Thank you all those who have clicked on this article!

My job is to write articles that attract people and get the maximum number of clicks.  ;)

And think about it…. all I had to do was to pick a title with the word ‘pornography’ in it and VOILA!!! The endless clicks start.

Don’t worry bro (or sis)! It’s not just you. This is the dilemma of our beloved nation, the ISLAMIC republic of Pakistan.

Some years ago Pakistan topped Google’s list for searches on some porn related keywords.

WHAT!!?  In a conservative country like ours, where Taliban own all the “chai ka dhaba’s” and women are ‘oppressed’?

Yes! This was true back then and I am sure that even now, if not number one, Pakistan is surely in the top five.

What do you expect? When there are no restrictions on accessing any porn site on the internet and all you have to do is chat up the video store guy to get a porn DVD.

Photo Credit: Big

Oh! To make it worse a “ghanta” at any internet cafe is as easy as cheap as twenty rupees and the DVD….around a 100! Maybe even less if you have a good dirty joke on your phone to forward.

I know I sound a whole lot satirical, but if you really analyze it, this is a growing menace that is stinking up the whole society.

I don’t have to quote religious injunctions to tell people that anything related to porn is wrong. But in a society like ours it is downright criminal.

This might sound insulting, but as a nation we are ill equipped to put into place moral controls. There is no concept of parental controls and it takes us less than a second to throw all ethics out the window as and when needed.

So just imagine the damage that the free for all porn is doing to our society.

Forget kids for a second. Think about this… In a conservative society like ours a person can throw all caution to the wind and get full access to sexually explicit content with very little hurdles. What then?  Where does this frustration vent out? Pre-marital affairs, extra marital affairs, rape, child molestation and what not!!!

Just for a second… think of your sister, mother, wife or daughter in any of the above situations. Makes you cringe doesn’t it?!

Now do you see the down side to it? I am sure you do.

The values that pornography propagates are against the concept of a family. Pornography completely weakens the traditional values that favour marriage, family and children. Is that where we want our society to head?

Pornography clearly exploits women and is complicit in violence against women. Pornography is synonymous with domination, humiliation, and coercion of women, and reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes promoting sexual harassment.

Don’t believe me? Well, then you might believe the “angraiz” feminists that claim that porn contributes to the male-centered objectification of women and thus to sexism (so does modeling).

So what do we do? Like I said, and I know you’ll agree with me that we are incapable of imposing any self-control on ourselves and our family… (I know people who watch Indian item songs with their children around).

The workable solution in my view is a complete ban on porn. We have tried the opposite and it clearly does not work.

The government should take heed from the Gulf countries where all such things are banned. And believe you me, it is effective. Kids don’t have ready access to porn and neither does every other Tom, Dick and Harry (or Ali, Qasim, and Abdullah).

It’s not as difficult as it sounds. Most reputable companies in Pakistan have all this content blocked on their networks, so why can’t our government do it? I don’t think the cost is really much to bear if you consider that local companies can afford it.

Even if there is a cost factor, I still say why not? Look at the benefits! Is there really any benefit in leaving it open for all?

I have gotten you thinking right? Good!