Brief History of Sexual Freedom Moment In India

Laxman Singh Dev

The sexual revolution, also known as sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behaviour related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the developed Western world from the 1960s to the 1970s. Sexual liberation included increased acceptance of sex outside of traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationships (primarily marriage) The normalization of contraception and the pill, public nudity, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, masturbation, alternative forms of sexuality, and the legalization of abortion all followed.

In Indian context sexual revolution is not a new phenomenon .Since the ancient times india has been a place of liberal sexual values in terms of sexual practices , if we look prehistoric Indian artifacts of Indus valley civilization we can clearly see the Indus valley civilization people were liberal in depiction of human body . The famous figurine of dancing girl found in Mohan jodaro is complete nude and has sensuality. There is huge possibility that prostitution was also part of Indus civilization .

There is mention of prostitutes in Mahabharata and Ramayana. According to Valmiki Ramayana Laxman says when go to vanwas “when we will be back in this city of Ayodhya where pretty prostitutes reside in high mentions. In same valmiki Ramayana main character and Hindu God Ram says “sex is the most powerful stimulus of human action. Depiction of human sexual relation is not rare in ancient Indian texts. There is reference of even animal sex in ancient religious Hindu Books.

Harivamsa Purana, Bhavishya Parva 3.5.11-13 ”After the passage of some time, king Janamejaya, who offers plenty of tributes (in sacrifices) observed the horse sacrifice as ordained. Devi Vapushtama, the daughter of the king of Kashi, went and slept with the slain horse, according to the ritual as prescribed. Seeing the queen with beautiful limbs, Vsava (Indra) desired her. Entering the body of the dead horse, Indra had intercourse withsc the queen Apart from this there are various references regarding pornography ,sex work and homosexuality .

One famous example of depiction of pornographic figurines is various temples in india . the most famous temple complex is in khajuraho central india. Where various postures are depicted on the outer walls of temples.

After the Turkish invasion of India many Indians were forced to change their views about women sexuality. Veiling of women started which was never part of Indian society. This might be first imposition on sexual choices of women as Islam prescribe women in general to hide their bodies from male gaze. Another reason for hiding women,s faces was constant threat of sexual assault from invading armies and powerful persons at that time when there were almost lawlessness prevailed.

In 1878 due to Victorian Christian morality British government banned publication of Vernacular pornography and Sex toys in India. Before that rubber penis were imported from Europe for use of women. Due to Christian missionaries pressure British government even banned many classical vernacular books wherever there was any depiction of erotica or sex.

Valechuru Narayan rao says ‘So, the British government entered the classrooms, entered Telugu literature, changed all that saying: This is obscene, don’t do this. This is a very interesting move. You know that would not have been much of a problem given the poets and intellectuals were themselves not convinced that writing sex is important.

As a result of indoctrination by Christian morality, even though it is usually called Victorian morality, even poets and writers got convinced. At that time when old books were reprinted, any time there was a word related to sex there are dots in the book. I have so many books where pages of books are dot dot dot dot dot, otherwise they would be punished and taken to court.

After freedom, in 1947, Prakasham, who was the chief minister of Andhra, removed that law and therefore we could reprint the books without the dots. In fact, even texts like Kamasutra were considered immoral and therefore not printed. At that time, there is a possibility for printing these books and smuggling them to India. You go to the French territory of South India where the British law does not apply, and therefore the books were printed in the
French territory and smuggled in. I have a bunch of books printed there; we had to be very, very careful. These were some of the things going on. Even now, Telugu poets do not use sexual words when describing a woman.

Mirha butt says ‘After the British Monarchy colonised India in 1858, an ambition to ‘civilise the barbaric natives’ motivated many legal and social reforms. Post-colonial feminists have insisted that an emphasis on the interests of colonial rulers, native elite males and British women only frustrated the interests of Indian women, who are still arguably oppressed two-fold, first by imperialist legacies and second by patriarchal norms. Many scholars have deemed this ‘civilizing’ mission as a way of emasculating Indian men by claiming that they were incapable of caring for their own women, and this struggle for political dominance was being waged on the backs of Indian women (Wright & Chitnis, 2007). With Victorian notions of womanhood (including chastity, innocence and passiveness) came patriarchal and protectionist policies, persisting in modern society.

Pornography is still illegal in India. But on contrary British never outlawed prostitution .even they encouraged prostitution and established different red light areas in military cantonment for the services of Soldiers. In 1955 government of India made organized prostitution illegal. Many sex workers filed petitions against this anti prostitution law but finally got no success. in 1980,s due to HIV /AIDS government paid attention of red light areas and many non government organization wanted to educate sex workers and also did some acts of welfare for the sex workers and also demanded that prostitutes are actually workers and serving the society .
An organization namely Patita Uddhar sabha headed By Khairatilal Bhola filed a petition for legalization of prostitution in india but finally got no success.

Regarding homosexual rights an NGO Naz foundation organized LGBTQ March in various cities of India .it was first started in New Delhi later they filed a petition in Delhi High court. Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi (2009] is a landmark Indian case decided by a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court, which held that treating consensual homosexual sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India’s Constitution.

The verdict resulted in the decriminalization of homosexual acts involving consenting adults throughout India. This was later overturned by the Supreme Court of India in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. Naz Foundation, in which a 2 judge bench reinstated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. However, even that was overturned by a 5 judge bench in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India in 2018, decriminalizing homosexuality once again.

For legalization of prostitution , pornography and sex toys Delhi based organization INDIANS FOR SEXUAL LIBERTIES founded by me organized first Sexual freedom march in New Delhi on 21 April 2012 .the permission for this sexual freedom march was revoked by Delhi police but we were determined to organize it and finally we did it .

This sexual freedom march was joined by Khairati lal Bhola founder of Patita uddhar sabha and many sex workers of new Delhi’s red light area and 21april was declared sexual freedom Day in India. After this march for sexual freedom Darbar Mahila samiti headed by Doctor jana wanted to have same such type of event in Kolkata and organized sex workers freedom festival which was attended by more than 500 sex workers across the globe. United states of America,s government did not allow many sex workers to attend this conference so their were anti US government slogans were shouted in this march.

In august 2013 Darbr mahila samiti Kolkata organized a sex workers right conference in New Delhi which was attended by Minister of government of india Oscar Fernandez and many government officials. In 2021 Indians for sexual liberties sent a letter to finance minister of India to revoke ban on importing sex toys . in 2022 on the sexual freedom day 21 April organization Indians for sexual liberties organized a press conference at New Delhi red light area Kotha number 52 for legalization of sex work and sent letters to all the judges of supreme court in India .

Keeping these things in mind Supreme court of india gave a historic decision in the month of may 2022 In a significant order recognising sex work as a “profession” whose practitioners are entitled to dignity and equal protection under law, the Supreme Court has directed that police should neither interfere nor take criminal action against adult and consenting sex workers.

“It need not be gainsaid that notwithstanding the profession, every individual in this country has a right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the court observed. My fight to legalize commercial production of pornography and removal of ban on sex toys is still on.