Women and Sexual Freedom

By Akhilesh at 24 December, 2009, 4:54 am

Of late there is a lot of hue and cry about legalizing prostitution in our country. The legal status of prostitution in our country is very interesting. The Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act states that prostitutes can practice their trade privately but cannot legally solicit customers in public. Though, organized Prostitution which includes brothels, prostitution rings and pimping is illegal. All this effort is to legalize prostitution of the organized nature.

This whole discussion takes my mind to the state of Women sexuality in our country and world at large. There is a lot of pressure on majority of Women Worldwide to suppress their sexual expression and sexual freedom in the name of raising the family, motherhood and “log kya kahenge” syndrome. Unfortunately in male dominated societies the entire onus of upkeep of “izzat” and “maryada” of the families is very conveniently shifted to women of the society. Men mostly are absolved of these arduous activities just because of the virtue of their sex and their control over most economic decisions and activities. May be it is a fair give and take exercise , that men will provide for women and they will be responsible for running the household errands.

But in all this very convenient model of give and take (mostly because of the physical attributes of the two sexes) one thing is taken for granted; that they are expected to endure. I think, in all this society driven phenomena the greatest beating is taken by sexual freedom of women.

Though we are witnessing some radical changes freedom of sexual expression of women but still the population at large associates a lot of pseudo moral stigma to it.
Unlike Contemporary times Ancient India had a very different take on sexual freedom of women. Women were supposed to be incomplete if they did not covet more than one man. Women Sexuality was revered to the extent that devotees of Divine Mother used to meditate on Vagina and breasts of the sculpture as their gratitude to Creative and nurturing powers of the women. So I think the pressure on women sexuality was of a different kind. It was exactly reverse of what it is now. Even Prostitutes were revered highly and were called Nagarvadhus. There are references in various plays like Mrichakatika , a Sanskrit play , set in Pataliputra written by Shudraka in the 2nd century BC where they were held as important pillars of the society. In this play women competed to become the best Nagarvadhu of the town.

If I go back in Vedic times there were women who were learned in all the Arts and Sciences and had greatest knowledge of the Brahmana (all Spiritual Sciences) along with high sexual enlightenment. In a popular ancient legend all the learned Scholars had to beat Gargi, the great spiritual scholar of that time to complete their courses.
We all in general carry a highly negative psychic impression about sexuality, especially sexuality and women. Our day to day conversations regarding women having multiple sexual partners is not healthy. We often call them with derogatory names. There are only two categories to define a woman sexually before marriage, either a virgin or a prostitute. The male psyche has entrapped itself into a control drama of a heinous kind just to have a direct control over women and hence the most important decisions of the society. All efforts to control, especially, people at large come from great insecurity within.

I think it is time that male sex comes out of its insecurity trap. For once in a long time women should be freed of the responsibilities that society impels on them. For once in a long time women should have what they have deserved throughout the ages; their right to be themselves and explore themselves through sexual economic and spiritual freedom. It is time, I think.

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Categories : Politics & Society