

COIMBATORE: With technology removing barriers to access, there has been a quantum rise in the number of youth in Coimbatore getting hooked on to porn websites, says a survey conducted by an NGO.

According to Rescue, the Bangalore-based NGO that has been campaigning for a ban on porn sites, children as young as 10 years watch porn. Citing the survey it conducted among 400 students from 10 city colleges, the NGO said there was a growing number of youth watching violent pornography.

"Boys who start watching porn from their teenage years, get bored very quickly and start watching child porn or videos with violent content,'' said the NGO's CEO Abishek Clifford, releasing the findings at a press conference on Friday.

However, college students, counsellors and activists say the report should be taken with a pinch of salt as the NGO's findings were too startling and seemingly improbable. For instance, the report says 70% of students who were surveyed had watched porn from the age of 10 years. Besides, 31% of the boys interviewed watched violent porn content and 93% of the boys admitted that porn was as addictive as drugs while 86% of the boys admitted that watching porn does lead to sexual activities.

Some college students have trashed the findings. "It is a matter of fact that college students watch porn. But getting addicted to it is quite rare," said Sathyadev Giri, a college student. The finding that watching porn leads to sexual activities in 86 % of boys also seems far fetched,'' said Karunya Sharma, another student*.

Student counsellors admit that porn addiction is becoming a problem but say the numbers given by the NGO might be an exaggeration. "Porn addiction is becoming a huge problem among young and middle-aged men," said student counsellor, R Godhanavalli.

At the same time, activists say banning and blaming porn for sexual abuse would be 'hypocritical'. "Children are exposed to so much sex and violence on mainstream TV, so it would be hypocritical to blame porn," said activist V Geetha . "They are sexualized at such a young age on TV, singing raunchy songs and dancing in an inappropriate manner. This is a frightening trend," she added.

