The porn industry has become more popular with the advent of the internet and the industry has been fishing in a lot of money. It is now readily available on the internet. Many stores also sell takeaway DVDs at a very high price. This has resulted in a highly profitable industry. The display of such adult content on television or the internet is looked down upon in society. This kind of duplicity has been common in India. In fact, porn is also blamed for the rising count of rapes in India.

According to a 2011 IMRB Survey, one out of every five mobile users in India uses their 3G internet for accessing porn. In fact, over 47 percent of students discuss porn every day, according to a public school survey by Max Hospital in Delhi. These numbers speak volumes about how much the porn industry impacts the lives of people.

Over the years, the education of children regarding sex has always been held as being necessary. However, what people don’t talk about is the toll it takes on certain women and children who end up being the victims of human trafficking. According to Miss Rawal, who is a professional in Delhi said, “Porn belittles women more than anything in the world. Treating females purely as an object for personal sexual satisfaction is all porn ever evinces. I hope it is declared illicit at least in Indian society.”

How Porn and Human Trafficking are Related?

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as any situation where an individual is forced, coerced, abducted, deceived, or abused. If any of these qualifiers are present, the situation will be considered human trafficking. Human trafficking takes place on many fronts in the porn industry; although due to the way in which porn is produced and distributed, it can be extremely hard to identify the presence of such trafficking along with its source.

Survivors of sex trafficking are often subjected to many kinds of abuses and more than one form of exploitation. In order to control it, traffickers take incriminating photos of their victims to their family members to shame them more. They also attempt to sell the content by uploading it to mainstream porn sites. In addition, victims are also exploited through prostitution.

In many other cases, victims are exploited solely for the purpose of producing pornographic content.  Many NGOs have been responsible for finding victims of trafficking. These missions have also provided evidence of the existence of such heinous acts. In a very recent rescue known as Operation SCOPE, investigators have seen this type of trafficking first-hand, and they have managed to provide the police with evidence of pornographic content being sold by traffickers.

In the mainstream porn entertainment industry as well, the recruitment and employment of actors have been the result of deception, threats, and drug abuse.

According to research conducted by the Internet Watch Foundation, 95 percent of the nearly 133,000 URLs assessed were hosted on platforms that allow people to create and upload porn.

If a pornographic video of a survivor or victim of trafficking is uploaded to any website, both the uploader and the website profit from it, even though the content is freely available. According to recently collected data, 90 percent of the free porn websites and nearly 100 percent of porn websites that require payment get the content from outside sources. Even if the users are able to upload any sort of porn content for free, the website owners will be able to profit just from the traffic flow that is generated to the website.

The line between legal pornography and human trafficking is very different from each other. There is a thin line between them which gets complicated. Most of the popular porn sites today have been seen featuring illegal content. They even go as far as featuring videos of rape victims.

A recent campaign was launched against Pornhub, which happens to be the largest porn website in the world. Many have joined this movement and advocated that the website be shut down. Pornhub features many cases of human trafficking, including the rape of a 14-year-old girl. They also display child sexual abuse.

Globally, the porn industry is a $97 billion industry where the US accounts for 12 billion of it. In 2017, the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE) was able to trace certain online child sexual abuse material to over 70 countries in the same year and more than 60 countries in the year 2018. Top porn entertainment companies, like Pornhub, advertised and received a huge amount of content from countries all over the world. Every year, Pornhub manages to release a report that shows the statistics from the top 20 countries. Human trafficking in the porn industry is something that cannot just be isolated to just one location. Sadly, pornography of trafficking survivors have been spread all over the world and are available with only a click.

Human trafficking in the porn industry is very different from the prostitution industry. It is something that is happening every day, but it is not dealt with in a proper way. There are many NGOs that work to find and help such victims of human trafficking. The millions of people who are fighting for the closing of the Pornhub website are also trying to help in their own way. Many women and children are tortured for this. The porn industry isn’t kind to any actors nor are the human traffickers. However, with the help of some NGOs, we can hope to reduce this kind of trafficking.

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Autism is related to some genetic and environmental factors. Certain factors during pregnancy such as alcoholism, cocaine, etc lead to autism in newborns. Recent researches confirm multiple genetic abnormalities that can lead to autism. In addition to this, many metabolic or biochemical factors that can cause autism in children There are many environmental factors as well, which may not be much. Children with autism need constant care and protection from their family members and other caregivers.

Understanding Autism

While autism can only be treated by doctors, there are many common symptoms that parents and caregivers can look out for:

• Pragmatic Language – Most individuals with autism have difficulty communicating with other people. This particular symptom shows up during early childhood. Any delays in speech development and nonverbal communication should encourage parents to see a specialist.
• Eye Contact and Nonverbal Communication – Children with autism often have difficulty making eye-contact. Other non-verbal communication difficulties may include recognizing and using facial expressions, physical gestures, and overall body language.
• The Tone of Voice – Some people with autism may have difficulty modulating their tone of voice. As a result, they may speak too loudly, too quietly, and/or with a monotone voice.
• Repetitive Behaviors – Many people with autism may perform the same behaviours repetitively. This is also common for schizophrenic patients. This may include rocking, spinning, or flapping of the hands and arms.
• Ritualistic Behaviors – This may include eating the same food at every meal or watching the same videos repetitively. They also get upset easily.
• Self-Injury – Some children with autism tend to hurt themselves. These signs can also arise early, so a parent can notice and ask for immediate help.

Challenges Faced by Autistic Children

Children with autism go through many challenges in their lives, as do their parents and guardians. As they have many motor and communicative difficulties, they have trouble in school. A school rarely provides a good environment for an autistic child. Other kids’ success and the various challenges in a school environment often makes it difficult for the autistic child to cope. In such cases, it might make autism worse.

Autistic kids are often sensitive to loud noises and bright lights. Schools are often breeding grounds for such noises and lights which might cause discomfort among the children. This might further agitate them and make them hurt themselves. An autistic child often has problems with reading and writing. Children with autism are almost certain to be at a disadvantage, as learning how to read and write can be a major challenge. There are many other challenges that an autistic child might face in a school which would be very unpleasant and in some cases dangerous for them. 21st-century schools are in no way a fit for such children. Schools today are only designed for a specific group of students.

Researches on Autism in India

As a developing country, India has had more research articles on Autism than any others. There have been many published and unpublished articles that have helped in the advances made.

In a country as vast as India, there are no direct channels to organizations dealing with such disorders such as the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, in Secunderabad, and Action for Autism, New Delhi. Parents must rely on references from their paediatricians, and psychologists, on word of mouth, and newspaper articles or television broadcasts to find out about such places. By the time families of autistic children become aware that there is a national organization that specifically deals with these needs, things get worse. In the case of autism, a correct diagnosis is crucial because research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the early intervention, a specific intervention that occurs between the age of birth, and four years.

Treatments of this Mental Condition

Indians have a reputation for considering Autism as being a mental disorder. So, the vast majority of children do not get the appropriate kind of treatment. Historically, most autistic children were not even recognized until it was too late. Most people in India thought that children with autism were “slow” and best left to themselves.

Currently, many schools provide education to children with autism in the correct way. There are now autism-specific schools in India. However, considering the number of children suffering from autism, the number is not a lot. Most of these schools do not have a sufficient number of trainers.

TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children) is a behaviour-based treatment, for children with autism. In India, TEACCH strategies were first introduced at Open Door in Delhi in 1995, followed shortly by ASHA in Bangalore. Over the next few years, TEACCH strategies began to spread across India through various training workshops.

Family Coping

Children with autism cannot take care of themselves. They have to be under constant care by their parents. Parents of autistic children have to be specifically attentive to the children, noting the little changes taking place. Parents need to constantly educate themselves. They are advised to keep up to date on all research to help their children. Most parents have to quit their jobs to focus their attention on their children.

Conclusion

Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of diagnosed cases of autism in the U.S. and around the world. Experts do not know if this is because the disorder is actually on the rise, or if doctors are simply diagnosing it more effectively. We should learn more answers to questions like these over the next few years. That’s because many researchers are currently looking into autism’s origins, prevalence, and treatment.

Autism is a sad disorder that swipes the face of Earth. Unfortunately, it usually gets unnoticed by people. Most people do not know about the issues faced by such patients and the toll it takes over the family members. In order to treat Autism in a correct way, people have to come to terms with the presence of disorders such as this and other disorders which affect the cognitive and emotional health. Only then can it be acknowledged and hence treated in its fullest sense. Many children miss out on their lives owing to Autism and many parents suffer seeing their children go through this journey. As citizens, we must all learn to deal with autistic individuals and make their surroundings loving and easy.

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Women’s ability to access safe and legal abortion is prohibited in many countries. Countries that do allow it have poor facilities that hinder women’s health. Apart from this, abortion is not accepted by society and it makes a woman wary of making that choice. Feminists believe that women should be allowed the right to abort because in many cases the pregnancy is a result of rape. They argue that women have the right to decide independently in such matters. They consider the right to abort a human right. It is saddening that 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are due to unsafe abortion. Many women are oftentimes forced to carry a child which further leads to health issues in the mother. In many nations, the act of abortion is has been criminalized by the nation runners and thereby, denied.

State of Right to Abortion in India

The nation of India has always seen the concept of abortion as a shameful act, culturally speaking. Despite the societal notions, India seems to have a largely progressive regime for abortion, on paper. There have been many instances where abortion has been denied to people. Women in India have had to resort to unsafe abortions which ultimately ruin their health and lead to infertility or death in many cases. Most women in India are hardly aware of the concept of abortion and where it is offered. Around 2-4% of women are forced to get abortions in India due to the preference of sons over daughters. In a country like India, the awareness and the act of it has been more like a privilege. Abortion centres are not well-maintained and it reflects the ideals people have about abortion.

The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW),  which is a small nonprofit group leading the research and defence of such cases, tabulates that some eight hundred “arrests and equivalent deprivations of liberty” of pregnant women have been made since 2005, for crimes including murder, manslaughter, and foeticide.

State of Right to Abortion in Poland

Recently, the Constitution in Poland has ruled that an existing law allowing abortion of malformed foetuses unconstitutional. This has provoked an outcry from women and pro-choice activists. The tribunal’s president Julia Przylebska said that permitting abortions in the case of fetal deformities legalized “eugenic practices concerning an unborn child, thus denying it the respect and protection of human dignity.” Since the Polish constitution assures a right to life, Przylebska argued that an abortion based on a fetal malfunction was “a directly forbidden form of discrimination.”

Before the ruling, Poland had permitted abortion in three scenarios: for fetal abnormalities, in the case of a threat to a woman’s health, and the case of incest or rape. But, the latest court rulings argued that abortion due to abnormal fetal abnormalities is unconstitutional, which stirred up unrest among the people. Since the ruling, protesters have gathered around demanding a reversal of the ruling.

State of Right to Abortion in the USA

In the first months of this year, nearly 30 states in the United States introduced an abortion ban. Fifteen of these states have been working to pass bills that will ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Earlier in May, Alabama lawmakers passed a bill to ban abortion entirely and Missouri’s sole abortion clinic remains engrossed in a legal battle to keep its operating license from the state health department. If they lose, Missouri will become the only US state without an abortion clinic.

The US movement against abortion has been raging since the 1800s.  It has largely been led by Catholics and conservative religious groups. Ever since the abortion ban was introduced, many people, especially women have protested against this decision. Celebrities have been seen taking to social media to express their anger. Many celebrities have decided to stop working in the states which have completely banned abortion. Disney has decided to quit Georgia over abortion law and “Netflix” has decided to rethink its operations in Georgia.

The Fight for the Right to Abortion Continues

Most believe that the right to abort is a human right and the decision to abort should be solely given to women who are the child-bearers. Throughout this fight, we have seen the various governments picking out specific parts of the concept of abortion and creating opinions but what they fail to understand is that, at the end of the day, women are the ones bearing the child and they are on the receiving end of the consequences stemming out from unwanted pregnancies. Banning abortion entirely or allowing it only for specific reasons which may be acceptable to only a group of law-makers is only another way to oppress women.

The fight for abortion has been an age-old fight. Many generations of women have led movements against any government banning abortion. Even in the 21^st century, when women are being told what to do, how to use their body and whether or not to carry children in their wombs, it largely feels like women are losing the long-fought battle against the ban of abortion. The importance of the right to abortion and the need for proper clinics that follow all medical protocols are not yet known to the people. The way people look at it gives us a peek at the devastating condition of women in the world and makes the fight difficult every day.

Featured Image: Reuters (Jakub Wlodek/Agencja Gazeta)

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These attacks set in motion a chain of action. Minister of Interior Gérald Darmanin announced the elimination of people who spread hate through the internet. Baraka City which is a humanitarian NGO has been dissolved by the government because it took pleasure in such terror attacks. The government has additionally, threatened to ban Le Collectif Contre l’islamophobie en France, a nonprofit organization that claims to combats anti-Muslim racism: According to Mr Darmanin, the C.C.I.F.’s work is against the Republic of France.

After the attacks, Macron spoke in favour of Mr Paty by reaffirming the right to free speech, including the right to satire and blasphemes. President Emmanuel Macron believes that Mr Paty was killed for embodying the French Republic and vowed to hold “laïcité” up high. This has angered Muslims not only in France but all around the world. Thousands of people in Pakistan, Lebanon, and other Palestinian territories entered into a fury after Macron vowed to protect the right to caricature the Prophet Mohammad. The decision of the Charlie Hebdo magazine to republish the cartoon caricature has also been seen as an act of violence against Muslims. A crowd in Bangladesh was seen burning an effigy of Macron, while a rally in Pakistan resorted to throwing stones at the police who were trying to control the angry mob. France itself remains on edge after the attacks and Macron ordered 7000 soldiers to guard the schools and religious sites. Macron’s latest speech in favour of the caricature has skewered relations between Turkey and France further. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Macron of Islamophobia and went ahead to question his mental health. Erdoğan has since then called on Muslim countries to boycotts all French goods.

Dalia Mogahed, a former advisor on faith for former US President Barrack Obama, now a research director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding claimed that the President of France was wrong to support a cartoon caricature that “pits freedom of speech against blasphemy”. She said that the cartoons clearly showed how the country is suffering from Islamophobia. She said, “They are the equivalent of the N-word. They are equivalent of blackface. They are racial slur.” The cartoons “target a vulnerable, marginalized, disempowered and demonized community by a powerful institution, which is then further demonized, sometimes by the state, for protesting those slurs.”  

Before the attacks took place, Emmanuel Macron had spoken about the new government plans to combat separatism. In his Republic in Action: Speech, he differentiates between Islam and Islamic terrorism. He said, “Let’s not fall into the trap of conflating issues, set by polemicists and extremists, which consists in denouncing all Muslims. That trap is what the enemies of the Republic set us; it consists of making all citizens of the Muslim faith objective allies because they are supposedly the victims of a well-organized system. Too simplistic.”

“What we must tackle is Islamist separatism. A conscious theorized, the political-religious project is materializing through repeated deviations from the Republic’s values, which is often reflected by the formation of a counter-society as shown by children being taken out of school, the development of separate community sporting and cultural activities serving as a pretext for teaching principles which aren’t following the Republic’s laws. It’s indoctrination and, through this, the negation of our principles, gender equality, and human dignity.”

Therefore, we see that the President’s notion of separatism assumes that a minority of Muslims are setting themselves apart from French society and creating their societies in the suburbs. The problem here is that the speech portrays Muslims as being immature, which is far from true. Many studies have shown that the Muslim community is well integrated. According to a study in 2019, 70% of  Muslims claimed that they were allowed to practice their religion freely. 41% said that they should adopt some of the principles of laïcité as French citizens and 37% said that they wished laïcité to be more flexible. The Muslims do not criticize the age-old republic version of the 1905 law about the separation of the State and Church. They attempt to criticize the recent interpretations of the law that seems to blame the Islamic community for terror events.

 In his research, Vincent Geisser found that many Muslims called upon the mosque to pray for the preservation of France. Many others also grieved for non-Muslims who were victims of Islamist terror attacks. It has been observed by the Centre of Strategic and International Studies, a Washington DC-based think tank, which the US right-wing was responsible for 76% of the attacks but the Islamic extremists were blamed for them. Many argue that a vast majority of French Muslims are equally horrified by the terror attacks but feel the entire community cannot be stereotyped because of the actions of a few. However, many others in France now feel the urgent need to protect French secularism from what they see as a fundamentalist Islamist onslaught.  

The wedge between not only the Muslim community and the rest of the world but amongst every religious community is not new and has had a notorious effect on us. In Uttar Pradesh, renowned poet, Munawwar Rana was arrested by the police for spreading the already existing enmity between communities, when he said that he would kill whoever made an obscene cartoon of his father or mother, he would kill that person. He went on to say that he would feel like killing whoever made obscene and objectionable cartoons of Sita, Lord Ram, and other gods and goddesses. While anger revolving around the insult of one’s religion is understandable, the easy usage of the terms “killing” and actual murders for it is unacceptable and only shows how deeply religion is rooted in the minds of the people and the depths to which an individual, irrespective of his or her age, is willing to go.

Religion and actions based on religion have always been a hot topic of debate for women and men around the world and such terror attacks make one wonder how far this fight amongst the various communities will go.

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The trans community, owing to their difference in nature, have been seen as a threat to the core foundation of gender in society. Members of the trans community are collectively called hijras. Most people do not understand the meaning of the term hijra and use it in a derogatory sense. They do not get significant jobs because of the perception that they are unable to perform any. Being a parent of a transgender child is considered shameful and members of trans community are not allowed to marry and bear children.

Since most people in the Indian society and the global arena fail to understand the heterogeneity of gender, they see such trans persons as a threat to the traditions and culture and try to remove them from the society. Shunned, these people are not provided with any basic human, political, and civil rights and do not have any access to the necessities. They also have no access to education or healthcare.

The main issue with the Indian Education System is that they don’t facilitate skill acquisition. While moving further up, many students drop out, which creates a learning gap. Trans persons fall under this category. Many trans students are subject to a lot of bullying owing to their nature, which leads them to drop out of schools and colleges or committing suicide. In India, schools and colleges are not sensitive to trans people. The University Grants Commission and the Central and State Education Boards have to make more policies inclusive of them and make sure that these policies are implemented and that the bullying of the trans students is stopped immediately to facilitate their education.

Another benefit that is not accessible to trans people is healthcare. Trans people are often refused care from various health services. They also face harassment and physical attacks in the hospitals which in turn makes them skeptical to take the help of hospitals and doctors. Many are admitted to hospitals and left untreated. This kind of behavior has scared them and forces them to stay away from healthcare institutions. Apart from this, since they are also derived from education, they are unaware of a lot of important health care benefits and treatments that should be accessible to people in general and them.

Besides these, they are constantly ridiculed and discriminated against, which results in identity issues. They also go through a lifetime of poverty and are subject to human trafficking. They are subject to unemployment and homelessness.

Through time, the trans community, after being an integral part of the LGBTQ community, has protested against this injustice and discrimination. This had made the government create some policies and laws for the trans community.

• The Supreme Court of India recognized the third gender along with the primary genders of ‘male’ and ‘female’. This decision has successfully shattered the dual-gender structure of “male” and “female” that is usually recognized by society.
• The Supreme Court has given certain directions for the protection of the rights of the trans persons by including them in documents like the election card, passport, driving license and ration card, and for admission in educational institutions, hospitals, amongst others.
• Articles 15, 16, and 21, do not allow the violation of discrimination on the grounds of gender.
• The Court recognized the right of an individual to choose how to behave in private and allowed them the means needed to reach their full potential. The Court noted that a person will not realize his abilities and interests if he is forced to accept a gender assigned to him at birth. He should thereby be given the freedom to choose for himself to reach his full potential.
• The Court also protects an individual’s gender expression invoked by Article 19 (1) (a). It upholds that “no restriction can be placed on one’s appearance or choice of dressing subject to the restrictions contained in article 19(2) of the Constitution”.
• Human rights were awarded to them which includes the right to life, liberty, equality, dignity, and freedom of thought and expression.
• The decriminalization of Section 377 of IPC is also a colossal step for solving transgender issues.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was passed on November 26, 2019, by the Parliament. It is the revised version of the Bill that was passed in 2016 and 2018. The previous Bills were heavily criticized for various reasons, one being that they were not at par with the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority. The 2019 Bill attempted to define someone whose gender does not match the one assigned at birth. This bill included transgender persons in the Constitution, thereby including them in our society and providing them with legal human rights. It also prohibited any kind of discrimination and harassment based on an individual’s gender.

The provisions of this bill are:

• It recognizes the 3rd gender after the Supreme Court ruled in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment that the third gender should be legally recognized.
• It defines a transgender as someone who is partly female or male or a combination of female and male or neither female nor male. It advocates that the person’s gender must not match the gender assigned at birth. It includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations, and gender-queers.
• The government must provide the necessary support, like rehabilitation, self-employment, and healthcare.
• The bill prohibits discrimination and harassment against members of trans community and protects them from any kind of violence.
• A strict penalty has been assigned against discrimination, either in public or in private.
• It holds that the members of the trans community must obtain identity proof which is provided by the district magistrate (DM) on the recommendations of medical experts, government officials, and one other transgender.
• A National Council for transgenders is to be set up to protect their interests.

In time, many states have taken certain measures to make the lives of transgenders easy. Some of them are:

• Odisha categorized transgenders under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category which now enables the community to avail of socio-economic benefits, which might otherwise be out of their reach.
• Tamil Nadu constituted the Aravanis Welfare Board in 2008 for providing a pension for the community.
• Kerala came out with a Transgender Policy to help transgenders.

This bill too has been criticized by many and has been a topic of debate and discussion.

The reason why the Transgender Protection Bill was due to the efforts of the LGBTQ Community whose aim was to ensure equality in our society. Yes, this monumental change of the Supreme Court acknowledging the transgenders as any other human is celebratory but we cannot forget that in a world of trillions, some people who do not understand or accept anything other than the binary ideals of gender still walk the earth and attempt to make the lives of such people difficult. Even though the Constitution has passed the Protection of Rights Bill, many civil servants refuse to help transgenders and indulge in violent activities because they do not accept the bill or the existence of such persons. Members of the trans community are still subject to the same amount of harassment as before, if not more. 

Members of the transgender community such as Revathi and Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi have openly spoken about their struggles in their autobiographies to show the world the kind of harassment that every transgender person has to face in today’s world. While many succumb to these inhuman challenges, people like Lakshmi and Revathi have not only fought their battles but are now helping millions of other transgender’s fight as well. Many non-profit organizations have also dedicated themselves to help such people. The usage of terms such as “coming out” or using the term as a hijra only for insults, shows the deep-rooted hatred for such people among us and while many transgenders are moving up in society, the social issues that they face since birth are still probable in society. While the mindset of people is slowly changing, whether a complete change will ever be possible is a point of debate among scholars today. As citizens of India, we should all accept this natural entity even if we fail to understand the mechanisms of it.

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