Ban Porn
A study of policy rhetoric
Since time immemorial — and I know this sounds like I have not done my research, but that’s not the case- we, Indians have enjoyed and more importantly, even venerated sexual activity. Sex was good, fun and definitely NOT A TABOO. But through the larger colonial influences on our culture sex became from a natural, enjoyable phenomenon to something we should be ashamed of.
Porn is nothing but a representation of sexuality in any medium. Be it video, text or even sculpture and paintings. Our Indian culture has understood, respected and enjoyed these representations. Khajuraho temples and Kamasutra and Shiv Puran are examples of texts that have not shied from talking about sex and even sexual representations that we today call porn.
In the last decade, an opinion among certain radical factions that, porn was one of the major reasons for violence against women, grew strong. This opinion was carried forward by the ruling party which resulted in a draconian policy in 2015 which ended up banning several porn sites in India.
On July 31, 2015, the Department of Information Technology had asked the Telecommunications to deactivate 857 URLs related to adult websites.
This was a drastic step by the government, which resulted in immediate and severe criticism from people from all walks of life. Let us have look at how these events unfolded.
In 2013, Kamlesh Vaswani filed a petition to ban all access and distribution of pornography.
In 2015, DoT notifies ISPs to ban 857 URLs
After 3 days of the DoT ban, only porn sites showing child pornography will be banned, clarified by government officials.
In August 2015, the Government of India banned access to 857 porn sites. Department of Telecom notified internet service providers to block access to these 857 URLs, under Section 79(3)(b) of Information Technology Act, 2000. The content on these websites related to morality, decency as given in Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. This list of 857 URLs was given by petitioner Kamlesh Vaswani to government officials on 17 October 2014. However, later the Government backtracked by saying it only plans to ban websites showing content related to ‘child pornography’. In November 2014, the Government had banned access to sites hosting pornography; the ban was later lifted due to heavy public pressure to unblock porn sites.
The department of Electronics and Information Technology had asked the Department of Telecom to notify internet service providers to block access to 857 URLs. The notification functioned under the provision of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
This was a complicated policy decision, based on several socio-political occurrences at the time.
Our lives as citizens are governed by various factors, some of which are government policies. With the advent of democracy as the leading form of governance post the First Great War, we have taken a lot of decisions as a populous by rules and regulations collectively agreed upon. These set of rules and actions are called policies.
the term was derived from Old French à policie; Latin à politia; Greek à politeia during the early 1400 B.C.E when its meaning was similar to “political organization, civil administration, citizenship”
Probably the best-known, simple and short definition of public policy has been offered by Thomas Dye, ‘anything a government chooses to do or not to do’ (Dye, 1972: 2)
While many organizations and actors create policies to which their members must adhere, we focus on ‘public’ policies made by governments that affect and influence every member of a nation-state or a subnational jurisdiction. The ‘actions’ we are concerned with in this case are government decisions to act, or not to act, to change or maintain some aspect of the status quo (Birkland, 2001: ch. 1)
Have you ever wondered though what the governing litigations that caused these events were? How were these policies formed? Let’s dive deep into exploring these issues.
Now that we understand what policy is and how much it can impact our lives and history. Let’s unpack the porn ban policy by using stock topics and figure out how policies are made.
Stock topics are Rhetoric tools used by policymakers to make effective policies. They are
1) Ill;
2) Blame or Cause;
3) Cure;
4) Consequences;
ILL
Policies are solutions to problems. To find a solution we first need to define the problem/ill. This can be done most effectively by asking questions. And answers to these questions will help us understand the real problems we need to solve with the policy solution.
Let’s try and see how this is effective in figuring out the problem.
Does a problem exist? How probable is it that the ill will develop? Is it urgent? How long will it last? How significant (in terms of qualitative severity and quantitative magnitude) is it?
This idea of discovering the problem by asking these questions is highly effective in figuring out the root problem that the policy is trying to solve and hence are a necessary first step in creating policies. Without a clear understanding of the problem and its various aspects and scope that is a real chance, we might end up with policies that are ineffective and incomplete in solving the core problem.
Ill can be understood as
1. Physical
2. Failure to meet objectives
3. A general sense that things could be better.
We can understand thus that, problems — ills, are an idea that things are wrong and need corrective intervention.
We must also remember how ills are perceived as different by different people, something that seems to be a definitive solution for a group of people might not be so for others or would be just a start to a much larger narrative.
Ills have a way of changing with time when the solution to a problem ends up becoming a problem in itself. There is a huge ambiguity in which such concepts are applied and the shift in public perception helps us understand that. There can be several negative consequences of a policy- exposed in a policy debate- that might constitute a “new” ill, but the policy itself isn’t an Ill.
BLAME or CAUSE
After understanding the problem/ill, we will use a similar question and answer method to understand in detail what is the cause of the problem and who is to blame for it.
Who or what is responsible for the ill? Was it done on purpose, or was it an accident? Is the ill inherent in the human condition or in the social structure?
This inherency can be of two kinds.
Structural inherency — inherency can be built in the system or the culture of the people and hence it becomes a problem that is not a single occurrence but a problem that is inherent to the social fabric.
Attitudinal inherency — This is the cause which helps us understand the social reasons why this problem exists. Unpacking this aspect we come to realize that the legislation doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Both the legislation and legislative entities are made and run by social beings and influenced by social practices. So it’s the social values and beliefs that are reflected by the rules and procedures.
By establishing that the problem is inherent and not apparent we are able to establish that minor reforms are not going to be sufficient.
If it is, are there ways in which we can palliate it? If not, capable of remediation?
It is important to think carefully on the relationship between ill and blame — Causality because at times it can be confusing. It is determining if its a cause that has CAUSED an ill or are they just parallel occurrences.
It is generally difficult to decide who is to blame for an ill, and its exactly these errors in understanding causality which results in policy which isn’t a solution at all to the ill that is in question.
It also helps in establishing that there might not be a final solution to this problem because of its deep-seated causes and reforms will take time and the effects might not be absolute.
Cure
It is the proposed solution of the determined ill and it’s cause. Using questions let us understand what is ‘cure’.
What is the proposed solution for the ill? How feasible is the cure? Does the cure promise to remove the ill completely-solve the problem — or is it merely a temporary palliative while we Look for a more permanent solution?
if the cure not comprehensive or does not promise to completely solve the situation then it is a point of the contest if this solution is temporary or part of a permanent solution.
The cure has to be tailored according to two main issues
Solvency and workability
Solvency
When the cure has been determined to not be comprehensive there are several dialogues that take place between the policies makers. There are arguments to make for and against the proposed cure. The following chart effectively depicts some of the directions such discussions can take.
But most cures which are not definitive fall under the area of being partial and solving/lessening some part of the problem while waiting for a comprehensive solution.
In normal cultural parlance, if the solution seems to work even a little bit, it should be tried out, and that is exactly what was done.
Workability
It is necessary to understand if the solution is feasible or not to be put into action even if it seems effective on paper. If we have technical and structural feasibility to implement a solution.
CONSEQUENCES
cures have consequences, which are generally unintended. Even if they are intended, they aren’t the expected primary effect of the cure.
There could be good consequences — Ones which have unintended positive cultural effects on social situations.
There could also be bad consequences- when can be understood as
- Material consequences — those that result in loss of money and resources.
- Social consequences — the price paid in terms of loss of social capital and loss of the rights of people then or infringements that can cause loss of rights later.
We will analyze the policy of porn ban through the lenses of these stock topics.
Cases of rape and violence against women have been progressively increasing. There are news articles flashed every day of women being violated, gang-raped and murdered. India as a country has gained a global reputation for being unsafe for women. Children as young as 18 months are getting abducted and raped
As stated in Kamlesh Vaswani’s original Public Interest Litigation
“the sexual offender or rapist achieves his gratification, not from sexual release alone but also from the thrill of domination, control, and power. In the December 2012 Delhi Gang Rape the girl was physically and sexually tortured by a gang, She lost her life after heavy resistance.”
The ill here is the brutally unsafe treatment of women.
This has already been developing for a while and has worsened in recent times as this problem has been ignored for quite some time and needed to be engaged with right away.
It is certainly not a new problem but the frequency of it has made it really pertinent. Women in India are now more aware of their rights; victims are more open to taking a strong stand making it possible to get a better understanding of this social evil. The advent of social media and connectivity has helped give a voice to victims of such crimes and supports of them to stand by them.
Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2013 annual report, 24,923 rape cases were reported across India in 2012. Out of these, 24,470 were committed by someone known to the victim (98% of the cases). There is no woman in the country that hasn’t faced some kind of sexual harassment or advances.
Using the concept of ill we can now understand that in the case of the Porn Ban The ill is — Increasing instances of violent crime against women in India.
In India, in 2012 a physiotherapist intern named Jyoti was subjected to a brutal gang rape that resulted in her death a few days later, in the national capital of Delhi. This wasn’t the first case of gang rape in India by any account but this did capture the public attention and several youths and social media campaigns to bring the perpetrators to justice arose. The government obliged with speedy prosecution and death sentence for all the perpetrators but one as he was legally a minor. There was a public outcry for his prosecution as well. Very soon juvenile acts were amended to make sure that the last perpetrator was persecuted too.
But for a lot of others, this was merely a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. The problem was the treatment of women in the country and the insufficient protective and legal infrastructure to ensure it. It was a social, cultural and a historical Ill, that needed to be engaged through several different perspectives and not just legal.
This is one of the reasons why later in 2013 a petition was filed by lawyer Kamlesh Vaswani, a lawyer at Indore High Court, to ban access and distribution of porn in India. He was acting in response to several occurrences of a brutal rape by up in drawing a connection between pornography and crimes against women. His petition said:
“Watching porn itself puts the country’s security in danger, encourages violent acts, unacceptable behavior in society, and exploitation of children and lowers the dignity of women and he believes watching online pornography has a direct co-relation with crimes against women.”
Here, Ill was the lack of security and safety of women, and through some correlations, it would have seemed appropriate to consider porn as the cause of such acts and even a logical solution, according to some people, to ban it. But the porn ban itself acted as an Ill for a lot of people who believed that their fundamental rights and choices are being infringed upon and violated by an increasingly controlling government administration.
Men who believed that they could hurt women and get away with it were responsible for this ill. But this was just the tip of the iceberg, patriarchal social structure, lack of judiciary repercussions in a timely fashion, lack of social support to victims of violent sexual crimes, social abuse of such victims, acceptance of known perpetrators of such crimes in the society, women who encouraged/accepted such behaviors, all were responsible for such an ill. Surprisingly the petition or the judgment did not take these aspects into account.
According to the petition filed by Mr. Vaidya
“Petitioner strongly believes that most of the crimes against women/girls/children like gang rape and sexual assault are definitely fueled by watching pornography.”
Perhaps, with the right social reforms and educational changes, we might be able to with time palliate the effect of an ill. Maybe. Reform of such individuals may be possible, though it is an ongoing debate if it would help in the social condition that has resulted in this Ill if litigation focused on the remediation instead of punishment and resolution.
Everyone agreed upon the fact that “women being raped” was an Ill, but there were several opinions on who is to blame for such practices being rampant.
The proposed solution to this Ill was the ban to pornographic website access, among other reforms as more number of courts being set up to prosecute rape cases and more number of judges being assigned to such tasks.
We can argue that banning porn could have some effects on behavioral psyche of the perpetrators and could stop men from aspiring for sex and hence performing acts of sexual violence, but it can also be argued that without the respite of pornographic material and self-gratification, men will be more prone to commit rape — this is an ongoing debate with no answer to this question.
The porn ban in our case solves the problem of heightened sexual desires or men and resulting rape to a certain extent, but it does nothing to deal with the reasons why men feel the need/liberty to rape in the first place. Why we as a society do not help the victims and how do we deal with the perpetrator.
There might have been some tangential correlation between rape and porn but a ban on porn was a direct infringement to the right to privacy of an entire country, also there are over 40,000 websites with their domains registered in India and many more registered in other countries and dismantling them would be really very difficult, making this solution unfeasible and its workability low at best and hence it’s repealing within a week.
Under Section 67A of the Information Technology Act, publishing pornographic content is an offense in India, but viewing it is not. Hence, any debate on ‘Right to Privacy’ or ‘Personal Liberty’ won’t stand as the Government banned 857 porn sites under a defined law. It did not ‘ban’ anyone from viewing the content. The content was banned from being published in the first place.
Such cures have consequences, which are generally unintended.
good consequences — because of the porn ban, human trafficking to fuel the porn industry would reduce.
bad consequences
- Material consequences –
a. Loss of revenue by digital service providers.
b. Loss of jobs in the porn and allied industries.
c. Cost of Law Enforcement.
2. Social consequences –
a. Right to privacy of citizens
b. Precedence for the governing bodies to also encroach upon other basic rights.
This might be too big a social price to pay.
Works cited
- Staff, Scroll. “Uttarakhand HC Orders Blocking of over 850 Adult Sites after Alleged Rape of a Minor in Dehradun.” Scroll.in — Latest News, In Depth News, India News, Politics News, Indian Cinema, Indian Sports, Culture, Video News, 27 Sept. 2018. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.
- “Pornography: Is the Extreme Picking up Steam?” NewsGram. NewsGram, 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.
- “Polis (n.).” Index. N.p., May 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.
- Dye, Thomas R. (1972) Understanding Public Policy (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall)
- Birkland, Thomas A. (2001) An Introduction to the Policy Process; Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe)
- Jasinski, James L. Sourcebook on Rhetoric. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2001. Print.
- Bakchod, All India. “AIB : Rape — It’s Your Fault.” YouTube. YouTube, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2019.
- “PornographyPetition.pdf.” Google Docs. Google, Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.
- N.p., n.d. Web.
- “Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.” The Centre for Internet and Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.
- The videos are created by the author by combining other videos which are cited in the description and cards.
