e_Paper, Monday, August 7, 2017

Opinion 15
DT
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017
Sultan of smut
What does the case of Md Fuad Bin Sultan say about our society?
SERPENT
IN EDEN
• Towheed Feroze
The news was possibly a
surprise for many though
I am sure there are those
who are keen social
observers and notice the murky
sides of life cleverly concealed by
a layer of pseudo modesty. I am, of
course, talking about the arrest of
the local Sultan of porn.
The man in question left a
conventional career and decided
to delve into the world of the
forbidden to make a fast buck. As
far as we know, he ran an escort
service -- providing women willing
to be intimate to clients for a price
-- and also used his flat to offer
discreet meeting spots for such
trysts.
One act leads to another
It seems that the man in question,
reportedly the son of a retired
police officer, had been running
the operation of providing female
companionship in exchange for a
fee for some time. In the West, this
business, though not discussed
at public forums too often, is a
legitimate way of earning since the
women involved are believed to
have entered the work willingly.
A few years ago, an
international news channel ran
a story about recession-time
students earning to pay for their
tuition working as part-time
escorts. Many of the women
later went on to enter perfectly
acceptable professional positions,
leaving that small bit of their lives
behind.
In recession time, there have
been incidents when women, for
a short while, have been seen to
work as escorts to pass through a
hard patch. Desperate times call
for desperate measures, as they
say.
There’s always the chance to
wipe the slate clean and start over.
Our man in question, who
conveniently has Sultan in
his name, began his business
providing escorts, but later,
possibly driven by greed, decided
to film the intimate moments and
then use the clips to blackmail
the client and also the women
involved.
Obviously, with the secret
filming, the whole affair took a
very diabolic turn. One should
not endorse escort services from
a puritanical point of view, but
A symptom of a sexually-repressed society?
we need to look at this social
phenomenon not with the
blinkered view of a purist but with
that of a rationalist.
Driven by moralist zeal, many
denounce brothels on the grounds
that they undermine traditional
values and then force sex workers
on the street into a world of
brutal exploitation, disease, and
depravity.
No matter how conservative we
try to portray ourselves to be, the
fact is we have registered brothels
where thousands live and play
a vital role in maintaining social
civility.
The crime is the secret filming
Whether someone wants to be a
discreet special companion for
livelihood is that person’s choice
but making secret films and then
using that for blackmail takes us
into darker territory. Obviously,
in this downward slope, the yaba
tablet, known for its inhibitionbusting
powers, plays a central
role.
In fact, if we meticulously look
at all current-day social anomalies,
from rising brutality to savage
behaviour to the rise of divorce
rates in urban areas, a link to the
drug can eventually be found.
I hear from my media friends
that the common line in all current
day crime related investigations is:
“What is the baba (a euphemism
An educated man without scruples filming others in intimate moments
to make money and create torment is the ultimate debasement of social
ethos
for yaba) connection?”
The latest case is no exception;
yaba was found in the man’s flat
where he allegedly drugged both
men and women and then led
them to indulge in unrestrained
acts, filmed by hidden cameras.
The most perturbing aspect
of this whole sordid affair is that
the person in question is not
unrefined or boorish but someone
who is educated and comes from a
respectable background.
Values wither when the profit is
quick
We are not wrong in guessing that
in the face of fast profit, all social
inhibitions of the so called “porn
king” dissipated. Whether he has a
university degree or not becomes
irrelevant since society now knows
him as a blackmailer.
Reminiscent of the soft-spoken
but thoroughly vile Sherlock
Holmes master blackmailer,
Charles Augustus Milverton, who
made a handsome livelihood by
selling the secrets of others.
An educated man without
scruples filming others in intimate
moments to make money and
create torment is the ultimate
debasement of social ethos.
A few years ago, another such
person, a photographer, was
arrested by police when he lured
children from underprivileged
backgrounds with cash to pose for
photos which were later sold to
pedophiles abroad.
Is it time for legitimate adult
entertainment?
Some say we should bring down
the vacuous brouhaha over the
cliched lines of conservative
values and lifestyle according
to impractical social restrictions
-- and try to come to terms with
the metamorphosis which has
happened behind the curtain of
puritanism.
Stands to reason, adult
entertainment is a global trend; we
may not admit it in public but, in
Bangladesh, the hits into over 18
sites are staggering.
And, if we go back in time,
we recall (even in the 80s) the
RAB
roaring business of the makeshift
VCR theatres in Thataribazar,
Begumbazar which mainly showed
adult movies.
Society has ingrained within
us that anything to do with
physical pleasure is a taboo
topic and cannot be discussed
openly. Interestingly, way back
in the 70s, during a brief period
of enlightened thinking, a film
for adults (possibly called Gopon
Kotha), featuring top movie
stars of the time, openly talked
about puberty, family planning,
and other issues topped with a
balanced dose of tantalising thrill.
The recent case of Sultan is
another incident which asks us
not to hide under a make-believe
blanket of prudery and address
several social proclivities with a
healthy dose of liberalism.
Such sultans of smut will
proliferate unless we talk about
areas of life which have been
blocked out irrationally. •
Towheed Feroze is a journalist working
in the development sector.