Quick Hit: Indian Feminists Respond to Porn Ban

Remember that time the Indian central government banned porn and then un-banned porn three days later after a massive online outcry  from everyone from feminists to random guys who like to jerk off a lot (actually, these two categories are not mutually exclusive)?

Well, I remember that time, because it was just over a week ago. The Modi government, in an apparently misguided attempt to combat child pornography, blocked 857 websites (including the timeless classics “the porn dude” and “moms teach sex”) over the weekend of August first. Following a ton of public dissent — including some very smart feminist analysis — the ban was lifted by the fifth, though telecommunications companies remain wary.

A lot of feminist debate reacted to public statements arguing that porn caused or increased violence against women, considered the role of “moral policing” in the Modi government (which doesn’t have the best track record on sexuality), and analyzed the ideologies of female propriety and honor that many argued went into the ban.

A choice thread, offered by the group at Feminism in India, an Indian feminist blog with an eye on the anti-sexual violence movement, protested the idea that women don’t or shouldn’t watch porn. They were reacting in part to a statement by Kamlesh Vaswani, a lawyer who filed the petition that led to the ban. “To say Indian women watch porn is an insult to their dignity,” he said in response to research that women, too, consume and enjoy porn. It’s a statement that reveals some of the underlying sexist logic of the porn ban: The logic that women are pure and shouldn’t be soiled by pornography, rather than that women have personhood that shouldn’t be violated.

In response, Feminism in India started a Twitter discussion on desire, masturbation, and Indian women’s porn consumption and preferences:

@FeminismInIndia Best thing about liking more ‘female friendly’ sites is that most flew completely under the ban radar #WomenWhoWatchPorn

— Neha Mathews (@NegaNeeigha) August 5, 2015

@NegaNeeigha I don’t know if that is the good news or what happens when you are a misogynistic nation. #WomenWhoWatchPorn

— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) August 5, 2015

@FeminismInIndia I think that man is uninformed. Women get raped ,face #DV but that is not an insult. Watching adult videos is though???

— IndianDrifter (@Indian_drifter) August 5, 2015

. @BaeBaePink @FeminismInIndia women need equality in bed without any dominance and abuse.

— Miss ‘Why’ (@Mokshada_) August 5, 2015