Sexual liberalism in a society can be defined as how tolerant that society is to open sexual behavior and different sexual tastes or practices. It is generally seen that societies that hold conservative attitudes towards sexuality also tend to suffer from a lack of general freedom of expression.
Ancient Indian society was perhaps as sexually tolerant as many modern European and East Asian countries. It was somewhere between the 1st and 6Th centuries that the Kama Sutra, the first literature that treated sexual intercourse as a science was written.
Even during the times of Buddha and Mahavira polygamy was prevalent in India albeit in the royal class. But during the Mughal and the British rule, India went in to a cocoon of conservatism.
The epics of ancient India, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, support the view that in ancient India, sex was considered a mutual duty between a married couple, where husband and wife pleasured each other equally, and was considered a private affair.
The translations of the Kama Sutra and other 'exotic' texts became available in Europe, where they gained notorious status, and ironically may have triggered early foundations of the sexual revolution in the west, while India slipped to their earlier conservatism.
The current laws in India that legislate sex workers are fairly ambiguous. It is a system where prostitution is legally allowed to thrive, but which attempts to hide it from the public. The undefined status of sex workers under current laws leaves them open to exploitation, not only at the hands of the police, but also clients who, for example, cannot be legally persuaded to use Condoms. Sex workers are not entitled to ration cards and are often precluded from the democratic processes of the country.
There are countries like Australia, Holland, Sweden and some states in the US where prostitution is legal -- a situation that has disclosed several advantages. For example, in the American state of Nevada, clients have to use a condom and refusal will get Jail term. To get a license, a sex worker goes through the sheriff's office, the Health Department and the State Prostitution Department. She is given a crash course in AIDS and STD’s before she gets a license. Health checks are carried out once a week, and if someone tests positive for HIV the license is revoked permanently. The out-of-work prostitute, however, is entitled to a monthly dole from social security.
But in a sexually conservative country like India, many emphatically dismiss the idea of legalizing prostitution. It would be tacit encouragement to women to take to the streets, they argue, in addition to which it would expose young Indians to amoral influences.
Stopping prostitution is impossible, while opening it up to regulation improves matters, even if it is morally unacceptable to many. But leaving it as it exists is neither here nor there -- and sitting on the fence isn't necessarily the best approach.
An NDTV investigation report telecast ed in February 2008, revealed how thousands of women and even children from Bangladesh are trafficked and sold in India. The phenomenon of Bangladesh women and even little girls sold or trafficked into India isn't new, but over the past few years, there seems to have been an alarming jump.
Ippadikku Rose on 13Th March 2008 discussed exactly on the above subject. Without passing any judgement it left an open end. Rose along with Charu nivedhitya, a controversial Tamil writer, Nalini Jameela an aged sex worker participated.
Nalini’s voice is strong and unrepentant, that of a woman who knows what she is doing and not that of a victim forced into the trade through guile. Though she initially took up the trade as a young widow to feed her two children, in later life she tries to find dignity in the work she does. She has expressed the same in her book The autobiography of a sex worker, which got her money and fame. The original was in Malayalam.
Charu Nivedhitya is popular as a modern Tamil writer. He is controversial and his konal pakkangal in anandha viketan till not long ago was popular.
He has written books like rasa leela, thappu thalangal, Zero degree, Existentialismum Fancy baniyanum etc. His writings frequently exhibit his dissatisfied subaltern life style and his understanding of the society. And that is exactly how he was in the program.
Rose was coordinating the discussion with apt questions. But as usual a sudden beginning and an abrupt end with empty breaks and disturbing background music, turned the otherwise TRP generator topic in to a mediocre. Of course in a land where Kushboo is still running from one court to another for expressing her views on pre marital sex, They had to play it down.
Well 5/10 is my rating.
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