Is it OK to Watch Porn in Public? – Probably Not
Pornography over the internet is rampant and almost anyone has access to it – membership or for free – people are exposed to watching porn movies in these discrete sites. But when one watches these adult clips, they are often viewing it at the comforts of their homes and in locked doors. They may be watching it in their offices or in other places other than their bedrooms. The point is that no other people can see them; that they are watching such films.
The problem is that some people do watch porn in public places; an airport, the school, and even in public transport. A reporter friend of mine was shocked and disgusted at the same time as to what she has witnessed when she rode a bus going home.
She was off at around 7-7.30 and she was ready to go home, have a nice meal and put her feet up. The day was pretty hectic for her and she needed to unwind. My friend got on the bus and was lucky to have a vacant seat for her to sit on beside a pretty normal looking guy. It was a bit cold outside and everyone in the bus wore thick clothing like coats, hoodies and hats. You could see that most everyone in the bus were beat and some were even closing their eyes for a quick nap, she said.
The bus was a bit dim and she said that she was ready to doze off when something caught her eye. The guy beside her was intent on watching something in his mobile and the light was pretty bright since the bus was almost dark. Unintentionally, her eyes shifted to the screen and there she saw – the person beside him who seemed to be normal-looking was watching porn inside the bus. He was in public transport and he was beside her, a single woman whom he had no relations with whatsoever.
She told me that she couldn’t believe what was happening at that time. At first, the guy was watching animated family guy porn – the family guy characters were doing “it” over and over again with very vivid features exposed. When that was done, he then again watched another film and this time it was a real well endowed man and a very busty woman. And you know what happens next.
There was no sound since he was wearing his ear pods but then from time to time he had to reinsert the jack. He didn’t know that my friend could see what he was watching since he was wearing an oversized hood and his face was covered. He was so oblivious, my friend told me – he didn’t seem to care what he was doing, where he was doing it and if people saw him.
After a few agonizing minutes, it was time for him to go and he politely told my friend that he needed to get out. He was on the window seat and my friend was seated by the aisle. He stood up and managed a weak thanks to my friend, she said, and he left the bus as if nothing happened.
My friend was very vocal about it to me but she wasn’t able to manage to tell the man directly. She felt uncomfortable with all of it and a bit of an irritation I can hear. The guy didn’t feel that he was being watched and my friend didn’t get his attention too so in the end, he just didn’t know that what he was doing was causing “something” to other people.
I told my friend that she should have said something to the guy or maybe went to the driver so that he could have done something. She just said that she was shocked and just didn’t know how to react and respond to what she witnessed. She also said that the bus was so full, even a needle wouldn’t fit.
She just continued on mumbling her questions and we got to a pretty serious discussion. Our main concern was – what if a minor saw what he was watching? We also got to thinking about the law – is there a specific law that prohibits people from watching porn in public places? How will it be enforced, if there was such? And the lingering question on my friend, most especially, is the guy beside her – why did he feel that it was acceptable to watch porn on a bus with a lot of people surrounding him? That’s not “safe”, is it?
As for the guy, did he really feel that it was within his rights to watch porn wherever he wanted to? I mean, he owned the mobile on where the video clip was playing. He was in a public bus but he had ear pods on and no one could hear the video. Is it within his civil rights and was he free to do so?
Still, my friend and I agreed that it was totally offensive, freedom of choice set aside.
When our other friends arrived, she told them of what happened. It has become more shocking because each one of them had a similar experience. One of my colleagues told us that he was in an airport with his young boy and they were in a coffee shop, waiting for their plane. Beside them were two fairly young lads, they were Italian, and of course, they were watching porn in their laptop.
My colleague approached them and talked to them nicely. They were obedient to his request and it was shut off almost immediately.
So many stories came about and bottom line – we all thought the same thing – what’s the law regarding this particular concern? We googled a bit about and found out that there are specific laws about porn and the people around those who are watching adult films using their private devices cannot compel them to stop, even if they are watching in public. The only way to go around the law is when the “watcher” creates a disturbance or harasses other people within his environ.
Still very unhappy of what she discovered, my friend went to Transport for London and she explained to them everything. To her surprise, they were very welcoming of her issue and the office took this even seriously.
She was told that this is a serious matter and that if she ever witnessed something like this again and felt uncomfortable, the police or any member within the public transport vehicle must be informed. Passengers must without reservations report events of this nature to the driver or the conductor. They would report the same to the control office and then it would be called to the police for investigation.
But, really, what can the police do? That’s what I thought. My friend and I dug deeper into this and we found out about Indecent Displays (Control) Act. It can be shoved when a confrontation arises in the future.
In the Unites States there is a group called National Center On Sexual Exploitation or NCOSE. Their campaign is all about prohibiting people from watching porn when on board an aircraft. It brought about a great result. 99% of the major airlines in the US agreed to this and included in their policies that adult films which are pornographic in nature cannot be played when inside the airplane. They have also trained their airline staff as to how this particular event must be managed.
But going back to my friend’s ordeal – buses are often staff-less. It’s just the driver. And what about the trains? Some trains are functioning even without a driver. To whom do we tell this incident so that it will be abruptly cut? If we wait for the stop where police is located, what if the passengers watching porn has already left? How can they be caught and be investigated?