Inside AI-Driven Digital Hate: Gendered Violence & Objectification of Muslim Women | Aditya Menon
In this episode of Nous Network, we are joined by Aditya Menon, senior journalist at The Quint, whose recent investigative report, “‘Zalim Hindu’ Porn: How AI is Mass Producing Pornographic Images of Muslim Women”, joins Ali Javed to uncover one of the most disturbing manifestations of digital hate and ideological violence in contemporary India.
Over the last fifteen years, Aditya Menon has extensively reported on communal violence, electoral politics, and the socio-political realities of Muslim and Sikh communities. His current work sheds light on how AI-generated imagery is being systematically used to humiliate and dehumanize Muslim women, using ‘soft porn’. But the phenomenon is not merely technological; it reflects deep-rooted structures of gendered Islamophobia.
This conversation explores the digital and ideological architectures that enable such targeted violence, examining the caste and gender dynamics embedded in Hindutva digital hate, the rise of ‘Trads’ and the alt-right subculture, the real-world consequences of online dehumanisation, and how Bollywood furthers this digital propaganda complex. It also reflects on the broader political project that normalises and celebrates the control of Muslim women’s bodies.
Through this discussion, we break down the intersections of technology, power, and marginalisation, holding space for conversations that expose the systemic underpinnings of extremism and hatred in digital age.
