In India, almost every aspect of sex is a taboo. We hate talking about it. The major reasons for rape, which are generally discussed, are the lack of security of women and how women are always being treated as the inferior sex. But little has been talked about the mindset of the people who commit this disastrous crime, and what can be done to change this. This reminds me of something.
Have you heard the name of Savita Bhabhi?
Though you might be extremely familiar with it, but still I would give a little introduction about it for those who don’t know. It was a pornographic cartoon character created by an individual who used to go by the name Deshmukh. It was available on its website in the form of a comic strip. Introduced in the year 2008, it gained massive success immediately and was soon ranked among the top 50 websites in India. Later on it was banned in the year 2009 by the Indian government on the grounds of obscenity and sexually explicit content, after the amendment of the IT act in the year 2008.
The ban was criticized by many prominent journalists and libertarian bloggers like Amit Varma. The policy director of the Centre for Internet society also raised the question of the ban being unlawful as the 2008 amendments did not allow the government to block website on the grounds of indecency or morality.
The question which I want to ask here is that can legalizing Savita Bhabhi have an effect on the number of rapes in India. The statistical data given by the National Crime Records Bureau of India indicate a steep increase in the number of rapes after this website was banned. Here is the graph provided by the government indicating how the rape cases have gone up rapidly-
A research done by Berl Kutchinsky, a Professor of Criminology from Denmark has also concluded in his study that access to pornographic content can decrease the number of cases of sexual violence and rapes. An analysis has been given to the relation of pornography with sex crimes based on the observation of several statistical data from different countries. Here is the link to the government website where this research has been published: Click here
In India accessing porn in private is legal, but creating porn is banned. Now the question is why can’t the government take this step as a form of social experiment, and allow the publication of comic strips? If an individual can deal with his sexual frustration by reading an extremely sexually explicit comic content, then what is the harm in it? Because porn has the ability to satisfy the appetite for sex. Even if we manage to stop 1 out of 50 rapes by taking this step, won’t that be an achievement? And now let us take a look at what are its negative aspects. The only problem with it is that it’s completely indecent. But the thing is, that it is just a comic at the end of the day, there are no individuals participating in any kind of sexual activity for the creation of this type of content.
On more occasions than not, rape is a result of an unsatisfied quest for sexual desires. If these desires are being given an outlet in the form of an online pornographic comic content, then there are chances that a change can be inflicted. Even the researches conducted all over the world are testimonies to this fact. And if there are no positive results at all, then there is always the option of taking the step back.
What do you think about this? Let me know your view in comments.
