Pornography is a topic that always provokes controversy in India. Some conservatives in the country do not accept and criticize the existence of porn. Meanwhile, this country ranks third in the world in terms of the number of pornographic web visitors. India now wants to be more modern and they are trying to normalize watching porn.
It might appear that this is only a fierce controversy in conservative countries, but in reality, even in a liberated sex country like the United States, some people still believe that pornography is a public health crisis. After a Republican representative made a resolution agreeing with the idea, Arizona State is also considering the same.
In 2016, Utah became the first US state to declare this issue and take measures to limit it. Then there were 11 other states that in turn thought pornography was one of the community crises and many of the measures were approved.
Pornographic films that are widely accessed and viewed by people will affect their brains and thoughts like addictive drugs. It does not describe sex properly and brings many false thoughts to viewers. For example, it also carries many acts of violence in sex and increases women's objectivity. This is especially influencing on adolescent thoughts and the vulnerable minds will assume that what they see on porn is normal.
Arizona State has issued a resolution that claims that pornography creates a sexually toxic environment for our society. It has become a crisis that damages the health of individuals and communities in all regions.
Some studies have shown that brain activity in sex addicts can be triggered by pornography in the same way drugs work on drug addicts. There have been a lot of confessions from murderers and prostitutes who have viewed violent pornography before practicing criminal acts. This is clear proof that pornography is one of the causes of sexual violence. For some people, this fantasy has become their only sexual identity.
However, the number of people committing crimes by the impact of pornography is very small compared to the number of pornographic viewers worldwide. This means that there are still more people watching pornography without being addicted to or affected by sexual violence, or having mental problems. Dr Rajat Mitra, a clinical psychologist, has drawn conclusions after working with a lot of sex and porn-related crimes. He believes that pornography is not the main cause of mental disorder in humans, it is only part of many other factors.
Is pornography really a crisis of public health?
To become a crisis, it must carry an immediate danger on a large scale. According to some protesters of the resolution, pornography actually poses potential dangers and negatively affects human life and health in some respects, but they disagree with calling it a crisis because it is exaggerated and doesn't address the underlying problem. Dr. Mitra asserted that when a certain incident is called a crisis, it will cause panic and fear for many people's minds. It is necessary to consider what it will become and what mechanism will be applied to control or limit it, before declaring a crisis to the public.
The problem is that not every porn movie is the same, there are lots of pornographic content on the market and it has completely different effects. In order to determine whether the content of pornography actually has a negative effect on the user, they must consider the content, viewers, reason, and attitude of the viewers towards the content.
Coming from Fortis Hospital, Dr. Samir Parikh - director of the Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Science - says that even though it has only one threat, it is still a danger to the health of some people. He thinks it doesn't matter in if it's is called a crisis or whatever. The real question is, does it bring any good value to people at all? Because if not, then it is a menace, even if it is only dangerous to a few people.
He took the alcohol as an example of his thoughts. He thinks that not all people are negatively affected by alcohol, but warnings are still included on every bottle of wine. People need to be educated and made aware of its harmful effects on their health, but they still have the freedom to make their choices. Instead of creating barriers, we should consider how to help everyone in the world be aware of the negative effects of pornography.
In addition to individuals voicing their thoughts, international health organizations have also commented, typically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a speech with CNN, they said pornography is not really a public health issue. It affects public health by the spread of HIV in the profession and sexual violence, but is not really a crisis in and of itself.
"Porn has shifting mores and cultures in the society," Dr. Mira says, "where you can't take a moral ground and say that this is wrong, because it’s very relative."
There are many different opinions about the existence of pornography. We can see that not all pornography brings about problems and negatively affects people. A lot of people around the world, including men and women, use porn movies in a healthy way and do not harm their health or those around them.
For example, there are many couples watching porn to solve sexual problems in their relationship. Dr. Rajat Mitra says that couples who used porn movies in order to increase their intimacy are common cases in therapy sessions,. If we apply the ban on pornography, these things will not happen.
However, Dr. Mitra also talked about the exclusion of violent pornography, child pornography, and abuse. If these genres are spread in society, it is really a crisis.
There is no real empirical correlation between sexual violence and pornography, according to Dr. Mitra. We only see murderers and rapists who use pornographic material related to sexual violence and thus think pornography is the main cause of their crime.
In fact, pornography does not cause a problem in the minds of those criminals, it already exists in themselves and the violent content of pornography only stimulated their minds. This means that, even without the existence of pornographic films, these people are still capable of carrying out their offenses, however, it will be on a different level or the number will be less. Pornography helps them be more courageous to perform their wrongdoings.
People with deviant thoughts and misbehavior are often influenced by many factors, it is never constituted by a single factor.
Many experts believe that the disclosure of hazards is not enough to limit the negative effects of pornography. Take Utah's resolution for example, it does not have any punishing powers but also does not really prohibit the operation of pornography in the state or provide any specific instructions.
Both expert Dr. Mitra and Dr. Parikh argue that the ban is not a good plan to stop this issue because you have no way to ban something, it will find a way return and meanwhile Pornography has existed since before the Internet developed. Besides, there is a large number of viewers who have no negative reactions when using pornographic content.
Typically, what happens in India, the government and society have quickly banned what they do not like and it still does not prevent the harmful effects of pornography on their people. Creating awareness of its harm to people is the long-term solution and makes society better.
Dr. Samir Parikh said that instead of avoiding the problem, it is more important to be aware of it and have the ability to judge whether it is good or not. Therefore, children should be given the knowledge to be able to filter the information they have access to, including pornography.
If the first contact of minors to sex comes from pornography, it will leave inaccurate thoughts and negative descriptions affecting the lives of themselves and everyone around them in the future. The most important mission of sex education is to guide children first and provide them with an accurate view of sex. Dr. Mitra believes that the more you talk and open up to this issue, the more you will mitigate its negative impacts.
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