The big porn market: Porn sites are the most visited – Psychologist

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Like a thunderstorm, pornographic materials found a solid bearing in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria, especially in the city centres. They come in both motion and still pictures. And most Nigerians seem to enjoy watching them secretly in their closets. With such discovery, the apostles of these obscene pictures upped their ante by printing and selling them in a magazine format like newspapers. Most Nigerians, especially womenfolk would catch a glance and sigh or pout or even pretend as if they have just seen Satan, but right inside them, they would want to have more viewing sessions if not for what people will say.

A couple of years back, the sight of porn magazines was everywhere in the city of Lagos. Then, it appeared as if any vendor who didn’t display such magazines didn’t know what he was doing or probably didn’t want to increase sales and make profit.

But, it got to a point when the Lagos state government prohibited the display of such pictures in the public. The move by the state government was to protect the under-aged and teenagers from the devastating and harmful influence such pictures would have on them.

Much as the move was applauded, the brains behind the sordid business only complied with the order just for the moment when the ovation was high.

Today, they are back in the game with a renewed vigour, but this time, instead of using the video which would instantly give them away, they have resorted to the use of magazine.

One would think it is a news magazine because of other pseudo stories the pictures are laced with but the truth is that the porn business is back and booming.

When our reporter visited some of the newspaper stands where these obscene magazines are displayed, about two of them were dominating the market. They are ‘Temptation’ sold for N100 a copy and ‘Banana Love’ also sold for the same amount. To the apostles of this obscene business, it doesn’t matter if children are watching them; what matters to them is the profit margin.

When our reporter asked one of the vendors if people still patronise such publications, he sarcastically told him that they were just mere window dressing. In other words, he expected this reporter to know that if people were not buying them, they would have stopped displaying them. “No, people don’t buy them; we just display them so that people like you can come and look,” he replied sharply and angrily.

Still bent on getting the views of the onlookers, this reporter rhetorically asked, “How can people be behaving in a depraved manner like this and some people are encouraging it in the name of business?” This aside elicited immediate response from one of the bystanders who said: “Women are the devils of this world. Look at what women are doing. But, are you sure these women know that their pictures are being displayed publicly like this?” But another onlooker quickly responded: “They know very well because these pictures are downloaded from the Internet. They are the ones who post their naked pictures on the Internet in a bid to attract potential customers. In the Internet, they actually post these pictures alongside their contact details for the willing partners. You could say that they advertise their sex potentials on the Internet but porn businessmen have cashed in on that to make their own brisk profit, after all you cannot sue them for invasion of privacy because you have made the pictures public by posting them online.”

However, the danger in the emerging trend is that primary school pupils as well as secondary school students who are still under-aged and very impressionistic, go to various newsstands to watch them without any hindrance. Most of them, after watching, think that what they have seen is the best way to go and because they are still within the inquisitive age bracket, they would want to practicalise to see how it feels in real life.

Checks by our reporter revealed that publishers of those pictures are very good researchers who have come to terms with the fact that an average human being is very much interested in sex matters. Although, some people may pretend about it, but that does not remove the fact that they like it. They have also found that Nigerians are very busy people who would want something sexy to calm their nerves at the slightest opportunity and so, by printing those magazines with such erotic pictures, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians mill around various newsstands to catch a glimpse. It has also been revealed that even though some people will frown and squeeze their faces after they have had their fill, they truly love what they have seen.

“Forget what some people are saying after watching the pictures. We know them; they are pretenders. Every day, they would come to watch and after watching they would rumple their faces as if they have seen Satan but they will still come back again tomorrow. Who doesn’t like better thing?” one of the vendors at mile 2 queried.

Investigation also revealed that vendors are having field day making bumper profits from the sales. “You will hardly see them displaying more than two copies. Every time you pass by, what you would see is one or two copies. As they are selling off, they are re-stocking from where they hid them in case of any eventuality; you never can tell, after all, the state government had banned the sale of this kind of publication and I am sure the law is still existing,” an onlooker who seems to be a regular visitor volunteered.

Speaking on the development, a Clinical Psychologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Dr Leonard Okonwko said people who post their nude pictures on the Internet actually do so for business motive. He also said that apart from the business motive, most of them are model who act out people’s fantasies to help them achieve some form of sexual gratification.

In trying to situate the development, Dr Okonkwo started by defining pornography, which he traced to two Greek words, ‘Porn and Graphine.’ “Most of the people who post their nude picture on the net, do it for business. The word pornography in the first place is from two Greek words: ‘porn’ and ‘graphine.’ Porn is prostitution while graphine is writing. Pornography started as writing on sexuality and such things that have to do with prostitution. Many of the pornographic pictures you see are actually pictures of models acting out people’s fantasies to help them achieve some form of sexual gratification and satisfaction,” he stated.

He likened the effect of pornography on people who patronise it to the influence nude dancers at the night clubs have on watchers. He said: “Just like the nude dancers in the night clubs who don’t do it for free; they do it for a fee and get paid handsomely and guys go there to watch. They are helping to facilitate people’s fantasies and as you are looking at them dancing, your mind runs around. So, many of them are models.”

He however believes that there is a psychological dimension to what they do when he said: “But of course, many of them have psychological problems. Taking it from a different level, it is an indication of a psychological problem when you find individuals posting their nude pictures for public consumption. One, we have different modes of sexual gratification and many of them are unconventional and dissidents. I mean they are abnormal human being doing what is against the law. For instance, exhibitionism is against the law – that is showing yourself naked in the open place is against the law, except something is wrong with you. Even when you find a mad woman going naked, before long, somebody will come out and cover the person. But when a man or a woman who is not sick is doing that, it is a sure sign of psychological imbalance. I want you to know that there are people that get sexual gratification by exhibiting themselves naked; that’s an unconventional way of sexual gratification. It can be for business and it can also be a sign of psychological problem.”

When asked the kind of psychological problem that could drive one to post his or her naked picture on the net, where magazine publishers download them for their publication, he said: “When you look at the international classification of diseases, some of these things don’t come outright as diseases or problem but these are abnormal ways of showing sexual gratification. For instance paedophile is against the law. These are people whose preferred mode of sexual gratification is having sex with children. There is also zoophilia, which means having sexual gratification with animals; that again is dissident. It’s unconventional and because these things are unconventional, the only way to do it is through the electronic media, through which they help people who have such problem to gratify, express or satisfy their sexual urge.”

When reminded that so many people actually go to news stand to watch such pictures, he said: “Some of these things are present in every person but the degree is where the problem lies. For instance, if a beautiful lady passes naked, most people will like to look at her. You will first of all look at her before you turn your face away, if you are a conservative person; so that thing is there. And that is why we cover our nakedness because the tendency is for our nakedness to become obstructive or distractive to other people. That is why there is a law against indecent dressing. So, when you see things like that around the street, people will just go and look especially those who don’t have the moral strength to go and buy. Those, whose conscience will not allow them to go and buy, will always go to the news stand to steal away some glimpses. So, they will just go to the news stand and when they sit there, they take one eye to look. The trait could be present in most people in a very little measure but it becomes abnormal when you find people that are addicted to pornography. What some people do is to visit different pornographic sites. As at eight years back when the Internet has not become as popular as it is today, a report had it that there were about 35,000 pornographic sites; now I don’t know how many million sites exist. And it is on record that pornographic sites are the most visited sites, particularly by adolescent and young people.”

He also agrees that the media men who take pride in such publication are either doing so for business reason or they have flare for such reportage just like some people have flare for human rights activism. “Most of the magazine publications that are into such publications do so for the monetary benefit. But also, many of them may have to do with their own predisposition. Just like you have the human rights activists; there are people who believe that they have a right to do such things and they are fighting it through that means, though making millions out of it. Like I said, it is the most visited sites,” he submitted.