A cab driver watched porn while driving a woman passenger from Yelahanka New Town to JP Nagar. He was sacked by the cab aggregator after the woman complained.

While porn is defined as a personal choice, it is unnerving to be forced to watch it, say experts.

Dr Ravi Prakash, neuropsychiatrist, Columbia Asia Hospital, says watching porn in public is connected to the psychological problem of exhibitionism.

“It is a form of sexual perversion, and offenders derive pleasure from it. As porn is available easily, it can easily be misused,” he says.

Many men watch porn so often that it is just a casual act, he observes. “It becomes a habit and they lack the discretion to understand where they are watching it. The most common perpetrators are males in the age group of 25 to 35 years,” he says.

Dr Shwetha B C, psychology lecturer at BMS College for Women, cited Freud, who said the psyche is ruled by the id, ego and superego.

“These are the three layers to every person. Id works on instincts of pleasure, ego on reality, and superego on morality. When people are watching porn in public, id is activated and the immediate urge has to be satiated. The individual forgets about reality and morality,” she says.

People who are overcome by id cannot be empathetic and only focus on themselves.

“Their urge is the only thought. Such behaviour is more common now as access to such websites is greater now. Addiction to the Internet could have triggered such behaviour,” she says.

In the past, three MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly were caught watching porn.

Shreya Chatterjee, psychologist with Mindscape Clinic, Indiranagar, says, “While the Ola incident could have been because of exhibitionism, the incident at the Assembly could be because they were simply bored.”  

Eyes right?

Tanveer Sait, education minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, was caught looking at scantily dressed women’s photos at a during Tipu Jayanti celebrations event in Raichur in 2016.

Ministers Laxman Savadi and CC Patil (both BJP) resigned after they were caught watching a porn video in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 2012.

Don’t keep quiet

“Most adults recover from such incidents but young children and adolescents can get deeply traumatised. It is important to react immediately and complain when one sees such an incident.” 

Dr Ravi Prakash, Neuropsychiatrist

How is an onlooker affected?

“Self-confidence can be deeply affected. One’s thoughts, emotions and cognition can go for a toss when an incident like this happens. If one keeps reliving such an incident, it can even lead to a psychoneurotic disorder.”

Dr Shwetha B C, Psychology lecturer, BMS College for Women