Sex and Loathing in Middle Class India - Part II

In my first article I spun and laid a fishnet to catch you in my drift- talking to you about middle class, the common dreams and taboos and how sex was one of the least preferred and uncomfortable topics to discuss about among the Indian Middle Class. This also pointed the hypocrisy we resort to when we talk about sex. I'd start off by supplying a disclaimer that I forgot in the first part of my series. For people who feel I was wrong in assuming many things, kindly refer.
DISCLAIMER: All assumptions are from experience and a logic that pertains to €MAJORITY'. Wherever I used €we' or €us' in the context of middle class and Indians, I was talking about the observed trend in a diverse and varied population excluding the minority and exceptions. Not all middle class people are defined by what I wrote or am about to write. I've taken the liberty to generalize to an extent as without it, no discussion on a section of society or a country is possible, specially about one as multi-colored as India.
Notice the way women have been portrayed in our movies since times immemorial (with some exceptions, of course)- as objects of sex. And nay sir, things are not getting better. We are currently witnesses to the era of item girls and item songs, if anything. Our trailers still feature a half naked woman flaunting cleavage instead of any content. This was movie. Now you might be wondering how is this connected to middle class and sex. Observe that movies are, next to cricket, the fodder of an Indian mind. We live movies. At least the same and the functional ones will swear by this fact. Now I know rape and nudity is portrayed in French and European and American cinema more than ours but there's a fundamental difference- people there don't cry out to ban movies that show sex. The age restrictions are sternly followed and a mature movie meant for a mature audience is handled in a mature way. Also, the root cause- education. Most European countries have a great literacy rate when compared to India and there is a provision of sex education in almost all of them. So when people watch movies that have graphic sex, they are already familiar with sex unlike our country where movies having the least bit of sex can turn on a majority of people who live in villages and are curious but uneducated about sex. Anyway, I just wanted to show you how movies can affect the perception of Indian masses about sex.
It goes with advertisements a major portion of our news. On an average day, when an average Indian switches on the TV, he is greeted with an array of sexual innuendos- in comedy shows, ads, daily soaps and just almost everything. Now I have a simple question. Are we all Buddhist monks? If your answer in no and you too believe that celibacy is a rather difficult art to master, you might agree that it is in basic human nature to be affected by what he sees or is exposed to. Note that I'm not defending anyone/the people by pinning the blame of their sexual frustration on media. What I want to say is if the media and almost everything is so crazy about shoving sex into our brains all the time, can we not be rational enough to start a new revolution(I wanted a lighter word)? Can we not educate- first ourselves and then our coming generations about sex to an extent that they are not sexually frustrated to the verge of resorting to stupid sexual stereotypes and biases? Can we not adopt an open and liberal outlook on sex when we know that at the end of the day, even if restricted, it's what probably the majority might be having on their minds before going to sleep everyday? Can we not treat sex as it is- normal and a part of human life, instead of a taboo and something BAD and EVIL? Can we stop being hypocrites?

Originally published at: http://theindianeconomist.com/sex-loathing-middle-class-india-part-ii/