Sense and Censorship

HYSTERIA & HYPOCRISY

It’s ironic that a film which shows women as individuals with sexual needs and fantasies is suddenly such a big deal. I read that it was rejected because it might make "one particular section of the society" uncomfortable.What should really make the society uncomfortable are item songs like ‘Fevicol Se’ (Dabangg 2) where women are compared to tandoori murgi. Or the sexual jokes in films like Mastizaade that objectify women. I think the only section such a movie would offend are alpha males who cannot comprehend a woman's existence outside their stunted perception of gender roles, people who don't care for creative liberties, or general social progress of any kind.

Even beyond films, sex and sexuality are such taboos. Why? We don’t even get real sex education. My parents are otherwise pretty cool but I still haven’t been able to have a conversation on the topic with them. Isn’t the censor board’s refusal to certify the film supposed to make me feel that being curious or adventurous about one’s sexuality is something unnatural? Why are women the sole torch-bearers of sanskaar?

I once kissed my boyfriend on the cheek while out and some strangers got hysterical. Yet when women are gawked at on public transport on a daily basis, we are expected to deal with it. The film’s fate is reflective of a society that is more about patriarchal domination, less about consent and free will. At least the board was honest. It rejected the film because it is “lady-oriented”. Because that is such a bad thing to be.
—Ashni Padiyar*, 19, student, Kolkata

GOOD SEX, BAD SEX

I've come to realise that how we look at sex is quite problematic. Most men are obsessed with the idea of penetration. When the man is the agent and woman the recipient, only then it is sex  — a victory won. Even woman climaxing is essentially not for her own pleasure but for exalting the partner’s ego. What if I want my pleasure from some other form of intimacy?

Women and their needs are severely limited by a male construct of female sexuality. This is important because that's the reason that a woman taking charge of her body and her life is so scary. In the TV show, Broad City, Ilana Glazer is shown standing in front of a mirror, pleasuring herself. Sometimes a second agent is not even necessary for experiencing your sexuality. Such possibilities and ideas, when they come from women, take the patriarchal male’s agency away. In India, that’s dealt with by not giving certification to movies that want to start a conversation about the same. The toxicity of this idea of sex as a solely penetrative act is not limited to India. I moved to New York and it’s the same here.

As for the censor board, it is a sad reflection of how patriarchy functions. It is what we raise our sons to think, it’s what we condition our girls to believe, it’s how most of popular media perpetrates the circle. It’s how pre-marital sex is not okay but marital rape is. The problem is much bigger but the censor board is complicit in blocking a dialogue that is terribly important.
—Mugdha Mahalanabish, 26, social media executive, New York

PROGRESSIVELY REGRESSIVE

Setting aside the fact that the Indian Censor board functions as per the arbitrary whims of whoever is in charge at a given point, instead of evolving with time, they are becoming more conservative. More than when movies like Julie (1975), with complex content like pre-marital sex and inter-faith union, released. But that’s probably because women-oriented movies were rare at the time, hence the few odd ones were brushed off patronisingly by the male territory that is the Censor Board. Now that women are discussing their selves and sexualities more frequently, it is too much for the board, and the society.

The other day, I met a woman in her 40s, a wife and mother, who had no information about an orgasm. It made me think of how little society cares about women receiving out of sex the same pleasure that is a given for men. Hence most of us have to live the better part of our lives without the basic knowledge of our own sexuality. Thankfully, that's not the case with me. I'm married, but I know that I'm bi-sexual, even though I've never actually been involved with a woman. Masturbation came naturally to me as a teenager because I was a curious one. All perfectly natural things that make up our reality, but when a director tries to show that reality, the men in the Censor Board get alarmed and say, ‘This doesn’t happen! How can this happen?’.
—Sanchari Ghosh, 34, journalist, Delhi

DESIRES DEBUNKED

I don’t find anything offensive in the trailer. I recently watched Parched, it was all about women’s desire, and I loved it. I might be a housekeeper without much education but I understand that movies are just a way of telling what’s happening in society. By showing women enjoying sex, they are not asking all women to do the same. The trailer makes me imagine the lipstick as a symbol for women's desires, that the society keeps repressed. Ab andar ki khwaishoyon ko itna daaba ke rakho ge toh kabhi na kabhi toh bahar aayega, na?

What about women who wear a burkha that they later take off to reveal t-shirts and shorts, just like any other girl their age? Are they saying that Muslim women don’t have such wishes? Or that women should not have wishes at all?

I have two sons and a daughter. I’ve always tried to treat them equally. But I can’t say that my daughter can come home at the same time as my sons, because in my area, that would be unsafe. Equality is hard when the society won’t allow any. For my part, I allow open conversations in the house. When my daughter asked me why some people were gay, I told her what I know without prejudice. If this movie releases, I’d like to watch it.
—Flora Mendonca, 46, housekeeper, Mumbai

(*Real name withheld on request)