Some of you may be aware of photo journalist Souvid Datta, whose fall from grace has been as spectacular as his rise to photography stardom. Dutta had crafted a successful career for himself, taking unsettling and controversial pictures of sex workers in Kolkata’s red light district. One of his most startling and disturbing images, was that of a minor being raped in a brothel. The picture, which won several nods from the most prestigious photography institutes around the world, had the 12-year-old ‘virgin sex worker’ look straight into the camera, as a man lay on top of her. Apparently, Datta had taken her written consent to photograph the act.
Dutta was stripped of his accolades when it emerged that he had photoshopped some of his most dramatic and intimate pictures of sex workers. This one, however, was not faked, and raised serious questions about whether the photographer — who was literally a fly on the wall — and all those who looked at the picture over and over again, were all complicit in the crime.
The more disturbing thought — even before Datta and his creations were condemned — that picture had made its way to hundreds and thousands of screens around the world. How you responded to that image, said a lot about your definition of ethics, morality, violence, and gender politics. It should have also forced you to confront some devils of the mind: when you looked at the picture, did you see a child being assaulted? Or did you see a searing picture of a sexual act being carried out between a man and a woman?
Sex sells. Unfortunately, so does sexual assault. Why is it that some news reports find it perfectly alright to describe sexual crimes in great detail? Is it because the world must know how depraved some of us are? Or is there something else at play here?
Both the recent film Rajkahini/Begum Jaan (starring Vidya Balan, based on a brothel and its inmates), and Datta’s photograph, raise doubts over whether some of us are just dressing up titillation in intellectual clothes and passing it off as entertainment or art. Just as the wildly popular Game of Thrones stokes this debate, season after successful season. In fact, some of the most watched and debated episodes on GOT were about... you guessed it!
(Scribbler, scribe, traveller Chandrima Pal takes you through the sexual landscape of today)
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