Smartphones And Sexual Violence: What Is The Link?

Warning: This episode contains material that might be triggering or upsetting to victims of sexual violence. 

Sex, porn, violence, technology and gender: All of these are opposing forces in the world's largest democracy, India, which pull at one another to create a compelling narrative of a world that might as well be fiction. This BBC world service episode led by journalist Divya Arya is astounding, distressing and perhaps uplifting in the most surprising ways. 

India is undoubtedly a country that is steeped with violence against women. It doesn't matter where you look, you will find one half of the country constantly living in fear and shame. Where does porn find a place in a country so deeply embedded in misogyny?

Arya, the host, seamlessly weaves in and out of various parts of India, a country that cannot be described in less then a 100 ways. She travels from college campuses in the country's capital to a small village that was the source of a viral video of a young girl being molested by a group of men, and to another small town where a woman committed suicide because of a video of her was circulated. She also discusses stories from the coming-of-age of young men in India whose only source of information of sex is porn to Sunny Leone, a former porn star who is now a Bollywood star. 

According to PornHub, India is the third largest consumer of content after the US and UK, and almost all of it is through smartphones. Messaging services have both revolutionized communication in India as well as split open concerns around sexual violence against women at a time when women, also, are trying to win back their freedoms in matters of sexuality and love. In a deeply nuanced, sensitive 50-minute episode, Arya traverses legal, regulatory, cultural and existential questions about what is the role of porn in a country where men and women are still unsure of what sex even is and where its boundaries may lie. 

I cannot recommend it enough.