porn to their culmination somewhere female autonomy is lost and that seeps into the mindset of so many people that porn caters to especially people with low/less education."

Although Paawani says that porn affects the psychology of the viewer 100 per cent. Adding further she says, " Continuously watching something where the concept of female pleasure or the concept of submission and dominance is so distorted that you lose sight of reality and actual people, it hampers your perception about society, your relations and ability to contemplate issues like sexuality and gender."

Sonam Priya, a PhD scholar, has watched porn but just once and her experience was not that good. She said, "I felt disgusting. The only question that raced in my mind was "How could people behave like animals?" However, my friends said that because I watched Western porn, it made me feel uncomfortable. Otherwise, Indian porn is better." Still, Sonam believes that if she wants to feel sexual pleasure, she would like to save it for the first time she will have sex. "I will never watch porn because of the impact it had on my psychology. However, people who watch regularly can answer it better. But all I would like to say is that not watching porn has no negative impact on me." 

Joen Melody, an Assistant Professor, outright denied pornography. She has never watched one and has no intention to watch it. She said, "It is extremely detrimental to physical, mental and spiritual health." 

Neha*, a PhD aspirant, said that she doesn't watch porn but also admitted that pornography has its pros and cons. Talking about the cons, she said, "Porn causes addiction, unrealistic ideas about sex and expectation of the same from their partners which destroys the sex life." However, the pros of pornography, as Neha said, were spicing things up in life and even a stress buster for many.

Titikasha Kashyap, a PR Professional, watches porn and started it when she was in school. However, she believes that one should watch porn only after getting sex education. She said, "Porn doesn't relate with the reality. It shows bizarre concepts like incest, gang rape and more. Female subjugation is pervasive. If a person watches porn without sex education, they will develop a wrong idea about sex." 

How porn affects mental and physical health

As per a study, porn addiction causes depression, anxiety and isolation from family and others. Males who frequently watch porn and are aroused only by hard-core porn suffer from a lack of pleasure in sex life and even erectile dysfunction. Porn addiction leads to social isolation too. 

The worst scenario is that porn addiction increases incidents of rape. Recently, I reported an incident in which a brother raped and strangulated his sister to death after watching porn. 

However, we need to note that the adverse impacts of porn happen when it becomes an 'addiction'. People are misled by porn when they don't get sex education from outside. Porn distorts mindset when it is unrealistic, patriarchal, homophobic and even sadist. So, rather than debunking porn, which helps many people in sexual development, we need to change the content of porn and restrict the times a viewer visits porn websites. Porn creators need to stop objectifying and suppressing women in the reel and real life. When feminist porn caters to all the needs, why not popularise that?

Views expressed are the author's own.