Queerness has no place in this journey from sexually available young girl to married woman. With their introduction in 1861 of the Section 377 legislation, homosexual activities in India were outlawed and aligned to pedophilia and bestiality. This included homosexuality, which is archived far back in ancient Hindu texts. While previously we had practised the Kama Sutra, the British stopped us from examining our sexual needs. Winston Churchill once famously told his Secretary of State for India that he considered us “beastly”. The shame of sex also runs deep within Indian society, and was exacerbated by British rule. Deep down, I think that I knew I didn’t want to do anything for a man. When I found that I couldn’t align myself to this notion of beauty, I started to wonder why I was trying. From razors to clothing, we are told to look perfect in order to attract a man. If I couldn’t align to an expectation of womanhood, then why did I even exist?īeauty is held in the eyes of brands and advertisers, who have a tendency to depict hairless, thin, white women. I was an incredibly hairy young girl with a large hook nose and thick glasses framing my furry face. My body became my enemy, and I began to suffer from depression and disordered eating. If I was not beautiful, I was not worthy, and if I was not worthy of a man, then I didn’t need to exist.
My mental health aligned directly with how I was perceived.
Until my twenties, I continued to believe sexual pleasure was shameful. Power and wealth come hand in hand with what governs us, so here we are, in this system of capitalism, attempting to be ‘free’, yet finding ourselves committed to antiquated standards from the days of empires. A 2019 Oxfam report looking at inequality in India revealed that women still earn 34% less than their male counterparts. In India, patriarchal power dynamics still determine the lives of women. This was a privilege of wealth, however, as those who carried children and lived in poverty weren’t allowed this liberty. Women had to keep themselves pure for rearing children, so were kept from stress and violence. During the Mughal Empire, men were kings, men had the last word. It is immersed within communities, exacerbated in culture and formed in injustice. His pleasure equates to the release of sperm and the creation of life, whereas a woman’s pleasure is unnecessary. It is only the man who should feel pleasure. I was taught that women are incubators of the seed: told to fertilise and release, but not to feel pleasure ourselves. I was brought up in an Indian family to believe that sex is shameful and so are our bodies.
GAY SEX ART SERIES
This Artwork Changed My Life is a fortnightly series of personal essays that share the stories of life-changing encounters with art. The art in this section can be found in the world's most prestigious museums, including the Louvre, the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Smithsonian.Two women embracing and using carrots as dildos. View and purchase works by contemporary gay artists who carry on the rich homosexual traditon. Homosexual art from the New World, from depictions of the Native American two-spirit ritual to wall paintings of a Mayan gay couple.
Rare Indian temple art depicting gay sex-some of the very few works that have survived the government's attempt to erase homosexual traditions from Indian history.
View gay art from Turkey-illustrations from The Book of the Handsome Ones, and depictions of Köçeks (dancing boys) See Shah Abbas I embracing his wine boy and the works of famous Islamic artist Riza I-Abbasi. Homosexual Iranian art depicts male love intertwined with the customs of the Muslim world. Many of the paintings and sculptures draw from the gay mythology of Ancient Greece- Apollo and his lovers, Zeus smitten with Ganymede. Gay art from across Europe, dating from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance to the Nineteenth Century. Male love in Roman sculpture, glassware, engravings and frescoes, including the famous Warren Cup purchased by the British Museum in 1999 for £1.8 million. See the loves and dramas of the Greek Gods and Heroes brought to life- Achilles bandaging his lover Patroklos, Pan tutoring the beloved Daphnis-and male love found in everyday Greek life: At the palestra and symposium. The art depicts scenes from Greek Mythology, homosexual customs and gay traditions. Gay sex and male love used in the advertising of Budweiser Beer! Yes, you read it right! See how the King of Beers used the lusts of the King of Gods to sell beer!įrom Ancient Greece you can view gay Greek pottery and ancient Greek sculpture with gay themes. Gay Art: male love, gay sex and homosexual customs from various world cultures Gay Art - Male Love and Gay Sex in Art - World History of Male Love