Politics of Pornography : a critical human rights approach to the Indonesian pornography law

The Indonesian law against pornography has caused controversy since 2006. This thesis aims to explore what norms and conceptions that can be found amongst politicians and influential actors promoting the Indonesian pornography law, in order to understand its significance. Six interviewees’ understanding of the law and pornography is analysed from a theoretical platform inspired by discourse theory that provides understanding of the social. The analysis shows that the pornography law is enabled by certain norms of sexuality and gender, and built on conceptions of a perceived threat from the West directed at the Indonesian nation, embodied by women. The concept of pornography is open to interpretations and negotiations and escapes a fixed meaning, which groups tries to define in a struggle over political legitimacy