Archive for July 5th, 2009
Miles to go.
Have you seen the ad with Vrijesh Hirjee and a loud mouthed parrot talking condoms out on top of its voice??? Or the really cheeky condom ad which they are airing these days?? Probably you have.
But have you seen them while having dinner with your family?? If you have…you know what I am going to talk about.
I think this anti 377 IPC campaign in Delhi was first ever shall we say “Sexual liberation” drive in the country. But are we really there yet?? I am not sure. I don’t know how many of legal amendments would it take to put the society at ease with the idea of sex,AIDS, kiss let alone the new upcoming sensibilities.
India is a country where the word sex is uncomforting at all levels. There is no good time to mouth word.
Try saying AIDS out loud in public and you are bound to attract a “eat you alive gaze”. The condom campaigns if seen with family, invite silence…invite minutes going without eye contact, ..just plain unacknowledged 30 seconds on air…as if they never existed.
We still are dealing with Muthaliks who go beating women off for drinking …and here a very contrasting verdict from the government of exempting consenting adults from 377. Do we at all remember the married couple prosecuted/held at ransom/troubled for kissing in public??? And we are speaking of introducing a new notion of sexuality. I am not against any, but what am I getting at is aren’t we celebrating too soon??
Our law and our collective mentality suffer a differential growth. And I think this is what is a little upsetting. We still find words like sex and AIDS absent from “acceptable” conversation
The amendment was needed, called for..and for sure is a reason to be happy about, but I think its the social acceptance which would be path breaking for the community is going to be hard to come by. When a hip swaying Bacchan boy is how we see this community as, its a reason enough to be sad about.
Legal protection protects from being prosecuted, but with fundamentalists out in open, I am sure that community is at a risk of suffering the same fate as women in a pub in Mangalore that day.
Who needs the society’s approval, can be a fancy argument. Absolutely, no one needs there approval, but ostracization, alienation is something the newly un-closet-ed must buckle up for. These are just some things,…all minorities across India (with no exception) suffer. Be it the Muslims, the Parsis…
