Scroll, Swipe, Repeat: Mapping Soft Core Porn Exposure among Indian Youth
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India, mobile technology, social media, pornography, sexual development, trends
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Abstract
The current research examines the trends, platforms and socio-demographic influences of exposure to soft-core pornography among Indian youth aged 15-24. The study relies on a quantitative survey conducted in both urban and rural areas and determines Instagram (78%) and WhatsApp (65%) as the most popular app to disseminate such content, where Telegram is increasingly popular in rural regions because of privacy settings. Findings raise some important gendered discrepancies: male respondents were exposed to the content more than twice a day than females, whereas females under 18 had access to the content through memes and romanticized media more often than males. In cities young people mostly enjoyed consuming content in reels and through influencers, but in rural areas people were using file sharing on Telegram and using communities. The report highlights that this normalization of soft-core content established by the findings, particularly in male youth, is underwritten by peer networks and algorithmic platforms.
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[...] A. (2023). Problematic social media use in childhood and adolescence: A developmental approach. Addictive Behaviors https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.107707 Vandenbosch, L., & van Oosten, J. M. (2020). Perceived peer approval of pornography and sexual satisfaction in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2749-2760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01721-4 Mohammad Amir Anwar, Schäfer, S., & Slobodan Golu?in. [...]
[...] In our example, Instagram Reels and Telegram videos containing a lot of American and Korean content have been repackaged into Indian style of humor, aesthetics, and emotion vocabulary. The youth will have a chance to consume liberal sexual signals and yet maintain the conservative social boundaries in their external performance. Secondly, the results are associated with connecting peer norms with Vandenbosch and van Oosten (2020) model of peer-mediated sexuality. The present model assumes that the sexual beliefs of adolescents are closely influenced by peer discussions and exposure than any form of instruction. [...]
[...] Adolescents' use of sexually explicit internet material and sexual satisfaction: A longitudinal study. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1467-1479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01597-x Efrati, Y., & Gola, M. (2024). The impact of internet pornography on children and adolescents: A systematic review. Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence, 134-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurenf.2024.02.002 Grubbs, J. B., Perry, S. L., Wilt, J. [...]
[...] F. (2021). A systematic review of the relationship between early exposure to pornography and sexual violence perpetration. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 155-175. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838019867499 Doornwaard, S. M., Bickham, D. S., Rich, M., & ter Bogt, T. F. (2020). [...]
[...] This is the psychological discord that adolescents that process this kind of information are faced with. These contradictions increase the emotional stress especially in adolescents who grow up in conservative families or in rural communalities. Sharma and Patel (2024) discovered that the experience of the respondents using soft-core content through mobile applications was rather heterogeneous: many participants admitted curiosity and shame, arousal, and self-blame. Adolescents are usually prone to self-censorship, failure to speak or even develop anxiety concerning their digital actions due to the existence of the family-created standards and expectations of society. [...]
