Feature
Know from women who explain reasons ‘why do people love to watch porn clips’!
After Indian government has put ban on about 827 adult websites, the Uttarakhand High Court came down heavily on pornography for allegedly influencing children to commit sexual crimes.
While the efficacy of the ban itself is being questioned, with easy access to VPNs-another important question around the ban on pornography is whether the government should ban adults from watching content which is produced by and with adults?
Why do adults watch pornography? this is a big question but fact is this that India is one of the largest consumers of porn in the world, so much so that Pornhub created a mirror site following Indian government’s ban.
Definitely, not all viewers of porn end up committing sexual crimes. Another criticism of porn is that it objectifies the female body, and is produced mainly for the consumption of cis straight men – that it is not feminist. But not all viewers of porn are men – in fact, a lot of women watch porn, and also find it empowering.
To findout answer of this reason we have reached out to five women, to find out why they watch porn, and what they think about the Indian government’s ban.
Author of Rethinking Pornography, Richa Kaul Padte said that “Many women, including myself, have found pornography to be a liberating space-especially because it facilitates pleasure that you can access on your own, and don’t need a partner for. But I wouldn’t want to extend that experience to all women or to all porn, because neither of the two is homogeneous categories, so experiences and the content itself will differ vastly.”
“Most mainstream culture is anti-feminist, because it’s being produced in patriarchal contexts, and is often owned and controlled by men. I think exceptionalising porn as anti-feminist totally ignores this reality, and makes it out to be somehow worse for women just because it features sex. I totally reject the idea that just because a woman is naked, she is somehow more oppressed. That’s not how oppression works, and it’s not how sex works either. Mainstream porn is part of mainstream patriarchal media culture; and just like we seek out films, music or literature that is feminist, we can do the same for porn.”
“Obscenity legislation says that it’s illegal to publish or share such content, whereas the only sexual content that’s illegal to view is child pornography. So the legal basis on which the Uttarakhand High Court has made this ruling seems super flimsy to me. I think it’s part of the increasingly undemocratic sorts of censorship we are seeing across the country at the moment.”
Some women reveal reasons ‘Why people use to watch Porn, films, clips and movies!:
Writer and queer feminist political activist, Jaya Sharma shares her opinion that “Porn is a non-judgmental space for women. Women who express their sexual fantasies are often dubbed as sluts in real life. But porn opens up to us the window to a world where we can explore our desires. The more we know what we want, the clearer we will be about what we don’t want. It is only when women are able to say ‘yes’ to what they desire and fantasize in life, that they will be able to say ‘no’ to what they do not consent to.”
“Our desires may turn us on, but we may find it difficult to accept them in our minds because they are often too close to taboos. They can be yummy and yucky at the same time. Pornography can help us consent. Consent in not just negotiating with your partner, but consenting with our own desires. In fact, porn helps us to be non-judgemental about our own desires.”
Jaya says equating porn with anti-feminism is rather bizarre. “If one is to talk about the women who work in the porn industry, one must also question the rights of the maids who work at our homes. Why is it only when it comes to the porn industry that those who oppose porn evoke violence? What matters is consent. My partner and I might watch the most disgusting, disturbing porn together, what matters is whether the sex that we have during or after it with each other is consensual.”
Another writer Nadika Nadja, “Porn is an outlet for those who have been stigmatised in the society for their choices. It gives you pleasure and gratification, all at once. For women, porn is important for them to understand that a relationship cannot be one-sided, and that it’s perfectly okay to be dissatisfied with your partner.”
“Cinema, for ages, has celebrated patriarchy. Where do you find feminism in movies? In how many movies have you seen the heroine chasing the hero? Does that mean we simply put a ban on movies too? Then why is porn alone banned on the supposed grounds of being anti-feminist?”
Diving master, Amritha Lawrence said, “While heterosexual porn has often been ridiculed on grounds of promoting gender-stereotypes and propagating the notions of a ‘perfect body,’ this is not the reality for women who do watch porn. I do not know of men who would want to have women similar to the ones they watch in pornography videos. As long as you have a consenting and healthy partner, pornography’s role in choosing partners is negligible. No woman would aspire to be like a woman who act in a porn video. Such ideas of perfect-bodies only exist in the imagination.”
Photographer and environment campaigner, Vaishnavi Suresh feels, “Porn has been liberating for a lot of women I know. Not so much for me as I grew up in a fairly open environment where sex wasn’t a taboo, but I am sure it does to so many other women. I started watching porn fairly recently and I think it’s a great stress buster.”
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.