The impact of pornography on the youth and society in Bangladesh
In Modern Era , Pornography has increasingly turn into a social epidemic, eroding the moral fabric of society from within like a silent parasite, especially in Bangladesh.
Talking, gesture, acting, nude or half nude dance video, still picture, magazine, book, statute, cartoon, lift let which increase sexual desire and has no use in case of education and arts will be considered as pornography (Section 2 Subsection C of pornography Control Act, 2012). Porn can be a substitute or proxy for “real” sex (Erick Janssen, 2006).
In earlier times, it was not formally acknowledged as either a criminal offense or an organized industry. John Clelan acknowledged it in a book that gave pornography the form of a novel, Published in 1748 in England as “Memoirs of a woman of pleasure”. After such crucial acknowledgment, pornography emerged as a major industry in the latter half of the twentieth century as production, distribution and consumption of pornographic materials gradually expanded. This expansion reached a new level across the whole world with the advent of internet. The precise size of the industry is difficult to determine. But one estimate propose that global revenues reached $20 billion in 2007, with as much as $10 billion in just the US.
Despite being a small muslim dominant country, Bangladesh has also become the largest market for consuming pornographic contents in the world. In Bangladesh pornography is thought to have initially spread through some small erotic story books, popularly known as “Choti”, popularized by street vendors, trailed by video tapes, CDs, personal computer and cyber cafes. There has also been an increase in the numbers of pornographic movies in Bangladesh such as Nobab LLB, Jandrell, Shotru Ghaayel.
A report published by Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) in 2023 on pornography, revealed that people of different ages download pornographic contents worth Tk 3 crore from cyber cafes in Dhaka every month. A survey research design conducted by Babla Golder, Md. Abdul Jabbar, Quazi Moshrur-Ul-Alam, Md. Tanvir Hossain and Dipika Chandra on 2017 in Khulna City in Bangladesh, revealed that lion’s share of the students (about 81%), male in particular, are exposed to pornography before sixteen years of age. Research conducted by Md. Razwan Hasan Khan Chowdhury and four others, on 2018 among different private university students, found that 54.0% male students consumed online pornography compared to their female counterparts. It was even more shocking to know that around 7.4% watched pornography for at least 1 h per day, 26.1% watched at least 1 h per week, and 41.8% watched at least 1 h per month. The research carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, revealed that according to Google search statistics, search terms “porn” was used 800,000 times in Bangladesh in 2016. Similarly, the search-terms “sex” and “sex video” were used 2.2 million times during 2016.
It has become normalized in Bangladesh with frequent and increased consumption, addiction to pornography. It is a chronic and relapsing condition that is having an detrimental impact on family life, marriage, sexual risk-taking behaviors, and values of an individual. According to phycological principle’s, pornography addiction can isolate a person from their family, coworkers, and the broader community. The reason is, those who are addicted to pornography might spend a significant amount of their time viewing the erotic material.
Therefore, watching “porn” becoming a priority compared to everything else in their lives. Not only this, addiction to pornography is leading the both the younger and older segments of society to towards crime and criminal mentality as Much of the available peer-reviewed material focused on the relationship between pornography and demography, sexual behaviors, violence and victimization, adult social bond, and sex-related crime and attitudes toward women and children. To illustrate, on 2024 a school teacher named, Md. Abdul Wakel in Rajshahi was arrested by the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) for sexually abusing his male students and making videos of the acts on his phone. The victims, more than 30 of them, were all minors. He had been abusing children for more than a decade and saving the photos, videos etc on his computer, phone, external hard drive etc.
A well-known children’s author named Tipu Kibria was also arrested in 2014 for creating and selling child pornography content by the help of Interpol and was imprisoned for several years. However, after his release in 2021, there was no sign of reform; instead, his actions became progressively worse.
Although the current situation in Bangladesh is highly concerning, the Government of Bangladesh is actively engaged in addressing the matter. Till now the government has banned more than 60 films and shut down more than 40 theatres as part of its operation to clean up the country’s movie industry from pornography or obscenity, which is popularly known as “Dhallywood”. Mustafa Jabbar, the posts and telecommunications minister, disclosed the AFP news agency that he wants to create a safe and secure internet for all Bangladeshis, including children. And this will be his war against pornography. On 2019, In Perpetuation of the anti-pornography “war” Bangladeshi authorities have blocked almost 20,000 websites. On 2022, the number of blocked websites has climbed to a total of 22,000 porn sites and 6,000 gambling sites.
The legislative body has also taken consideration into this situation With utmost seriousness by enacting several laws regarding this. For instance, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, 2006 of Bangladesh, has protected individuals from pornography, online obscenity by Section 57. To publish, transmit, or causes to be publish/transmit any obscene material in the website or in any other electronic form (7-14 years, and max one crore fine). The Cyber Security Ordinance 2025 strictly prohibits the publication, distribution, or promotion of pornography, obscenity, and “revenge porn” online, with a zero-tolerance policy. Section 25 of Cyber Security Ordinance, 2025, protects individuals from digital blackmail, sexual harassment, revenge porn, sextortion, and misuse of intimate audio/ video or AI-generated content, including threats to publish such material (2 year or 10 lakh takas fine, or both) but If victim is a woman or child (5 years or 20 lakh takas fine, or both). Section 4 of the Pornography Control Act, 2012 in Bangladesh bans any involvement with the production, distribution, possession, exhibition of pornographic material to protect moral and social value and section 8 criminalizes and punishes all such activities regarding pornography.
Despite having such strong legal protections, all segments of society specially the youth group of Bangladesh are still deeply involved in pornography as thousands of pornography sites are still accessible for them. Consequently, the society is gradually being deteriorated. So Bangladeshi authority should focus on the strong implementation of the legal provisions and on taking initiatives to create awareness on this issue.
Writer: Lecturer at European University of Bangladesh. (LL.B, LL.M from Green University of Bangladesh.)
