Is pornography a threat to society?

What is pornography? Different people have different views on the subject. What one country considers art might be banned in another which views it as pornography. Religions, too, influence the way people perceive things. The following article and several others on Pages 2 and 4 discuss the topic.

JAKARTA (JP): Pornography. The term is derived from the Greek words porne and graphos. Porne means prostitute and graphos means writing. Literally, then, the word means writings about prostitutes.

In its development, the word pornography has come to mean all forms of visual material used to arouse sexual desire.

Therefore, we categorize Playboy or Penthouse magazines, or books containing pictures of nude bodies, as pornographic because of their provocative nature.

In many countries, including Indonesia, pornography is banned because it is considered to have a dangerous power to corrupt people's morals.

Love-making scenes or suggestive poses bluntly described in classical literature or carved on temple walls are not considered pornographic, although sometimes they can be as arousing as material considered to be pornography.

A scene from a Balinese sung poem (Geguritan), Calon Arang -- which describes the wedding night of a girl called Ratnamanggali and a man named Mpu Bahula -- includes these lines:

The girl scratches strongly, she kicks and cries, then she pushes her man's chest. The man smiles sweetly, then he seduces her, passionately kisses her. His hand holds Ratnamanggali's waist while he tries to pull off Ratnamanggali's underwear. She is weaker, and is pushed onto the bed by Mpu Bahula.

The scene described by the poem, which uses ancient Balinese language, becomes even hotter in the lines which follow those above. Yet it is not condemned as pornography.

The list of classical Indonesian literature which today might be categorized as pornographic is long. The Serat Centhini, which is regarded to be the encyclopedia of Javanese culture, contains explicit descriptions of homosexual coitus.

The walls of the Sukuh temple in Central Java, built in the 15th century, have carved reliefs of male and female genitals. There are also erotic reliefs at the famous Buddhist temple of Borobudur in Central Java, which was built by King Syailendra in the ninth century.

"At that time, such reliefs were accepted because people had different values," says writer Umar Kayam.

The teachings of Islam, which came to Indonesia in the 17th century, changed values. Like Christianity and other religions originating in the Middle East, Islam has rigid doctrines, even though old works of literature, such as the popular Arabian Nights, also have erotic elements, according to Kayam.

Purpose

Educator Mochtar Buchori says people do not regard erotic carved reliefs to be pornographic because these are found at religious sites, such as temples.

"But, actually, we don't know what their purpose was," he adds.

According to Buchori, who is also an observer of social affairs, Indonesians have a tendency to be more lenient towards temple carvings or classical literature because they think those things belong to them. With other items, we assume that they are pornographic because we associate them with the West, says Buchori, adding that we are sometimes wrong about this.

Kayam says the idea that pornography came from the West is mistaken. Pornography is a universal tendency of human beings, he argues, and there is pornography and eroticism everywhere.

The Dutch colonial government, during its 350 years' rule in Indonesia, sought to promote austere values, in accordance with puritanical strands of Christianity.

"They even covered up the lowest level the Borobudur temple, which exposes the people's sinful acts -- like gambling, prodigality and prostitution -- because they considered it to be pornographic," says Kayam. "But now, you can see a part of that section, since our government has opened a small part of it."

Kayam thinks that, currently, Indonesians are a little bit more relaxed about eroticism. The younger generation, in particular, are more open about such matters as a result of the process of globalization.

"What strikes me as strange is that liberalism is emerging within the conservative thinking of the older generation in many fields," he says. "But I believe that, in the future, liberal thinkers will overcome the conservatives."

Kayam, who defines liberal thinkers as people who are broad- minded, thinks people are not as rigid now as they were 10 or 20 years ago. He points to contemporary literary works and cinematography, which, he says, reflect a general social trend.

In Surakarta, for example, erotic classical-style pictures are on sale to the public. Contemporary erotic art work involving the exploration of sexuality can also be found in Kamasan near Klungkung in Bali, according to Kayam.

Buchori contends that pornography is dangerous only if it is combined with an erosion of a society's moral norms.

"Pornography is only a small part. What is more dangerous is the erosion of moral norms," he argues.

In societies in which moral norms continue to be upheld, Buchori says, there are mechanisms which 'put a brake' on pornography.

"The family and school can be the foundation for upright moral norms," he adds. (sim/als)