ETHICAL PORN: AN ALTERNATIVE TO ALTERED REALITIES
By – Saumya Khatri
Pornography is bad, its a taboo, but the consumption charts tells a different story altogether. Our consumption pattern tells that we as a society, clandestine and thriving on high-morals resort to unethical violent depiction of sexual intercourse often than we can imagine. The problematic aspects of mainstream pornography is nothing new to us, for we all are aware of the violence, negligence of consent, sexism, no respect to boundaries and unprotective as well as unhygienic sexual practises that are openly depicted in mainstream pornographic content. To counter this, ethical porn has emerged as a new alternative promising ethical practises of payment, consent, boundaries and pleasure.
THE HORROR OF MAINSTREAM PORN
Although pornography is illegal and a taboo in India, we are very well aware of its popularity and consumption. Section 292 and Section 293 of Indian Penal Code criminalises distribution and selling of pornographic material. Section 73 of the IT Act also down the circumstances under which mediators can be culpable for offensive comfortables uploaded. Indian legislations on pornography is rather ambiguous in terms of dealing with the subject of pornography, majority of which comes under IT Act 2000. It has neither declared pornography illegal or legal neither laid clear norms on production, consumption and distribution of pornographic material.
Moving away from the legal aspects to the social horrors of it, the discreet and explicit messages that it sends to the people consuming it. It neglects the cruciality of consent, boundaries and safe sex. It depicts physical violence in the garb of sexual intimacy. No communication amongst partners and involvement of minors in sexually as well as physical acts conveys all that is presumably wrong around sex in India. It normalises and propagates unhealthy, oppressive and violence in sexual relationships as well as hampers the process of healthy dialogue emerging around sex and sexual health. It feeds structural stereotypes, racial and gendered, combining it with our sexual yearnings, which again leaves no room for a holistic upliftment especially in terms of sexual health and family planning.
There is an abundance of material, oral as well as written which explain the perils of mainstream porn, why it is tabooed and what exactly makes it problematic, what we need to confront now is regarding what are the alternatives? Curtailing pleasure is not surely one. Ethical porn is here for the rescue.
ETHICAL PORN: WHAT, WHYs and HOWs
Amidst the horryfying perniciousness of the mainstream porn and the way it wrecks our social mindset, some voiced concerns for a healthy alternative, a way out without disturbing the boundaries of sexual liberation. Ethical porn emerged as one of the key solutions to the ongoing discourse. Many of us are new to the concept, especially given the tight lipped behaviour of our society when it comes to sexual intimacy.
Ethical porn is distributed and consumed in the same way mainstream porn on but produces with a totally different mindset. It keeps in mind personal boundaries, consent and fair wages, the very same issues which made mainstream porn an unjust and unfair industry. A concept still in the cradles, it is yet to hit the mainstream screens and discourses. It is yet to get popularized, which can only happen when we as a society decide to indulge in a conversation around sex.
Few platforms such as OnlyFans and private services on instagram and twitter have emerged as a popular modes of procuring ethical produced porn, especially if we are talking about India. Sites such as EroticFilms.com, Four Chambers, PinkLabelTV, JoyBear, XConfessions, etc have gained acclaim at the international level but they are difficult to access from India. Not only breaking mainstream stereotypes, the kind of material availble in these platform cover the areas of female pleasure, queer sex and healthy sexual practises. Services provided through personal medium such as instagram and twitter have gained popularity since they ensure fair wages and boundaries of both the parties.
A conversation around ethical porn seems a far fetched idea when mere conversation around sex seems to frowned upon. Any conversation needs to be built from the scratch and we need to pay special attention to the ethics we are building it on. Consumption of porn for self pleasure and learning purposes is totally justified, banning porn and websites creates a mad frenzy and a lot of unethical ways to procure it. Ethical ways to consume porn, distribute and most importantly to produce it needs to a part of discourse around sexual health and sex education.
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