CYBERING – PROHIBITION OR ACCEPTANCE
Author: Muskan Dosar[1]
The ICFAI University, Dehradun
Co-Author: Shivangi Verma[2]
UPES Dehradun
ISSN: 2582-3655
ABSTRACT
In this era of advancing technology, everything is becoming virtual accompanied by its pros and cons. almost each and every need today can be satisfied via technology and the internet. Cybering can be defined as:
- (Telecommunication) the exchanging of sexual messages or information via the internet.
- (Computer Science) sexual activity performed remotely by means of virtual reality payment.[3]
Cybering can also be termed as ‘Cybersex’. It is a subcategory of online sexual activities (OSA). Cybersex is a growing phenomenon with a huge impact on participants but little or no research has been done on this subject so far. Data were collected through a web questionnaire in Swedish, administered through the Swedish web portal Passagen.se. Out of the entire sample (N = 1828), almost a 3rd, both men and ladies, reported possessing engaged in cybersex. Logistic multivariate analysis showed that age, sex, and sexual orientation were important demographic variables to think about when investigating cybersex. A comparison of interval data showed those engaging in cybersex to possess a better likelihood of paying longer online for OSA and having more offline sex partners than that not engaging cybersex.[4]
Issues to be dealt with in this paper are:
- Pros of Cybering.
- Cons of Cybering.
- Participants of Cybering.
- Cybersex is a crime.
- The legality of Cybering.
Keywords: Cybering, technology, sexual activities, Telecommunication internet
INTRODUCTION
Cyber Sex is that the act of getting sex or sexual love, between two or more people, in a chat room or in e-mails, sometimes even without hearing the voice of the other. For example, two people meet in a chat room. They find out they have similar interest and start to like each other. Then these people start to initiate a bond. Cybersex addicts tend to suffer from poor impulse control and sometimes have a history of multiple addictions to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling, food, or sex. If a web user already suffers from a history of sexual addiction, cybersex is another outlet for gratification that feeds a previous problem. However, new research has found that over 65% of cybersex addicts haven’t any history of sexual addiction.[5]
Cybersex is the act of role-playing sexual acts or exchanging explicit sexual messages with people through chat rooms via the web. The practice itself has become quite popular, particularly with the increase of certain internet service providers. Cybersex can oftentimes employ the utilization of webcams, by which those engaging in cybersex can physically view the opposite participants.
Cyber-sex is a person’s way to escape reality while enjoying private liaisons with others that, like themselves, have found a way to live out their fantasies and desires with others. Cyber-sex is the medium to satisfy their desires and curiosities without ever being identified.
Three basic forms of cybersex are presented:
1. online pornography exchange,
2. Real-time sexual exchanges, and
3. Multimedia software.
Possible explanations for the facility of cybersex among sexual addicts, four basic explanations are explored: (a) isolation, (b) fantasy, (c) anonymity, and (d) low cost.[6]
PROS OF CYBERING
Cyber-sex could seem safer than real sex in some ways because there’s no risk of sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancy. However there are still risks involved and, like any sort of sexual intercourse, it’s never ok for somebody to coerce (pressure) you into anything sexual you do not want.
Cybersex allows real-world spouses who are geographically separated to still be sexually intimate the utilization of their imaginations. It can function to sustain the sexual dimension of a relationship during which the partners don’t see one another frequently face to face, thanks to work or other factors.[7]
Also, it can allow partners to figure out problems that they need in their sex life that they feel uncomfortable discussing it when facing one another or taking it to a wedding Counselor.[8]
In addition, people with long-term ailments (including HIV) can engage in cybersex as how to securely achieve sexual gratification without putting their partners at any health risks. Some people also consider cybersex a physically safe way for children, like teenagers to experiment with their sexual thoughts and emotion, more so, it’s financially less demanding on the web than in the real world. These are among a number of the perceived advantages of cybersex.[9]
CONS OF CYBERING
The first disadvantage of engaging in cybersex on a social level is that the deterioration of any relationship and satisfaction derived from sexual and emotional contact between the people within the relationship. When one cannot control the outcomes of his/her activities as far as his/her children are concerned, then he/she loses self-esteem which causes a good range of other social problems. Guilt, low self-esteem and criminal activities of sexual origin make individuals function during a more or less strange manner within social circles.[10]
When one is exposed to habitual viewing of pornographic material, then they’ll lose the association of friends and acquaintances who detest the habit and gain little support from their close relatives. This might cause depression and other conditions that arise due to alienation. This is often without mentioning the risks that exist on a social level in terms of health for people that change online interaction into offline interaction.[11]
PARTICIPANTS[12]
The participants of this study were recruited from forums on the web that are dedicated to pornography and cybersex so as to satisfy sexual curiosity and arousal.
Men and ladies were approached on the websites and were asked to fill in questionnaires and send them by mail to the investigators. Questionnaires were anonymous and there has been no means for assessing deception by the participants. The inclusion criteria for compulsive sexual behavior were males and females who use the web for sex purposes. From the first sample of 272, five participants didn’t meet inclusion criteria and were far away from the sample and 267 participants remained. The sample included 192 men (72%) and 75 women (28%) with the mean age for males 28 years and a couple of months (SD = 6.8) and for females 25 years and 6 months (SD = 5.13). The employment status of the participants included 40.4% full-time employment, 35.6% part-time employment, and 24% unemployed. Legal status was 14.2% married, 57.7% bachelors, 23.6% in a relationship but not married, 4% separated, 4.1% divorced. Most of the participants lived within the city (83.5%) and 16.5% lived in rural areas. Most of the participants were Jewish (91%), 2.2% Muslims, 4% Christians, and 2.8% others.
CYBERSEX AS CRIME
Risk of exploitation
The sex industry within the country is taking the online route to expand its network and experts fear the ladies taking over the bait for straightforward money face a high risk of cyber exploitation.
“Various escort agencies now like better to operate from the security of a little make-shift studio using digital payments than risking a physical contact or cash transaction with their potential customers,” says Rajib K Haldar, regional coordinator (South Asia), ECPAT International, a worldwide network of civil workers to prevent sexual exploitation of youngsters.[13]
Haldar has been studying cyber-related exploitation of youngsters in India and feels that teenagers are in danger of being exploited by these agencies which cater to a good market of fantasies. “The demands on these websites often boast of showing school or college girls within the act. It’s believed that not only sex workers but also girls from moderate backgrounds are being exploited by these agents on the pretext of a quick buck.”
There has been an increase within the number of adult websites and mobile apps that provide a choice of sexual acts to be streamed to survive one’s mobile or computer, a trend borrowed from the Philippines which is growing at a quick pace in India. Experts mean that it might be difficult for enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to book within the absence of relevant laws.[14]
“In a number of these cases, many ladies didn’t know that the live-streaming was also being recorded and would later be uploaded at various porn sites or used for continued exploitation,” said the NGO worker who requested anonymity.
“Cyber-sex is new a menace where minors are exploited on the web by online pimps within the disguise of escort agents or model coordinators,” Prashant Mali, Mumbai Supreme Court lawyer and a cyber-security expert said. “This is against the law and amounts to abetment of prostitution. Transmission of sex videos, chat or nude pictures amounts to crime under Section 67B of The IT Act, 2000 and therefore the punishment is up to seven years of jail and Rs 10 lakh of fine.”[15]
With numerous ways to commit illegal activities online, the individual can commit a criminal offense by checking out certain materials to incorporate kiddie porn or by soliciting another person or a minor. Felony offenses like these often require a criminal defense attorney to refute the fees, defend the person during a trial case or negotiate lesser charges with the prosecution. Cybersex crimes occur when the person either trades, distributes, purchases, downloads or interacts with others to send or receive child pornography or to solicit sex with another person. Generally, these illegal ages of majority, but prostitution is also illegal.[16]Bottom of Form
Cybersex crimes occur when the person either trades, distributes, purchases, downloads or interacts with others to send or receive kiddie porn or to solicit sex with another person. Generally, these illegal ages of majority, but prostitution is additionally illegal.
LEGALITY OF CYBERING
The Philippines is taken into account to be the epicenter of cybersex trafficking with its high level of English, rampant poverty and cheap internet access– yet campaigners say the crime is spreading across the region from Vietnam to Cambodia. Say the crime is Spreading across the region. From Vietnam to Cambodia. The Philippines, which has historically never filtered online activity, has passed an act that outlaws an extended list of offences including cybersex and libel, at an equivalent time handing the govt. powers to dam site access.[17]
The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, officially recorded as Republic Act No. 10175, maybe a law within the Philippines approved on September 12, 2012. It aims to deal with legal issues concerning online interactions and therefore the Internet within the Philippines. Among the cybercrime offenses included within the bill are cybersquatting, cybersex, kiddie porn, fraud, illegal access to data and libel.[18]
Sexual images showing under 18s are considered kiddie porn within the law. Anyone making, viewing, owning or sharing kiddie porn are often prosecuted and find yourself on the Sex Offenders Register. This includes children. If someone tries to coerce (force) you into any sort of sexual intercourse, including cybersex, against your will, this is often illegal and therefore the person can be charged. Pedophiles (people who sexually abuse children) sometimes begin by chatting online as to how of ‘grooming’ (preparing) them for sex. They’ll pretend to be much younger than they are. Obviously this is often highly illegal and punishable with up to life in prison.[19]
In November 2013, Terre Des Homes Netherlands, a Dutch NGO working against “webcam child sex tourism”, simulated Sweetie a 10-year-old Filipina, to lure predatory individuals on the search for children from poor countries to perform sex acts online.[20]
California legal code determines that anyone under 17 years aged is taken into account a minor and interesting in cybersex with this person may be a crime. The enforcement officers also because the FBI agents often pose as minors on popular sex chats and apprehend all the adults, who shall roll in the hay with the minor individuals. an individual is often accused of committing a sexual assault just in case he or she was meaning to have cybersex in both verbal or graphical way and in case he or she knew from the beginning that the opposite person is really a minor who remains younger than 17. Furthermore, the law also punishes people for soliciting minors to satisfy and have sexual contact, sexual activity or deviate sexual activity. When it involves the legal penalties, just in case the victim is younger than 17 years but older than 14, the crime is taken into account a felony in interrogation. Such a criminal offense is punishable by up to 19 years within the correctional facility also as up to $10 000 in fines. Just in case the victim is younger than 14 years, it’s a felony in the second degree. Such a criminal offense is punishable by up to twenty years within the correctional facility also as a $10 000 fine. [21]
CYBERSEX IN INDIA
Sexting is the way of sending partially naked and sexually explicit pictures of yourself through mobile phones or the web. The method of sending such images is against the law in India. It’s considered a really serious crime consistent with the laws of India and it’ll cause the court proceeding.
An adult who receives or shares a nude or sexual image of a toddler under the age of 18 is often charged with possessing or sending kiddie porn. Some states have enacted defenses against kiddie porn charges for teens (sometimes including kids up to 19 years old) who engage in sexting. [22]
An adult who sends a nude or sexual photo of him or herself to a toddler could even be convicted of a criminal offense. In many nations, it’s illegal to share with children anything obscene or sexual in nature. For instance, a faculty teacher who sends a photograph of his genitals to students might be convicted of disseminating obscenity. [23]
An adult that shares nude or sexual photos of another adult without his or her permission or who sends unwanted sexts to a different person might be charged with harassment or sued in civil court for causing emotional distress or other damage. One common scenario is revenge porn– for instance when an ex-boyfriend distributes private photos in an attempt to urge back at his ex-girlfriend.[24]
The main consequence of sexting is that such images are going to be permanently uploaded onto the online and may be used for blackmail. The opposite issue is that while you send photos to your friend there’ll be no guarantee which will the pictures be sent to other unknown peoples. The danger is going to be much higher in such situations. So by concluding we will say that don’t encourage sexting and be very cautious about the laws of sexting.
A new crime that has left the authorities baffled is fast catching up among the young generation. It pertains to sending lewd messages via cell phones and is termed as sexting.
Sending nude photographs or sexually explicit messages come under this crime.
To date most countries don’t have well-defined laws to affect this crime hence the culprits are mostly booked under the laws that control kiddie porn.
Sexting is dealt very sternly in countries like the US that have strict anti-child pornography laws. Even schools that are unable to see this activity are booked.
In India, sexting has become quite common though it mainly involves sending obscene messages. It’s the ladies who are mostly suffering from it and with 3-G gradually becoming popular, it’ll soon also reach sending dirty MMS and porn through the phone.
CONCLUSION
There are more disadvantages than advantages to engaging in cybersex. Cybersex is habitual and it is advisable to refrain rather than experiment, open up to partners in relationships, rather than keep the habit a secret. There are healthier alternatives for stress relief and stress management that have less detrimental effects. These are the options that individuals should be exposed to before they are too deep in the compulsive obsessive cybersex activities. Finally, if marital Counselling on couples that are losing their relationship because of cybersex is possible, then it is a worthwhile investment of time as it may prevent family breakdowns.
[1]Studying in 2nd year BBA-LL.B. (Hons.) at ‘ The ICFAI University, Dehradun’; Email- [email protected], Mobile no.- 9305024341
[2] Studying in 4th year B.TECH in Computer Science LL.B .(Hons.) specialization in Cyber Law at ‘ UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND ENERGY STUDIEs, Dehradun’; Email- [email protected] ; Mobile No.- 7060131242
[3]Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
[4]An Internet Study of Cybersex Participants Kristian Daneback, M.S.W., Al Cooper, Ph.D., and Sven-Axel Mansson, Ph.D.
[5]Young K. Are You Addicted to Cybersex? Bradford, PA: Center for Internet Addiction Recovery; (2001).
[6]Rafael Ballester-Arnal, Jesus Castro Calvo, M. Dolores Gil-Llario, Beatriz Gil-Julia. (2017) Cybersex Addiction: A Study on Spanish College Students. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 43:6, pages 567-585.
[7]Barnes, G. E., Malamuth, N. M. & Check, J. V. P. (1984). Personality and Sexuality. Personality Individual Differences, 5 (2), 159- 172. Retrieved 25 Sep.2012
[8]Ben-Ze’ev, AEmotions and Morality in Computer-mediated Romantic Relationships. 25 Sept.,2012
[9]Brady, E. (2007). Cybersex. Retrieved 25 http://elainebrady.com/docs/Cyber_Sex.pdf
[10]Jones, D. (2008). Cyber Sex for Nuts. Excerpt from Sex Prisoners. Retrieved 25 Sep., 2012
[11]Lanning, K. V. (2010). Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis. National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.Retrieved 25 Sep2012
[12]doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00054
[13]Jae Woong Shim. (2013) Motivations for Internet Pornography Search and Perception on Cybersex: Focusing on Gender and Internet Pornography Use.
[14]DAVID L. DELMONICO, PATRICK J. CARNES. (1999) Virtual Sex Addiction: When Cybersex Becomes the Drug of Choice. CyberPsychology & Behavior
[15]Sex industry takes digital route, teenagers at risk of cyber exploitation by -Chayyanika Nigam, New Delhi
[16]Dana E. Putnam. (2000) Initiation and Maintenance of Online Sexual Compulsivity: Implications for Assessment and Treatment. CyberPsychology & Behavior.
[17]Philippines passes law that criminalizes cybersex – https://www.wired.co.uk/article/philippines-cyber-crimes-act
[18]Republic Act No. 10175 AN ACT DEFINING CYBERCRIME, PROVIDING FOR THE PREVENTION, INVESTIGATION, SUPPRESSION AND THE IMPOSITION OF PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Approved by President of the Philippines BENIGNO S. AQUINO III on September 12, 2012
[19]Mark D. Griffiths. (2012) Internet sex addiction: A review of empirical research. Addiction Research & Theory 20.
[20]Quigley, J. T. (2013). Virtual 10-year-old Filipina reveals thousands of cybersex predators. http://thediplomat.com/2013/11/virtual-10-year-old-filipina-reveals-thousands-of-cyber-predators/. Accessed 30 Nov 2013
[21]California v. Shapiro Super. Ct. No. 11WF0999
[22]Is Sexting Illegal for Adults? -By Ave Mince-Didier
[23]Ibid.
[24]Ibid.