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Thriving porn trade: Sex education tool or perversion?
KATHMANDU, JAN 04 - Sex is still a taboo subject in Nepal despite the flourishing pornography business. Consumption of pornography has skyrocketed after the availability of Internet and the subsequent security and privacy of cubicles in
cyber cafes, which are the latest
titillating tools after the existing
videocassettes, CDs, magazines and novels.
While laws to restrict minors from accessing adult material is sorely missed in Nepal, experts are divided on whether even adults should be given unlimited access to pornography. This has led to the question: is it a catalyst for perversion and crime or some kind of informal education?
Chairperson of Maiti Nepal Anuradha Koirala termed consumption of pornography as a grave insult on women. "Getting delight from watching women’s body used like commodity is a crime against women. On top of that, men who regularly consume pornography become sexually violent, and women are always at the receiving end," she said. Koirala further said that pornography produces perverted men from whom women are never safe, and that many Nepali women are being forced within the country and outside to act in pornographic movies.However, noted sociologist Krishna Bahadur Bhattachan contended that in a country where children have no access to formal sex education, pornography might be a strong tool for informal sex education. "The social implications of the consumption depends on the consumer. Some may use the knowledge well, while others might be driven to sexual violence," he said.
He expressed no surprise over the rising consumption of electronic and printed pornography in Nepal. "These are merely the modern versions of pornographic images that feature aplenty in our sacred temples," he said.
Describing the rising consumption of pornography in Nepal as the necessary evil of urbanisation, Bhattachan said, "Restricting it does not mean that people will not consume it. Similarly, making it legal also does not mean that people will consume it. It all depends upon how educated and advanced a society is," he said.
Police sources said that a major bulk of business in video parlours in the capital depends on soft to explicit pornography followed by Hindi and then English movies. Pornographic CDs, which have considerably replaced VHS cassettes in the country, are available in the market at prices
ranging from Rs 45 to Rs 100. Pornographic DVDs however cost as much as Rs 400.
Similarly, magazines like Playboy and Penthouse cost as much as Rs 4000. On the other hand, erotic novels and story collections, some featuring explicit photographs, are available in the streets for not more than Rs 100. Police sources also said that cyber cafes with cubicles for privacy do more business than the open types as youngsters attracted to Internet pornography find such cubicles suitable to vent their temptation.
According to a video parlour owner, pornographic CDs are procured from wholesalers in New Road and Mahabouddha. They arrive in Nepal through land as well as by air. Owing to frequent police raids, the wholesalers rarely admit selling pornographic CDs to strangers. Lately, owing to tighter border and customs security, newly released blue movies have become rarer in the market. Consequently, distributors of home videos have been repackaging old movies with new names and new covers.
There are no specific laws in the country to deal with pornography. Deputy Superintendent of Police Ganesh K C, of Valley Crime Investigation Branch, Hanuman Dhoka said that if complaints arrive, the police book consumers and sellers under Public Offence Act. "However, they get out on nominal bail, and continue consuming and selling pornography," he said.
As it is, with neither a debate to forge acceptance for, nor stringent legal provisions to restrict it, pornography as a business flourishes in the shady streets and shops of the capital.Posted on: 2004-01-05 05:08
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