‘Domestic violence linked to porn access on phones’ – Times of India

Kolkata: Smartphones emerged as a key factor in escalation of domestic violence against women during the pandemic in Bengal due to easy access to pornography, said a report titled ‘Surviving Violence: Everyday Resilience and Gender Justice in Rural-Urban West Bengal’, by Queen Mary University of London, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), IIT-Bombay, Chaitanya Policy Consultancy and University of Oxford.
The researchers said it was the first time they found that smartphones were playing a major role in domestic violence. Their report in 2016 did not hint at such a trend.
The study was conducted in three states — Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In Bengal, it was conducted in Kolkata (urban), South 24 Parganas (semi-urban) and Darjeeling (rural). “Kolkata and South 24 Parganas have more reported cases of domestic violence, diverse communities, and community support network to access justice. Darjeeling represents women from closed tribal and ethnic communities, and fewer reported cases, although incidents are high,” said Supurna Banerjee, a lead investigator and assistant professor, IDSK.
The report published on Monday at IDSK highlights that married women face torture at the hands of husbands who wanted them to replicate sexual acts from porn. Nandini Ghosh, another lead investigator, said this trend was reported particularly by women from working-class backgrounds in urban and semi-urban sites. In Darjeeling, due to lack of smartphones, this trend was not visible. However, survivors spoke of alcohol and substance abuse as triggers of domestic violence.
The report showed most survivors in Bengal were able to identify different forms of domestic violence, but had limited access to formal agencies for justice.Ruchira Goswami, one of the lead investigators from NUJS, said, “The report shows attempts of mediation by local clubs, panchayats, and councillors.”