How the ban on porn sites spawned a local cybersex industry
Ever since the government launched its anti-porn campaign in 2017, more than 20,000 major pornographic websites have been banned. But to what extent this measure has curbed pornography views and circulation is debatable, largely because of widespread uncensored content in social media
While casually scrolling through your newsfeed, you might come across strange videos of women, fully clad in a burkha or dupatta with only their eyes visible through a narrow slit, narrating a personal tale. The story begins normally but as it builds up, the tone shifts to a more erotic nature.
Videos like these are in hundreds, streamed directly from social media platforms like Facebook, Tik Tok and Likee. It is difficult to term these as pornography because there is no visible nudity but they present women in the same light and can have similar harmful effects on viewers.
Ever since the government launched its anti-porn campaign in 2017, more than 20,000 major pornographic websites have been banned in the country.
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But to what extent this measure has curbed pornography views and circulation is debatable, largely because of widespread uncensored content in social media like the one mentioned above.
These videos, pictures, etc., are tailored to attract a more local audience and are easily accessible on social media platforms. Anyone can view and share them.
A report titled 'Impact of easy accessibility of pornography on the internet and its relevance with violence against women and girls in Bangladesh' revealed obscene content is widespread and pornographic content has a wider local spectrum with a deeper impact.
The report was developed based on a joint study by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) and Dnet. Due to the sensitive nature of the survey, the participants' response was backed by desk research, published papers, newspaper articles and Key Informant Interviews held with the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB).
Banning pornography websites has not stopped the viewing of this kind of content as there are countless ways to watch videos and share pictures. YouTube and similar social media platforms are accessible even to children.
Even when you ban legal websites, there are hundreds of illegal ones available. There are franchises, mirror websites and free promotional content.
Also, banning legal websites might make matters worse because they sometimes have a leash on their content whereas illegal websites post everything and anything.
Porn websites can always be accessed, one way or the other. "We found plenty of blog sites during our research. And dark web content is always there," said Lead Researcher of the study, ABM Sirajul Hossain.
He shared with us that while doing the research they realised only taking opinions from participants will not be enough; the issues raised require in-depth group discussions with experts as well, which is why ISPAB was asked to be a part of it.
The pornographic content found by the research team on social media included hundreds of pages or websites where a simple narration of an erotic story was extremely popular, garnering millions of views.
As opposed to usual, 'westernised' sexually explicit content, these were locally made, catering to local viewers. Other examples include going live in brothels or even more concerning, secretly taped videos of women.
At times, Bangladeshis living abroad prefer video calls with women from the country over apps like IMO, etc.
"The things we found out on social media is redefining pornography actually," said Sirajul, adding, "I would like to use the term cybersex and not pornography because of the local context."
Manager, Research and Mobilisation at Dnet, Sheikh Shuchita Jahan Sneha said, "As our research has pointed out, sometimes it is not pornography. Sometimes it is simply a picture of a woman or a small clip of a girl being hit by her partner on TikTok or Likee."
She also mentioned during group discussions with young student participants, they shared they were aware of these pornographic content and understand even when social media did not exist, pornography still existed. Over time, only the medium changed.
During the research, the team found some family members who were not at all familiar with the technology. They only understood that their children may be watching this kind of content once it was explained to them.
"We need to have more dialogues and research if we want to see positive changes. More people need to speak up and more parents need to be aware," Sneha suggested.
Senior Coordinator at MJF, Shahana Huda Ranjana said, through the research, they found out that the ways women were being degraded in pornography, were also being practised in real life.
She added, that to make matters worse, many of the times women are willingly participating in making sexually explicit content on social media.
"These pornographic content are not only being created for entertainment or sexual arousal but also to present women in a derogatory way," she said.
Assistant Clinical Psychologist Marzia Al-Hakeem is of the opinion that further research, national level awareness programmes, and most importantly, changes in families and their mentality could be possible solutions for this problem.
She said, "Many times when women are objectified in the name of humour, we hear things like what is wrong with doing so? It is nothing but a bit of fun."
"For generations, we have built a belief system where objectifying women is normal. This will not go away easily, a lot of effort needs to be put into tackling this problem," she also said, adding, "women are still being treated as second class citizens so we rarely see any eyebrows being raised and these actions questioned."
