Posts Tagged ‘Society & Culture’

Homosexuality is still illegal in India, thanks to a British colonial law incorporated in the Indian Penal Code. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code declares homosexuality illegal; it states: "Whoever voluntarily has sex against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or for a term that may extend to 10years." Voices Against 377 is a coalition ... Full story

It is the most popular post on Indiblog, the one on the Gigolos of India. For those yet uninitiated, gigolos are male prostitutes catering to either or both women and men. It has had over 50 comments (even after deleting close to 20) and it keeps getting more. Of course, most of the comments are by the male prostitutes themselves and are shameless self-promotion. Absolutely ... Full story

Our Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has had to encourage us Indians to talk about sex, well, safe sex! I wonder if that has happened in any other country, in the West some governments are trying quite hard to wean people away from it! India - the land that gave the world Kamasutra - is now a terribly conservative society that frowns upon even the mention of ... Full story

I'm sure you must've come across all the embarrassing hullabaloo over pre-marital sex, virginity, and six-inch skirts going around in our Press lately. Embarrassing not because of the topic, but the nature of its discussion. It all started when Khushboo said something like there's nothing wrong in girls having pre-marital sex if it was safe. That is a perfectly candid statement, and if according to some ... Full story

I wrote about the Outlook article on gigolos only two days back, and since then there has been such a steady traffic to Indiblog! People have been searching for "gigolos in India", "Indian gigolos", "gigolos Mumbai", "gigolos in Delhi" and gigolos here and gigolos there... It is quite amusing to see the new-found captivation of the Indian gigolo - the male version of whore. It is also understandable that there must be curiosity in male prostitution in India. Prostitution is one of the earliest human enterprises. But what is striking is that, while "dancing girls" have always been there, "dancing boys" are a modern invention. Read more to see if this is women's liberation... Full story

I have deliberately capitalized Sex and Sexuality to reflect the command the words have not only in Indian society but in the entire world. Homosexuality is illegal in India because of Section 377 asserts: "Whosoever has carnal intercourse voluntarily against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall be liable to fine." But then, it says "against the order of nature", whereas homosexuality is nowadays recognized as natural and normal in many societies. Of course, the Christians are up in arms against it, but then they are also against sex, against the use of condoms, against women bishops, and against abortion - that makes them just primitive. In India, while the society still disapproves of homosexuality in general, it is the Sangh Parivar which is up in arms against it. While I agree with the Sangh Parivar on many terms, I strongly disagree on this one. Fools, for they are following the Christian dictum in this regard. Hindu society has been an open and free one for as far as history can remember, and now we have a moral police - is this modernity or regression? 41% women think sex and love are not connected! Full story

If you read news on the Internet, there is very little chance that you would have missed this article about an Israeli couple being fined for kissing in the middle of their Hindu wedding ceremony. Why, even Christian weddings don't involve kissing in many countries such as India, Papua New Guinea and many others. It is very ignorant and even arrogant of many westerners to think that all their cultural idiosyncracies will be tolerated in alien lands. And why do they expect that immigrants to the West should integrate, and not vice versa? I searched for India, and got to these blogs by westerners where they attribute lack of public kisssing to... Full story

A fantastic article on Outlook India about the gigolos of Mumbai and Delhi - apparently Mumbai is way ahead in the male whore business! Unlike for women, the writer, who is a she, says that men come into this not because of majboori, but for fun and the money. But some of her stories themselves suggest otherwise. Why is it that women are given more sympathy than men? Full story