The monoculture globalization of Pornography

The process of globalisation that has been sweeping the world during the last two decades has many facets, both obvious and otherwise. Professional politicians and the mainstream media have projected this process as an 'inevitable' step forward in human history, and one without alternative. A deeper look at the goings-on will, however, make it clear that what is being sold as 'globalisation' in countries like India is in fact a very truncated version of the advancements and changes that are possible elsewhere in the world. Whether willingly or hesitantly, many in Southasia accept all the social and cultural trends that the market and media dump on us as part of this 'inevitable' step 'forward'. As the assumption has spread that this form of globalisation offers humanity its only choice to shape its future, a monoculture has swelled across the developing world, with active support from the market system. As an extension of the colonial and feudal mindsets of the Indian middle and upper-middle classes, this monoculture is accepted and glorified as a package deal of development and modernisation.

This 'modernisation' is identified with quick middle-level prosperity — made possible by economic liberalisation — through opportunities such as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). It includes accepting new urban consumption patterns, such as the idea that eating junk food is proof of modern living. A stroll through India's versions of Silicon Valley, Bangalore's Brigade Road or Hyderabad's Banjara Hills, will bring one close to the new consumption trends of this BPO-based culture. Interestingly, in essence this new monoculture is not that different from the trends of the last several centuries. After all, the new chrome-and-glass style continues to cater to the age-old sari-gold-cosmetics fetish of the middle-class woman. Meanwhile, thanks to the power of advertising, men get engrossed in their technological fetish for the newly marketed models of foreign vehicles. The Southasian male's interest in these automobiles very much resembles the interests of zamindars under the East India Company — more than 200 years ago — in the latest gizmo from Europe. The affluence of the zamindars, too, was based on BPOs. The East India Company headquarters in London outsourced the tax collecting responsibilities in parts of India to the zamindars; the history of colonisation in Southasia would also expose many other such outsourcing processes.