In the wake of ever increasing sexual violence against women, the government decided to ban porn leading to widespread debates and protests. The government has linked the easy availability of pornographic material to causing deprivation of minds and consequent rapes and other forms of sexual violence instances against women.
Porn and nudity
Porn includes nudity but all forms of nudity is not porn. Nudity might be aesthetic and not at all sexually explicit. The difference between porn and an aesthetic piece of art featuring nudity is that porn is showing of sex for the purpose of arrousing sexual desires and focuses on the objectification of the female whereas an aesthetic piece will be celebrating the human body and focusing on the strength and emotions of the body and the soul without considering sexual incentives. Porn is negative in its approach while some forms of nudity may be positive and empowering.
Porn under the law
Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India provides the freedom of speech and expression subject to eight restrictions including that of decency and morality. Books, films, advertisements all are covered by the provisions of this Article. In the case of R v Hicklin, the criteria of determining obscenity was laid down if the content of the thing is capable of depraving the mind of a reasonable person. In the case of KA Abbas, it was observed that movies have greater impact than books as they effect more than one sense of a person. In the case of Bobby Films (bandit queen), the courts observed that the film depicts the misery of a woman and is not obscene.
A piece of pornography does not highlight the strengths of human body or emotions, rather it focuses on the sexual aspect only. It mainly features the woman as an object of sexual gratification for men. It's purpose is to arrouse the feelings of the viewers. It is a part of the entertainment industry and is not an educational material. It may feature child pornography aimed at entertaining and arrousing pedophiles. It increases the objectification of women and children and may focus of dominance, sadistic relations. Based on these reasons porn falls under the category of obscenity.
The argument that porn is used for learning about sex is also invalid. A proper course is to strictly implement sex education in school curriculum and not treat it as a taboo subject, so that young people learn about sex through proper channels and not through sources that present the depraved version of sex. Further, parents should also be open about the discussion for the safety of their children.
Porn and nudity
Porn includes nudity but all forms of nudity is not porn. Nudity might be aesthetic and not at all sexually explicit. The difference between porn and an aesthetic piece of art featuring nudity is that porn is showing of sex for the purpose of arrousing sexual desires and focuses on the objectification of the female whereas an aesthetic piece will be celebrating the human body and focusing on the strength and emotions of the body and the soul without considering sexual incentives. Porn is negative in its approach while some forms of nudity may be positive and empowering.
Porn under the law
Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India provides the freedom of speech and expression subject to eight restrictions including that of decency and morality. Books, films, advertisements all are covered by the provisions of this Article. In the case of R v Hicklin, the criteria of determining obscenity was laid down if the content of the thing is capable of depraving the mind of a reasonable person. In the case of KA Abbas, it was observed that movies have greater impact than books as they effect more than one sense of a person. In the case of Bobby Films (bandit queen), the courts observed that the film depicts the misery of a woman and is not obscene.
A piece of pornography does not highlight the strengths of human body or emotions, rather it focuses on the sexual aspect only. It mainly features the woman as an object of sexual gratification for men. It's purpose is to arrouse the feelings of the viewers. It is a part of the entertainment industry and is not an educational material. It may feature child pornography aimed at entertaining and arrousing pedophiles. It increases the objectification of women and children and may focus of dominance, sadistic relations. Based on these reasons porn falls under the category of obscenity.
The argument that porn is used for learning about sex is also invalid. A proper course is to strictly implement sex education in school curriculum and not treat it as a taboo subject, so that young people learn about sex through proper channels and not through sources that present the depraved version of sex. Further, parents should also be open about the discussion for the safety of their children.
