Indians are watching more Sexual content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Is that a good thing?
Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal
As the Covid-19 pandemic kept people at home, Indians increasingly went online in pursuit of gratification. Indians have found a new way of beating their boredom by watching porn movies that too the desi ones.
Yes, you heard it right, as the country pledges to be promoting the ‘Make in India’ concept, people stuck at home are also indulging in their secret desires by watching desi sex movies shot in India. Various OTT platforms such as Ullu, Alt Balaji, and MX have gained record-high viewership figures for their mature content. A genre that is witnessing heavy investment and is slated to grow further.
Despite having a mandated ban on more than 1000 pornsites, Indian youths are constantly changing their Virtual Private Network Service (VPN) to access porn content.
The rising desi porn consumption can be attributed to increased smartphone penetration, increasing sex obsession among youths, and cheaper data plans.
Today OTT platforms have grown tremendously on the back of their bold, mature content. It can be believed that the growing category of mature content might appear to make Indians more comfortable with sex, create space for sex positivity, and allow for greater acceptance of hushed conversations.
In a country where there is no consensus on a national sex education policy for youth, it also becomes necessary to engage the audience with conservation in what they saw and how it made them feel and whether they are feeling relatable to it. There should also be an effort to create a space for the community to interact.
In a society that has historically shied away from explicit depictions of sex, is the growth in adult content viewership a sign of normalizing conversation around sex or a further reinforcement of regressive gender norms? The question needs to be answered.