All those who are happy on government’s proposal to allow adult programming between 11pm and 4am, there’s some bad news to put off the celebrations.

The government’s definition of adult programming is quite different from that of broadcasters and viewers. The draft of the the self-regulation guidelines for broadcasting will leave most of the ‘adult’ content off TV screen.

The draft regulation says that the adult content must not show:

1. Prolonged or frequent use of highly coarse language

2. Prolonged or frequent use of dialogues with explicit sexual connotations

3. Prolonged or passionate kissing

4. Prolonged or frequent depiction of gestures, movements or sounds suggesting sexual activity

5. Complete nudity with full exposure of sexual organs or female breasts

6. Fondling of female breasts or sexual organs

The list must have put a question before all those eagerly awaiting adult content on Indian TV:

What are they going to show in adult programmes that we don’t see in regular programmes?

There is some thing that many would cheer. The draft will allow depiction of homosexuality. But it is still counted as ‘perverted or socially unacceptable practices’.

Whether there should be a restriction on access to adult content including porn is somewhat contentious. Many consider the censorship by the government as a violation of freedom of expression. They opine that one should have free access to all type of content including adult content and porn. The person should be the decision-maker whether (s)he wants to see it or not. But many including the government say this would be against the interest of the society and will corrupt young generations. It is a different thing altogether that today’s youth are becoming liberal in everything including sex.

If the society is changing, is there any point in forcing a ban on adult content? Only thing that I think is required is a proper control over distribution and sale of adult programmes so that it is available to adults but is not accessible to underages who are not mature enough to take their decisions and understand the implications.

Image source: Wallpaperbase

Source: Business Standard