Dressing to Undress : Is India Sleepwalking Into a Soft Porn Culture?

Poonam Sharma 

Turn around anywhere — malls, hotels, airports, weddings — and you’re surrounded by plunging necklines, bare thighs, midriffs, and skin on full display. Public spaces now resemble fashion runways of provocation, where the line between style and seduction blurs, turning everyday life into a parade of hypersexualized imagery.

Something has happened quietly — but perilously — in Indian society. In the last many years, the fashion on our streets, on our television screens, and on social media platforms has changed dramatically. What was once a colorful display of culture and dignity has, in many a location, come to be nothing more than a competition to bare, shock, and arouse.

The culture of India, where fashion was a work of art, an expression of personality and culture, is disappearing. In its place, a new India is arising — one in which fashion more and more becomes a striptease, and in which the human body and skin more particularly female half concealed female genitals  has become a device for attention, clicks, and money.

It’s time we posed the uncomfortable but important question: Have we lost our way?

From  Elegance to Skin Show .Let’s take a moment to recall where we’re from. For hundreds of years, India hosted some of the world’s most beautiful clothing traditions. The saree was not six yards of cloth — it was a work of drape, elegance, and modest sensuality. The sherwani was not a coat — it was a declaration of class and event. From Mughal courts to Rajput palaces, from Bengali weddings to South Indian temples, our garments embodied meaning, history, and artistry.

Even in Europe, fashion used to be about refinement. The English queens, the French nobility, the Italian dukes — they were refined, clothes that alluded to status and taste without descending to vulgarity.

Fast forward to the present. Flip on a reality show, browse Instagram, take a stroll through a mall. What do you see? Torn jeans that only just cover the thighs. Saree blouses cut to show as much cleavage  and the exhibit of back as possible. Micro shorts that leave nothing to the imagination. Bikini shoots peddled as “empowerment.” Web series full of bedroom scenes being marketed as “bold content.” Actresses and influencers racing to see who can push the next boundary of decency — and a public applauding them with likes, comments, and viral shares. Let’s not be naive: this is not modernity. This is not freedom. This is  exhibitionism. Even animals do not exhibit the way people are doing .

 The Media’s Dangerous Game

Much of this shift has been driven — and commercialized — by the media-industrial complex. Fashion designers, in their quest for headlines, test the boundaries of exposure on the ramp. Television serials and movies, hungry for TRPs and viewers, fill scripts with hot scenes that mostly lack any artistic merit. Producers of web series pride themselves on “breaking stereotypes” — when all they are doing is shattering the last remnants of restraint. Social media influencers flood timelines with bikini clips and gym selfies, selling a hyper-sexualized lifestyle to millions of fans.

What’s the outcome? Little girls and boys are raised with the message that their worth is in their body, not their brain. That the path to popularity is baring more flesh, not honing more abilities. That notice is the new currency, and modesty is for losers.

Are We Raising a Generation of  soft porn Performers ? Here’s the actual tragedy: while we are sexually politicizing our public space, we are starving our intellectual space. We say we need philosophers , scientists, doctors, engineers, thinkers, writers. But where are the role models for kids? Who owns the screen today — the Nobel laureate scientist or the Instagram model? The tech entrepreneur or the reality show star known for a wardrobe malfunction?

In a world swimming in nearly naked pictures, how can we expect youth to concentrate on half-unfulfilled dreams? Are we heading to a society in which every street would have live sex performers ?

The Biological Reality we Choose to Ignore .Let’s discuss another inconvenient reality. The elite like to intone, “Women can do whatever they want; men need to control themselves.” In theory, yes — but human biology is not abstract. Men are visually stimulated. That’s biology, not a patriarchal myth. When public places get overrun with hyper-revealing clothing, we can anticipate effects. Does that make harassment or assault acceptable? Absolutely not. But to act as though there is no connection between hypersexualized media and increasing sexual aggression is naive.

Flip the situation: if men started parading around showing off their groin bulges in tight pants, would society label it empowerment or indecency? Would women be completely unaffected? When a woman when is displaying her skin or cleavage does she not have in mind to be inviting to have sex despite knowing that men are visually stimulated ?We need to stop acting like clothing is a neutral topic. It influences social behavior, expectations, and even morality.

 Are We Moving Toward a Soft Porn Culture? India now is not going towards a fashion revolution — it is sleepwalking into a  soft porn culture. We have made attention from provocation the norm. From ads to Instagram, from music videos to movie promos, skin sells.

Are we returning to a kind of cultural Stone Age, where primal instincts overshadow art and refinement? Are we, in fact, turning fashion into a kind of soft pornography, where the goal is no longer beauty or creativity but arousal and shock value?

But the question we really need to ask ourselves urgently is: How much sexualization do we actually need? Do we wish to become a nation in which every home has an Only Fans star of their own? In which little girls believe cleavage and lip pouts are the keys to success? In which boys learn that the marker of masculinity is the quantity of hearts on their shirtless clips? This isn’t progress. This is a civilization in reverse. The Vanishing Art of Dignity What we are losing is not modesty alone — we are losing  dignity.

Royal houses in all cultures knew the art of dressing graciously. Elegance was their trademark, not their riches. The queen’s allure lay in her poise, not in the skin she showed. The statesman’s authority lay in his demeanor, not in his biceps.

But today, dignity has been offered up at the altar of shock value. Provocation has become more important than personality. Visibility has become more important than virtue. The Responsibility of the Powerful

The fashion world, the media, the entertainment industry, and influencers need to stop playing dumb. They are influencing culture. They are influencing young minds. And they have a responsibility to draw a line. Freedom without responsibility is not liberation — it is chaos.

A Call to Cultural Reset

It is time for a cultural reset. This is not a call to censor movies or outlaw mini skirts. It is a call to reconsider balance.

Let fashion focus on creativity, not nakedness. Let beauty focus on charm, not brazenness. Let freedom be the freedom to dress stylishly, as much as it is the freedom to strip.

Parents, teachers, designers, actors, influencers — everyone has to get on this reset. We have to say to young people: your body is not your sole asset. Your mind is important. Your talent is important. Your character is important.

 Civilization or Collapse?

India is at a crossroads. We can either keep running towards a hypersexualized, skin-centric culture — or we can take a step back, think, and go back to the values that made us a great civilization. We are the land of the Upanishads, of Vivekananda, of Kalidasa, of Mirabai. We are not a civilization destined to disintegrate into reality TV trashiness and Instagram soft porn.

If we aspire to create a future of thinkers, leaders, creatives, and visionaries, we must revive the lost art of dignity — in life, in media, and yes, in fashion. Because when clothing loses its soul, a nation risks losing its mind. Or we  need to be  intervened regulated by the legislatures and judiciary for dressing code…?