Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Let8217;s talk about sex
Ally McBeal has got icon status not just in the USA but in urban India too. Upwardly mobile single women who hold typical nine-to-five jobs cast themselves into the Ally mould even if only for the duration of the hour-long programme beamed Wednesday nights on Star World. Repressed desires, runaway fantasies, bold feminist statements all collage to give these young ladies a sexual smorgasbord that their normal lives fail to deliver. The character of Ally though has the morals of an alley cat perhaps the pun was intended and this is where most Indian women are faced with a Catch-22. To be open about their sexuality or lack of it is still taboo or near enough. Though they want to be tough-as-nails professionals, the Bharatiya nari8217; image contradicts and shadows them every baby step of the way. Caught in a moral dilemma, to be or not to be open about their singleness and the freedom thereof, they flounder. Overt gestures of smoking, drinking and dressing provocatively may be rule of thumb but true liberationgets somewhat hijacked at this point. Coyness about sexual experience is an age-old ritual which is taken to its extreme in urban India. Mumbai being the epicentre of the filmworld and the casting couch being a near pre-requisite to fame in Bollywood, the virgin syndrome seems quaint especially by its standard. No self-respecting heroine will ever admit to multiple sexual partners for fear of being thought brazen, yet all the film magazines focus almost entirely on gossip about the voracious sexual appetite of the film fraternity. Double standards? Sure but this phenomena is not restricted to the film world. It cuts its swathe across the social spectrum, but at its heart it has taboo about sex, sexual preference, sexuality and a plethora of rules. The Indian libido is governed by everything but itself. Therein lies the irony. The pseudo morality of happily ever after is never shattered but bubbling within this orb is frustration and anger at the curbs imposed on the individual from within and without. Withshifting social and moral boundaries the young of today are locked on the horns of sexual dilemma. They want to be honest and open about their sexuality but fear ostracisation and rejection, if they go too far. The power of the whisper group to keep the flock from straying allows only the pathbreaker an out. Rigid parenting and arranged marriages help to keep even a simple discussion on love or sex on the back burner of family issues. It is expecting a lot from one programme or character to help break through this tough mould but Ally McBeal scores in more ways than one, with the twenty- and thirtysomethings. She is sassy, smart and sexual with a motor mouth to go with it. And presto! You have the feminist in one and all raging to the fore. Not bad for a mere programme.
