Porn, Protests, and Politics: Hindu Male Imaginations of Muslim Women

Abstract

This article explores the intricate convergence between eroticism and political discourses in Hindu-majority India, focusing on how sexual fantasies are deeply intertwined with ethnic and religious identities and imaginations. Through an ethnographic analysis of pornography sites, the article attempts to answer two questions – first, to what extent is there a politicization, particularly an ethnicization, of sexual desires and fantasies within the context of Hindu-majority India? And second, in what ways do the two forms of sexual representation—online sexual abuse and pornography consumption—intersect within the broader framework of the power-pleasure matrix? Through ethnographic evidence and visual analysis, the article argues that in contemporary Hindu-majority India, political ideologies infiltrate erotic imaginations, rather than pornography simply permeating political discourses. It reverses the scholarly focus by revealing how political mobilization actively shapes sexual fantasies, blending religious and ethnic identities with desires of domination and submission. This contrasts with much of the existing work, which investigates how sexual discourse influences politics rather than the reverse. The article discusses how online porn, social media, and political forums form an affective ecosystem in which political ideologies, particularly Hindutva, concretize power-pleasure dynamics enlisting both active participants and passive bystanders to create the vision of a Hindu Rashtra.