Saturday, November 19, 2005

Free speech & premarital sex

Its ok to do it. Its not ok to talk about it.
Its ok for you to talk about it in private but not in public.
I wonder if the people who take exception to this, are people who missed out on this oppurtunity, and are now feeling 'j' about the whole thing !!

This topic has been in limelight for a couple of months, since Kushboo, actress from the tamil film industry made comment to India Today. The India Today article was about the 'sex' in India, opinion polls, discussions etc. And that started a spate of protests and lawsuits. Apparently the tamils took offense to her words that men in tamilnadu should not expect their wifes to be virgins at the time of marriage. A simple passing comment, may be outrageous in Indian society and context, but not far from truth and defnitely not something that people should be offended personally, to cause mental agony and trauma.

I dont support or condone it. I fear of the consequences of it. But to shy away from this and take offence because someone sought to talk about it, is meaningless and does not make the issue go away. The bigger question is, 'is this an issue ?'. I dont know. I am not an authority on this. But the impact of this, is largely felt on the women, rather i should say 'girls'. Because we are talking about the reducing age-barrier. This trend defnitely has problems for the society at large, and cannot be ignored.

The sooner you talk about it, the better it is. Filing for an injunction in a court of law, or protesting the comment made by someone is surely not going to help. Not to talk about free speech and civil liberties that are being trampled upon.

53% do it in India - The Pioneer - Nov 19th 2005
Protests in hyderabad !! - Times of India - Nov 19th 2005
PUCL flays protests against Kushboo, Suhasini - The Hindu - Nov 19th 2005

Tags: india, protests, liberty, freedom, free+speech, premarital+sex