Ethical Porn Consumption

Find out about consent in porn with Shalabha Sandeep

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Consent is a “trendy” topic, especially since so many people are speaking up about being assaulted by men in power. Now, we are tasked with defining what exactly is ‘consent’. Even more grey and difficult is consent in porn.

Let us start with the definition of porn, sourced from TheLine.org, an organization that raises awareness on healthy relationship boundaries, wrote: consent is “mutual, definite, and continuous.” One cannot just assume that an individual consented to everything in the video. It could be conditional consent, which isn’t morally or ethically right. It could be that one party consented to sex, but did not know they would be slapped or choked.

Porn is a predominantly fetish obsessed area. To find two or more consenting parties to perform these for a cinematographic lay has to be difficult. Studies from many surveys and research shows that human and child trafficking rise in tandem to the demand of porn. It is easy to connect the dots, and conclude most of the porn we consume is shady and very much into the grey area of ethical responsibility.

“Porn hurts nobody.” “They do it because they like to do it.” These are popular perceptions that many people in our society have when it comes to pornography. However, perception is not always reality. The fact of the matter is that the porn industry is filled with coercion and forced performance on top of heavy drug use and sexual abuse. And while active porn stars rarely, if ever, speak out due to fear of not getting work or being discriminated against, the majority of those very same performers inevitably end up speaking out about their real experiences once they leave the industry. These personal accounts are never pretty.

And for those who do speak out, many of them are hunted and blackmailed into hiding.

Here are questions every porn consumer should be asking themselves: Did everyone in this video enthusiastically consent to have sex on camera? Did the woman know before filming that she was going to be choked or slapped, or was it a surprise she didn’t agree to? Did the man agree to gagged and tied up? What if a couple agreed to film themselves, but one individual didn’t know the other would share it online?

Consent can be tricky thing, and consent in porn is even trickier. I personally recommending watching the movie, EDEN. It is the true story of a human

trafficking victim; bound to challenge and put most of your existing perspectives on the line.

Ultimately, take responsibility for what you consume.

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Written By Shalabha Sandeep, Edited By Nandini Nalam