Pornography: Right or perversion?

Psychology experts fear that if people do not talk about sex in Sri Lanka, they will turn to porn to learn about sex instead of thinking more broadly about sexuality

Pornography, often abbreviated ‘porn’ or ‘porno’ in informal usage has become mainstream, with easy access to the Internet. Pornography is no more restricted to magazines and CDs which are secretly sold or exchanged. This can be the reason why pornographic material raids are more frequently in the news. Last week it was reported that two persons allegedly involved in a racket distributing CDs containing pornographic material to video centers were arrested during a raid in North Central and Central provinces by Dambulla Police. Dambulla Police also seized 786 CDs and several computers containing pornographic videos.

There were three others who were arrested for having in possession mobile phones containing pornographic material. Yet it remains uncertain why having pornographic content in personal electronic equipments like mobile phones and personal computers is considered a crime. When queried about the legal grounds of arresting people who have in their possession personal electronic equipment containing sexually explicit material, Sri Lanka Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said they have arrested these people based on the country’s law.

“Showing or possessing databases of pornographic material is ‘strictly’ prohibited by the Sri Lankan law and that law was made by the parliament,” he said. “Few countries have strict laws regarding pornography, including Sri Lanka. I believe that such laws were imposed because of the culture and morality of our society. If we need to uphold the moral values of our society, law should be strictly maintained,” he reiterated. It makes one wonder if the police is attempting to police the general public’s moral values.

Colonial hangover

Perhaps it is the Victorian mindset, a colonial hangover, which makes the discussion of pornography or any other sex related topic in public, uncomfortable, yet Google it to satisfy their curiosity in private. They are only very few who are bold enough to speak about such issues in public. Among those is a camp which brands porn as obscenity - capable of turning good men into sexual perverts. Another camp sees porn as just a healthy way of experiencing sex as long as the person doing the accessing is legally an adult and no one gets hurt while another camp is not sure whether to take its side or speak against it.

According to Wikipedia pornography may use a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video and even video games. Some call it sex education; some use it as a means to achieve sexual satisfaction and as sexual stimulation during masturbation.

University of Peradeniya, Professor of Sociology, SA Athukorala explained the Sociological perspective of pornography abuse. As he explained, a social problem is a problem which is generated by the society. It has negative impacts on the society and could be prevented by collective collaboration of the society. Law enforcement could come in handy in preventing a social problem. Prof Athukorala was not certain whether pornography abuse can be categorized as a social problem since it effects are individual rather than societal. “I believe we should look into this more liberally. However humans naturally have a drive for sex. We should look at these people in a sympathetic manner,” he said. Athukorala also said that this issue could affect a person’s social relationships including his family life.

He warned that the society should be more vigilant about these materials coming into the possession of children. “Cellular phones are very popular among children in plantation areas, especially teenagers. There are shops in these areas where a child could get pornographic material copied into their phones for 500 to 1,000 rupees,” he said, out of many years of experience working in such areas. “A person’s privacy should be protected while being vigilant about the possible hazards,” he added.      

Frustration

The psychological perspective of this issue is contradictory to the Police’s point of view. Dr. Jennie Robertson, a Clinical Psychologist who is working with Samutthana - the Sri Lankan Resource Centre of King's College London explained that it’s a matter of one’s choice to acquire satisfaction by watching pornography to relieve sexual frustration. “Many people use pornography to relieve sexual frustration, but others may choose not to,” Dr. Robertson said speaking to The Nation. Dr. Robertson is a Clinical Psychologist who has completed her training at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Some argue that porn can be as addictive as drugs. Commenting on this Dr. Robertson said she believes that sexual activity can be broadly addictive than pornography. According to an article published on WebMD online archive, one of the key features of addiction is the development of a tolerance to the addictive substance in the way that drug addicts need increasingly larger doses to get high, it reads that porn addicts need to see more and more explicit material to feel the same level of excitement they first experienced (Is Pornography Addictive? By Martin Downs, MPH). The Internet: The Book of Revelations written by Felix von Keudell suggests that porn can be a full-blown compulsion. It explains that pornography is more like food to a compulsive over-eater and once you make those pleasure connections in your brain they can be very hard to break.

Dr. Robertson said that there are numerous therapeutic techniques that can be used to manage problematic behavior. “As a therapist, I do not feel it is my duty to cure someone, but rather to help them manage difficult behaviors in order to reduce any psychological distress, improve well-being and live a life that they value.” She also mentioned that guilt, stigma, shame and other socio-culturally induced emotions cause people to feel further distressed by desires and behaviors they are made to believe, deviant. She pointed out that there is emerging evidence that watching porn is correlated with some neurological changes in the brain including impulsivity, compulsivity, emotional lability (subject to change or breakdown) and impaired judgment.

 

Negative effects

She also explained how people rely on porn as a form of sexual education. “I am aware that in United Kingdom, with increasing internet access now, people are learning about sex from porn more than ever.” According to her, one of the negative effects of pornography in the heterosexual context is the sexual objectification of the women. “I feel that they have to assume the role of a female porn star in order to be desirable and socially accepted,” she explained the UK situation. “I have observed that these actors do not necessarily want to do or enjoy it by performing sexual acts by the teenage girls I have worked with. Similarly, men are learning that it is acceptable to objectify women, to prioritize their own sexual needs at the expense of their partners' and to engage in sexual practices that may or may not be what either they or their sexual partners want,” she elaborated.

Poor body image

For both men and women, the pressure to look like porn stars may also lead to poor body image. “Some girls compare their genitals and breasts to their cosmetically-altered porn star counterparts, and feel that any deviation from these 'porn norms' is abnormal, rather than embracing variation amongst women,” she stressed. It would seem likely that this is also true for men.

According to The Internet: The Book of Revelations sociologists have noted that men who have used porn view their partner through a ‘pornographic filter.’ They will resort to impersonal fantasy of some porn scene when they’re having sex because the love for their partner isn’t enough to satisfy them. The porn-brained man also forces his woman to do things she’s not very comfortable with, seeking to act out the exotic scenes he has seen on film. And he’ll think women are all about it.

Human right

When Dr. Robertson was asked whether access to pornography is a human right she argued that all should have a right to express and explore sexuality. “I don't know if I would classify access to pornography as a human right. Access to all information perhaps?” she questioned. She also pointed out the danger of not providing sexual education to people so that porn becomes the only alternative sex education.

“We need to educate people about safe sex; that is, consensual sex that minimizes the risk of STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) or pregnancy. We need to talk positively about sexual health and sexual identity so that people feel free to explore their sexuality and that sex becomes a pleasurable experience,” she explained. “I am aware that this may or may not fit with various cultural and religious norms. But if we avoid talking about sex, we may be encouraging people to seek sex education through porn, which carries many dangerous and negative messages for both men and women,” she added.

According to her, it can be difficult to think critically about the messages porn convey if people don’t have access to information on sex beyond porn. “My fear is that if we do not talk about sex in Sri Lanka, people will turn to porn to learn about sex instead of thinking more broadly about sexuality,” she pointed out. “In my time in Sri Lanka, I have been struck by the absence of sex education provided to people and was reflecting on how access to porn might be particularly damaging when people have no other form of sexual understanding,” Dr. Robertson noted.

Sri Lanka highlighted for upswing in sexual attacks

About four years ago, foreign media warned that Sri Lanka is not a safe place to visit due to the armed conflict. Now that the armed conflict is over they seem to have found a new reason to continue discouraging foreigners from visiting Sri Lanka. This they do by emphasizing that Sri Lanka is a place ‘too dangerous’ to visit. On May 6, 2013, the US State Department’s travel advisory warned that foreign women should ‘exercise vigilance’ when visiting Sri Lanka, due to an upswing in sexual attacks against female visitors. Just a few days after the US State Department, the UK also issued a travel advisory asking the visitors to be mindful of organized and armed gangs known to operate in the country who have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence.

However a recent United Nations study involving multiple countries affirmed that more than one in ten men in Sri Lanka had admitted to having committed rape at least once. The study queries , ‘Why do some men use violence against women and how can we prevent it?’, it is based on a population based quantitative survey component of the study, which was conducted from 2010 to 2013 with more than 10,000 men and 3,000 women in nine sites across Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. The report also mentions that they received the lowest responses from Sri Lanka.

The report produced from the study points out that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence against women globally. Twenty-one percent of the Sri Lankan participants reported that they’d experiencing at least one act of physical violence and 30 percent of female participants of Sri Lanka reported experiencing at least one emotionally abusive act by a male intimate partner in their life time where 41 percent reported using at least one emotionally abusive act against their intimate partner. According to the survey most of the violence in Sri Lanka occurs between married people and according to the survey this was particularly true for marital rape, which is known to be the most common form of rape.

However, under Sri Lankan law, marital rape is not a crime unless a judge has ordered a spousal separation. “This is spoken under the penal code of 363 section (a). Penal code 363 states, ‘A man is said to commit ‘rape’, when he has sexual intercourse with a woman under circumstances falling under any of the following descriptions - (a) Without her consent even were such a woman is his wife and she is judicially separated from the man.” Therefore if a woman needs relief she should be judicially separated from the man,” said Justice of the Peace and Unofficial Magistrate Ranjith Kumara Caldera.

Commenting on the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, Caldera said that as a lawyer he does not think that it needs any immediate amendments. “It is still in the process of being implemented. So we have to wait and see whether it is effective enough,” he explained. “But the amendment of penal code 363 section (a) should be considered since it does not provide relief to a woman experiencing marital rape. But then again the rights of a husband is challenged if that section is to be amended since it is considered a right of the husband to have sexual intercourse,” Calder explained.

It appears that economical abuse is also an important element of intimate partner violence. Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner’s access to economic resources. Economic abuse may involve preventing a spouse from resource acquisition, limiting the amount of resources the victim has access to, or by exploiting economic resources of the victim. This includes such acts as the denial of funds, refusal to contribute financially, denial of food and basic needs and controlling access to heath care and employment. According to the report, in most sites including Sri Lanka, what was most commonly reported was a man prohibiting his partner from working or earning an income or withholding earnings from a partner for household expenses.

The main topic of the study was rape. The study claims that the questionnaire did not contain the word ‘rape’, because of the researcher’s belief that most men do not think they have raped when they force women to have sex. Instead, participants were asked questions like whether they ever “forced a woman who was not your wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex,” if they ever “had sex with a woman who was too drunk or drugged to indicate whether she wanted it” or forced a partner, when she did not want to. Out of 10,000 men 2,418 who participated in the study has admitted that they had committed rape. According to the study alcohol and drug abuse appears to have a serious relationship with sexual violence in some countries including Sri Lanka.
Emma Fulu, Research Specialist and Partners for Prevention and coordinator for the study in an exclusive email interview with The Nation that the men who admitted of raping had a correlation with physical, emotional or sexual abuse in their childhood. “We did find that men who had experienced or witnessed abuse as children were significantly more likely to use violence later in life. For example, more than 65 percent of men in Bougainville, PNG and the site in China reported experiencing emotional abuse or neglect as children and these men were at least twice as likely to use violence against a female partner,” she said.

Parenting programs needed
In particular, the study found that men who experienced childhood emotional abuse and neglect as children were more likely to perpetrate physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner. Men who experienced childhood sexual abuse were more likely to report perpetration of non-partner rape. “This tells us that we need to address child abuse and promote healthy families, for example through parenting programmes, comprehensive child protection systems and policies to end corporal punishment,” she pointed out.

According to Emma Fulu, the study has also found a link between men’s perpetration of rape and men’s use of transactional sex or sex with a sex worker. “Men who reported engaging in transactional sex or sex with a sex worker were more likely to perpetrate rape against a woman. This correlation is not just about men seeking sex, but rather reflects broader notions of ‘what it means to be a man’ that emphasize men’s heterosexual performance and dominance over women,” she said.
“To prevent violence against women, those notions need to shift, to promote non-violent and caring ways to be a man, for example through sustained school-based or sports-based education programmes,” she added.

Focus on Asia

Though the study claims to cover the Asia and Pacific regions, India, one of the most important countries was not included in it. “The research sites were selected to reflect the diversity of the region, with sites from South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, including two post-conflict sites. India was not included because a similar study, the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) had been recently conducted. We aimed to include study areas where little research had been conducted on men’s perpetration of violence. But we of course encourage and welcome further research on this,” Emma Fulu added.

Prof Neloufer de Mel of University of Colombo, Pradeep Peiris of Social Scientists’ Association, independent consultant Shyamala Gomez, Social Indicator team members and Kamani Jinadasa of CARE Sri Lanka were named in the report as the Sri Lankan country study team of the survey.

When contacted Pradeep Peiris of the Social Scientists’ Association refused to comment on the study report and asked to contact Prof Neloufer de Mel for the relevant information. Neloufer de Mel was not contactable. United Nations Population Fund, Communication Analyst, Lankani Sikurajapathy said that this survey was not done in country level, but in regional level and therefore she was not able to comment on the process through which the participants for the survey were selected. “CARE Sri Lanka is the institution in Sri Lanka who could comment on the process,” Sikurajapathy said.

When Fine contacted CARE Sri Lanka, the institute informed that Kamani Jinadasa no longer worked there. Ashika Gunasena of CARE Sri Lanka who returned the call on behalf of Kamani Jinadasa also refused to answer the questioned asked about CARE Sri Lanka funding a UN survey. Gunasena said that she could not make comments without the permission of directors.

Although the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment is aware of the survey, the minister said they cannot count on the survey results. “We cannot trust the accuracy of the survey results as there were incidents in which certain reports published inaccurate facts and figures,” Minister Tissa Karaliyadda said. “But if the figures are reliable it is true we must be vigilant about it. I don’t think this can be solved by just imposing laws and educating people,” he reiterated.
He further said he cannot think of a reason why foreign organizations would want to highlight Sri Lanka in such cases. “There are countries in this region which are much worse than Sri Lanka. I do not know why they discriminate Sri Lanka like this,” Minister Karaliyadda lamented.

- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/20892-sri-lanka-highlighted-for-upswing-in-sexual-attacks.html#sthash.MNdHRZfF.dpuf

About four years ago, foreign media warned that Sri Lanka is not a safe place to visit due to the armed conflict. Now that the armed conflict is over they seem to have found a new reason to continue discouraging foreigners from visiting Sri Lanka. This they do by emphasizing that Sri Lanka is a place ‘too dangerous’ to visit. On May 6, 2013, the US State Department’s travel advisory warned that foreign women should ‘exercise vigilance’ when visiting Sri Lanka, due to an upswing in sexual attacks against female visitors. Just a few days after the US State Department, the UK also issued a travel advisory asking the visitors to be mindful of organized and armed gangs known to operate in the country who have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence.
However a recent United Nations study involving multiple countries affirmed that more than one in ten men in Sri Lanka had admitted to having committed rape at least once. The study queries , ‘Why do some men use violence against women and how can we prevent it?’, it is based on a population based quantitative survey component of the study, which was conducted from 2010 to 2013 with more than 10,000 men and 3,000 women in nine sites across Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. The report also mentions that they received the lowest responses from Sri Lanka.
The report produced from the study points out that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence against women globally. Twenty-one percent of the Sri Lankan participants reported that they’d experiencing at least one act of physical violence and 30 percent of female participants of Sri Lanka reported experiencing at least one emotionally abusive act by a male intimate partner in their life time where 41 percent reported using at least one emotionally abusive act against their intimate partner. According to the survey most of the violence in Sri Lanka occurs between married people and according to the survey this was particularly true for marital rape, which is known to be the most common form of rape.
However, under Sri Lankan law, marital rape is not a crime unless a judge has ordered a spousal separation. “This is spoken under the penal code of 363 section (a). Penal code 363 states, ‘A man is said to commit ‘rape’, when he has sexual intercourse with a woman under circumstances falling under any of the following descriptions - (a) Without her consent even were such a woman is his wife and she is judicially separated from the man.” Therefore if a woman needs relief she should be judicially separated from the man,” said Justice of the Peace and Unofficial Magistrate Ranjith Kumara Caldera.
Commenting on the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, Caldera said that as a lawyer he does not think that it needs any immediate amendments. “It is still in the process of being implemented. So we have to wait and see whether it is effective enough,” he explained. “But the amendment of penal code 363 section (a) should be considered since it does not provide relief to a woman experiencing marital rape. But then again the rights of a husband is challenged if that section is to be amended since it is considered a right of the husband to have sexual intercourse,” Calder explained.
It appears that economical abuse is also an important element of intimate partner violence. Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner’s access to economic resources. Economic abuse may involve preventing a spouse from resource acquisition, limiting the amount of resources the victim has access to, or by exploiting economic resources of the victim. This includes such acts as the denial of funds, refusal to contribute financially, denial of food and basic needs and controlling access to heath care and employment. According to the report, in most sites including Sri Lanka, what was most commonly reported was a man prohibiting his partner from working or earning an income or withholding earnings from a partner for household expenses.
The main topic of the study was rape. The study claims that the questionnaire did not contain the word ‘rape’, because of the researcher’s belief that most men do not think they have raped when they force women to have sex. Instead, participants were asked questions like whether they ever “forced a woman who was not your wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex,” if they ever “had sex with a woman who was too drunk or drugged to indicate whether she wanted it” or forced a partner, when she did not want to. Out of 10,000 men 2,418 who participated in the study has admitted that they had committed rape. According to the study alcohol and drug abuse appears to have a serious relationship with sexual violence in some countries including Sri Lanka.
Emma Fulu, Research Specialist and Partners for Prevention and coordinator for the study in an exclusive email interview with The Nation that the men who admitted of raping had a correlation with physical, emotional or sexual abuse in their childhood. “We did find that men who had experienced or witnessed abuse as children were significantly more likely to use violence later in life. For example, more than 65 percent of men in Bougainville, PNG and the site in China reported experiencing emotional abuse or neglect as children and these men were at least twice as likely to use violence against a female partner,” she said.
Parenting programs needed
In particular, the study found that men who experienced childhood emotional abuse and neglect as children were more likely to perpetrate physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner. Men who experienced childhood sexual abuse were more likely to report perpetration of non-partner rape. “This tells us that we need to address child abuse and promote healthy families, for example through parenting programmes, comprehensive child protection systems and policies to end corporal punishment,” she pointed out.
According to Emma Fulu, the study has also found a link between men’s perpetration of rape and men’s use of transactional sex or sex with a sex worker. “Men who reported engaging in transactional sex or sex with a sex worker were more likely to perpetrate rape against a woman. This correlation is not just about men seeking sex, but rather reflects broader notions of ‘what it means to be a man’ that emphasize men’s heterosexual performance and dominance over women,” she said.
“To prevent violence against women, those notions need to shift, to promote non-violent and caring ways to be a man, for example through sustained school-based or sports-based education programmes,” she added.
Focus on Asia
Though the study claims to cover the Asia and Pacific regions, India, one of the most important countries was not included in it. “The research sites were selected to reflect the diversity of the region, with sites from South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, including two post-conflict sites. India was not included because a similar study, the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) had been recently conducted. We aimed to include study areas where little research had been conducted on men’s perpetration of violence. But we of course encourage and welcome further research on this,” Emma Fulu added.
Prof Neloufer de Mel of University of Colombo, Pradeep Peiris of Social Scientists’ Association, independent consultant Shyamala Gomez, Social Indicator team members and Kamani Jinadasa of CARE Sri Lanka were named in the report as the Sri Lankan country study team of the survey.
When contacted Pradeep Peiris of the Social Scientists’ Association refused to comment on the study report and asked to contact Prof Neloufer de Mel for the relevant information. Neloufer de Mel was not contactable. United Nations Population Fund, Communication Analyst, Lankani Sikurajapathy said that this survey was not done in country level, but in regional level and therefore she was not able to comment on the process through which the participants for the survey were selected. “CARE Sri Lanka is the institution in Sri Lanka who could comment on the process,” Sikurajapathy said.
When Fine contacted CARE Sri Lanka, the institute informed that Kamani Jinadasa no longer worked there. Ashika Gunasena of CARE Sri Lanka who returned the call on behalf of Kamani Jinadasa also refused to answer the questioned asked about CARE Sri Lanka funding a UN survey. Gunasena said that she could not make comments without the permission of directors.
Although the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment is aware of the survey, the minister said they cannot count on the survey results. “We cannot trust the accuracy of the survey results as there were incidents in which certain reports published inaccurate facts and figures,” Minister Tissa Karaliyadda said. “But if the figures are reliable it is true we must be vigilant about it. I don’t think this can be solved by just imposing laws and educating people,” he reiterated.
He further said he cannot think of a reason why foreign organizations would want to highlight Sri Lanka in such cases. “There are countries in this region which are much worse than Sri Lanka. I do not know why they discriminate Sri Lanka like this,” Minister Karaliyadda lamented.

- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/20892-sri-lanka-highlighted-for-upswing-in-sexual-attacks.html#sthash.MNdHRZfF.dpuf

A society’s struggle against abandoning homosexuality

 

Was it a new beginning for Sri Lanka? Does this hint at a degradation of social values? What will happen to the Sri Lankan culture? So many questions were raised when media revealed a homosexual marriage ceremony at Ratmalana last week. Sexuality and gender issues are still not a comfortable topic in public discussions in Sri Lanka. In fact homosexuality is still considered a taboo. Not speaking about homosexuality is not going to solve the issues. Thinking that the ‘issue’ of homosexuality will simply disappear if it is not talked about is wishful thinking. People are in doubt about the ‘right attitude’ they should have towards the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi sexual and Transgender) community. Some are confused, not knowing which side to take. Some try to rationalize it where some become homophobic.

Psychologists say homosexuality is not a mental illness and that it can be cured is a myth. According to them homosexuals are born as homosexuals. Since it is caused by genetic factors and hormonal influences, it cannot be changed. The biggest turning point of this argument was when the American Medical Association (AMA) removed homosexuality from the list of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973. In 1952, the original Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) listed homosexuality among the sociopathic personality disturbances.

The Nation’s attempt to speak to a couple of psychologists and counselors at a well known counseling institution in Sri Lanka didn’t bear fruit with various excuses being given.  Since counselors and psychologists are the only professionally recognized group who can help and educate LGBT people, their silence regarding the matter is cause for concern.

A gay rights activist who wanted to remain anonymous said that a person cannot choose to become a homosexual. “If a person chooses to become gay, I don’t think that person will be comfortable about it. Homosexuals have their own sexual desires as any heterosexual person,” the activist said. “Sri Lankan media is continuously condemning homosexuals. Most of them don’t even bother to do proper reference. In fact we are considered criminals in this country,” the activist lamented.

In fact homosexuals are considered criminals by law of the country. Legal officer for Institute of Human Rights (IHR), V S Niranchan assured The Nation that homosexuality is considered a criminal offense according to law. “Article 365A prohibits anyone, irrespective of gender, engaging in ‘gross indecency’, which is not explicitly defined, although stiffer sanctions apply if one person is under the age of 16 or if any sort of injury was caused as a result,” he said.
According to him any person who commits, or is a party to the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any person of, any act of gross indecency with another person, shall be guilty of an offense, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both and where the offense is committed by a person over 18 years of age in respect of any person under 16 years of age shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than ten years and not exceeding twenty years and with a fine and shall also be ordered to pay compensation of an amount determined by court to the person in respect of whom the offense was committed for the injuries caused to such person.
Penal code amended

“Earlier the penal code said ‘any male person’ instead of ‘anyone’. The penal code was amended in 1995 to include the females as well,” Niranchan added. He further explained that the laws should be amended to include more stringent rules in order to control homosexual acts. “Strengthening the law is the only way to control this unaccepted behavior,” he reiterated.

Lawyer, Human Rights Activist Shiral Lakthilaka said that Sri Lanka should also consider the human rights aspect of the issue. “When you speak about homosexuality in Sri Lanka you have to take three aspects into consideration; the human rights aspect, religious aspect and the Victorian mentality among the Sri Lankans,” Lakthilaka stressed. “When homosexuality is spoken about in the human rights perspective it falls under the category of minority rights and group rights. This is a subject which should come into broader discussions. There should be a platform where sexual minorities could speak of their issues,” he added.

The religious position in Sri Lanka does not give any leniency toward LGBT community. All religions in Sri Lanka have generally perceived that homosexual behavior is a sinful act. Christianity, Hindunism as well as Islamic community consider homosexuality as a sinful act. There are no explicit rules for lay persons prohibiting homosexual behavior in Buddhism. Yet, since homosexuality is against social standards in the country, it could be considered as sexual misconduct. However, Thailand being a country with 95 percent Buddhists is soon to amend their laws allowing homosexual marriages.

There are few organizations and movements offering help for the LGBT community and most of them are online support groups. Since the country doesn’t have a proper screening process for these support groups and organization, it is hard to trust which group is genuinely offering help and which groups have hidden motives which could cause more harm than good. Legalizing homosexuality or not it would be better if the country could have a proper method to monitor these mushrooming support groups.

Another group of people harbor the opinion that homosexuality is becoming a trend in society. Some say homosexuality is only an issue in Colombo. On one hand if homosexuals are claming that they are not special, it is quite confusing why homosexuals themselves are trying to show off their ‘pride’. On the other hand if homosexuality is normal and cannot be changed or ‘cured’, is it ethical to condemn their sexual preference?

Although the majority of the Sri Lankan community consider ‘homosexuality’ as a special issue where solutions should be obtained, the real question is the danger innocent young people face, due to the lack of awareness on sexual and gender issues including homosexuality. If they are not properly educated they will seek information through unreliable sources.

http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/20500-a-society%E2%80%99s-struggle-against-abandoning-homosexuality.html

Humans as medical fodder

Using humans for research is not something new. Since the end of World War II humans have been used as test subjects for many new drugs by researchers and pharmaceutical companies. However, as emphasis on ethics of medical research has increased, the ‘ethics’ of conducting clinical trials on humans have been questioned.
 Ragama Medical Faculty Senior Lecturer Dr. Deepthi De Silva and Ragama Medical Faculty Department of Public Health Professor Dr. Pushpa Jayawardana spoke to The Nation about the prospects and challenges of the medical research and clinical drug trials in the country. Both De Silva and Jayawardana were former committee members of the Kelaniya University Medical Faculty Ethics Review Committee.
 Ethics relate to the differentiation between right and wrong. Here it applies to specific guidelines that should be considered when a research team carries out research considering both scientific and humane aspects, said Jayawardana. Good ethical practice secures the rights of participants, researchers as well as research results.
 According to them, there are no programs currently in Sri Lanka to educate patients undergoing these clinical trials. It seems that participation completely depends on doctor’s advice. De Silva and Jayawardana are both of the opinion that it is highly unlikely that doctors in Sri Lanka are bent on misusing patients when it comes to participant’s rights. They said that they weren’t aware of such incidents reported in Sri Lanka. However, what is questionable is that there is no responsible authority to review any of the on-going drug trials other than the Health Ministry and Sri Lanka Medical Association.
 A legal act proving guidelines for these clinical drug trials has been proposed and sources state that this proposal is still in draft form. Some issues have risen since this legal draft has limited access. Sources claim that even medical professionals don’t know who backs this legal act and what revisions have been included in it. The main purpose of this legal act has to focus on the participants’ rights since they are the ones at risk.
 Clinical drug trials are highly supervised and monitored in most countries since human lives are at stake. Every country including Sri Lanka should properly monitor these trials without risking both participants’ and researchers’ rights. An ethics review committee should be able to act independently over a trial. Yet one of the responsible bodies reviewing the clinical drug trials in Sri Lanka, Kelaniya University Medical Faculty Ethics Review Committee was abruptly dissolved in 2010 with some trials in the reviewing process and was reappointed immediately with a new committee.

 Jayawardana emphasized that safety should take precedence since the subjects are human. According to De Silva and Jayawardane, these drugs are tested on humans only after testing those on animals in several stages. Using animals for drug experiments has raised eyebrows of many animal rights organizations as ethical aspects of using animals for experiments are always argumentative. Scientists say that if animal experiments are to be banned it will put an end to testing new drugs or using human beings for all tests. However these phases of experimenting drugs on animals are still not taking place in Sri Lanka.
 When questioned on the ethics of using humans as tests subjects in clinical drug trials, De Silva said that as long as ethics review committees are there to judge and balance the risks of the clinical trials, using humans as test subjects cannot be categorized as an unethical approach.
 First of all any one has a right not to be subject to a clinical trial, said De Silva. He or she must read and thoroughly understand the terms and conditions in the consent form. Moreover a participant also has a right to know the results of a trial. The researcher must reveal and discuss the outcome of the trial with the participants. Most importantly privacy of a research participant should be assured, reiterated Jayawardana.
 A researcher cannot share participant details with any other parties without the participant’s consent. If details are to be given to any other party the researcher must ensure that it is provided under grounds of anonymity. On the other hand, participants must perform their duty as agreed in the agreement. The participants must be completely honest with the research officer and reveal all information, symptoms and complications accurately while undergoing trial as success of a clinical trial depends on the corporation of the both parties.
 “A participant in a clinical trial might receive a payment for participating. Any claimed compensation will only be paid if it is proven to be a cause of the experimented drug,” informed Jayawardana. However, all payments will be made according to the agreement signed in the beginning.
 “A participant should be closely monitored during the process and are subjected to special monitoring even after the trial,” said De Silva. Since these drugs are still in testing phase, there are always risks of adverse or even fatal effects of the new drug. On the other hand, the participant will be able to receive new drugs tested for his illness which may otherwise be unaffordable. Besides, Jayawardana said that their participation is also considered an invaluable service to the society.

Published in The Nation on August 12,2012
Link : http://www.nation.lk/edition/health/item/9152-humans-as-medical-fodder.html