Watching Obscene Increases Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
Dr. Matiur Rahman & Shishir Reza :
The online Britannica has defined pornography as representation of sexual behavior in books, pictures, statues, motion pictures, and other media that is intended to cause sexual excitement. The term pornography has come from the Greek porni (“prostitute”) and graphein (“to write”) was originally defined as any work of art or literature depicting the lifetime of prostitutes. Pornography is the explicit depiction of sexual behavior through pictures and/or words – including by electronic or other data retrieval systems-in a manner that is intended to be sexually arousing.
Feminists are generally critical of pornography definition because it is sexist in its portrayal of women, emphasizes male dominance and female submission, and encourages the valuing of women according to their ability to please men. But not all feminists agree on what should be done about pornography. Technological innovation like digital media has greatly increased the variety of pornographic materials available as well as methods of distribution.
Several studies across the globe revealed that as the coronavirus continues to spread globally, social distancing, self-isolation/quarantine, and national lockdowns have become the cores to control the pandemic. These actionsmay also lead to increases in social isolation, loneliness, and stress which can alter the consumption of pornography habits.
An article published in online nature magazine revealed that across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic is affecting almost all aspects of daily life. To limit the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown are instituted in major cities and countries round the world. For this reason, people stayed isolated or self-quarantined at homes to stop the spread of the virus and to avoid becoming infected. It shows that people are finding creative ways to spend the time like watching porn at home. An increase in porn searches was seen in nations where coronavirus is widespread.
The reasons of increasing porn consumption mentioned in the article are monotony which is also considered a possible trigger of hypersexual behavior. This conceptionis supported by a psychology research demonstrating that leisure boredom may be a significant predictor of pornography use, suggesting that peopleconsume porn more once they are bored. They view pornography as a tool to relievemonotony.
Another reason for increased porn consuming might be that some people are using sex as a surviving mechanism for dealing with their loneliness, depressive symptoms, and even fear of death. A study explored that people are endorsing porn use to cope with negative affect. Again, pornography consumption is a crucial tool for mood management and stress relief.
It should be noted that pornography consumption is additionally considered to deal with negative emotions. A research demonstrated that once we are faced with the prospect of our own mortality, this prompts concupiscence and behavior as a coping mechanism. To the extent that the Covid-19 pandemic is making mortality more salient, it might add up that an individual would feel an increase in lust, which could partly explain why more porn is being consumed.
A few studies investigated sexual function during restrictive social distancing and found how risk perception of Covid-19 was negatively associated with frequencies of sexual activities. Ageneral anxiety during Covid-19 was showed to possess a negative impact on sex life and frequencies of sexual activity. The results could be explained the use of pornography as an escape from the reality and sexual life crisis.
The interest in coronavirus oriented porn has also increased during this pandemic in different nations. Coronavirus refrained porn mostly includes sex with masks, surgical gloves, and hazmat suits. The reason behind the search of this type of could also be associated with people’s constant need for sexual novelty and humans’ ability to fetishize virtually everything.
On the opposite hand, another explanation of watching coronavirus-themed porn could be an eroticization of fear. It has established that strong emotions are often mistaken for sexual attraction. A high-fear states have the potential to amplify sexual arousal and attraction.
In Bangladesh viewing pornography is illegal and however society does not permit it. From the religious point of view it is also not permitted. However, newspaper reports highlighted that it has increased during Covid-19 pandemic. Though the country has a very rigid law titled Pornography Control Act-2012 and government blocked thousands of pornographic sites.
The Covid-19 outbreak has affected the utilization of pornography and its consumption. Increase in pornography use may signal an entity linked to specific psychological and biological mechanisms. Pornography viewing has been associated with functional impairment, emotional avoidance, decreased productivity, and psychopathology. Additionally, it will be important to look at the extent to which any changes during the Covid-19 pandemic are shorter-term adaptations or longer-term patterns of behaviors, particularly if these behaviors lead to personal or interpersonal sufferingor harms.
(Dr. Matiur Rahman is Research Consultant, Human Development Research Centre, Dhaka and Shishir Reza is Associate Member, Bangladesh Economic
Association).
