The Mind of a Pornographer

Pornographic clips have probably been around since video was first invented, but it’s only in recent years that cellphones and the Internet have made it so easy to watch and spread them. These days, there are news reports almost every day about pornographic clips being shot, distributed via MMS and even sold openly. Many of these videos are shot without the knowledge of the subjects, but quite a few are also voluntary performances that were never intended to leak out to the general public. There have even been instances of rapes being filmed by the perpetrators.

Video-enabled cellphones, being quite inexpensive and easy to conceal, are now at the center of the storm around pornographic clips. It has become so easy to shoot and share video via MMS or email that you can now never be sure where a private recording will spread to. Even underage children are “sexting” each other for amusement, without realizing that lost phones are often found by opportunistic strangers and even trusted friends can play nasty pranks by making these clips public.

While technology is certainly helping to enable the murkier side of video sharing (just like it’s helping to enable everything else), the deeper truth is that nothing in recent years has really changed about the motives of the people who actually record and spread videos with malicious or lascivious intent.

As renowned clinical psychologist Varkha Chulani told us, those who take video clips clandestinely usually do so to gain power over the victim and emotionally blackmail them, or because they fear rejection during regular socialization, or simply for the thrill of doing something illicit and arousing (and possibly getting caught in the act). “We first need to get to the bottom of the attitudinal reasons for peoples’ actions and help them reconstruct their faulty philosophies or ideas which lead them to do such things in the first place. We believe that every action has a predecessor in thought, for instance, what was this man or woman thinking?”

Why do people do it?
One of the major reasons that people commit sex crimes is that they have severe feelings of inadequacy—rather than a sexual perversion. Their feelings of self-loathing and their inability to make regular channels of socialization and communication work could compel them to believe that doing something drastic is the only way to be recognized.__STARTQUOTE__In many cases these videos have been used to exercise continuing power over a victim through blackmail.__ENDQUOTE__Mentally, they feel so useless that their only escape comes when they’re able to conquer and succeeding in sexual conquest is what makes them feel worthy. By extension, shooting videos of unsuspecting victims in changing rooms, for example, is an easier way of gaining such conquest without actually requiring physical contact with the victim. On the other hand, someone taping themselves committing rape would likely be to satisfy a constant need for attention.

In many cases these videos have been used to exercise continuing power over a victim through blackmail and exploiting their natural fear of earning a bad reputation should the videos leak out in public. Some victims have given in because they were scared of being rejected by their boyfriends. Of course, there are also those who simply take these videos for profit—people pay good money for videos that satisfy their various fetishes, and there is always demand for fresh material.