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I remember my family movie nights; my sister and I would be huddled together in one blanket and my parents in another, and we would all be watching a rented movie for the weekend. Everything would be all fun and jokes, until … the actors started to make out on screen!
The frantic search for the remote, the ‘cheee’ and ‘close your eyes’ from my mom, and the eventual forward of the scene.
As a kid, all I did was giggle and assume it was an adult activity that was only permitted for married couples. As an adult, I wonder … why shield kids from love and sex, but not from homophobia or sexism?
Conversations About Sex Behind Closed Doors
Indian sex education was one of the two things: abstinence, or unimportant until after marriage. Most parents still don’t mention or even utter the word at home. Teachers still skip the reproductive chapter, and kids still learn from porn or friends. If there was any talk from adults, it was more about unwanted pregnancies, how it is ‘wrong’, ‘shameful’, and why it is meant for having kids and raising a family.
We are the land of Kamasutra; the ancient Sanskrit text that speaks about desire, sex and love. Focusing on not procreation but pleasure, it speaks about how Kama is one of the four goals of life. Ancient India observed paintings, sculptures, poems and stories about desire and love, and even openly homosexual rulers.
