As Much As They Enjoy Watching Porn, Women Won't Ever Admit To It

The porn ban might be revoked but these four ladies tell us how talking about it, even among girlfriends, is still taboo.

My Facebook newsfeed over the last weekend was a long personal litany. Of men who couldn’t first believe and eventually reconciled to the reality that pleasure seeking was now not allowed in India. What surprised me most was the silence among women. Going by their social media updates, none of my girlfriends – many of which I know looove porn – seemed to be personally affected by the ‘ban’. Unlike their male friends, they weren’t going to tell the world how their masturbating experience would take a hit now that there was nothing to watch alongside.

Here’s my girlie chat with them.

‘Porn is a great way to unwind after a hectic day'
Neha Das*, 29, MBA student based in Bangalore

The porn ban would have affected me because it’s a great way to unwind after a hectic or bad day. Not all porn sites are exploitative. Talents like Stoya and TristinTaormino run their own pay-per-view sites which are fully legal and above board. By implementing a blanket ban I feel that the government would have only encouraged bootlegging of pornographic material which is so much more exploitative. Personally, I love watching cunnilingus; hetero/homo doesn’t matter.
 
‘Porn is female friendly also’
Ritu Nath, 24, media professional based in Mumbai

Honestly, if there was a completely ban on porn, I would miss it quite a lot. However, a lot of women do not admit to watching porn, and it’s not like they just hide it from their husbands/boyfriends; they also rarely discuss it with their girlfriends. So if it had to get banned you won’t hear much about it, but trust me a lot of women would be so pissed. 

When I watch porn, there's no particular category I like. It just needs to be a little interesting, not just wham bam. Also I think it's a misconception that women like corny, sweet love making type stuff. If they wanted that they would just watch some Bollywood film. I mean that's almost all that only. They actually have categories like female friendly and stuff which more or less cater to the female population.
 
‘Let’s face it, all of us like porn, so the ban was hypocritical and regressive’
Nina Sen, 31, PhD scholar, public policy based in Delhi

Honestly, less women watch porn, because the way porn industry is it pampers men. So even now most of it the way it is shot is appealing to men and not so much to women. Even as we do, we don’t like accepting it because of the moral high ground that society forces us to take. A lot of women like reading erotica and visualising things rather than watching it. Nonetheless, let’s face it, all of us like watching it. Some more some less. And the entire ban on porn is hypocritical and regressive.
Personally, I like porn which has some bit of background story. Also lesbian action is an all-time favourite.
 
‘Porn makes you feel good. Why take away our right to feel good?’
Samantha Dias, 33, advertising professional based in Mumbai

If there was one thing (apart from food, of course) a man and a woman could enjoy equally, it was porn. So, while the government has been on a banning spree, one morning they woke up and felt watching porn is inappropriate, so let's ban the crowd from doing something that possibly falls under the category of 'fun/recreation/enjoyment.' Now, if porn was inaccessible to people, as a woman, I'd feel quite bad, honestly.Everyone deserves to feel good and it's all but natural. And honestly, what's wrong with it? Everyone has a sex drive! So taking this right away is absolutely unfair.
 
* All names have been changed 

By NS
Photography: porncorporation.com