The Shakti Center talks about Sex
Sex is taboo in Chennai. Like any place in the world everyone here is having sex (well most people, anyway) but to admit it out loud makes people angry. A couple years ago the actress Kushboo said that unmarried women should have access to birth control and get occasional AIDS tests and was attacked by local politicos for "dishonoring tamil women". And let's not even get started about homosexuality. When sun goes down Marina and Elliots beaches turn into brothels and married men cruise for sex in just about every public park. But the next day no one says a word. But that could change.The Shakti Center is addressing rift between what people talk about, and what goes on behind doors. The group's philosophy is simple: provide a space for people to talk about sex in the city and things will start to get better. To do that Shakti has a lot of projects in the works. There are host free weekly films--ranging from Tamil flicks to the latest Quentin Tarrantino release--followed by discussion groups. They also run sex-ed curriculums in local schools, have a blog, a zine, and resources for people to use to develop other dialog fostering projects. They're open to anything that will get people talking. Eventually the blog will become a repository for stories from local people to voice their own experiences negotiating the rough cultural waters around sexuality and gender.
Padma Govindan, my wife, is a founding member of the group and is eagerly looking for other people to come in and help out. Just about everyone in Chennai has a story about coming to terms with their own sexuality. There are strong opinions about who should and should not be having sex and what it means to be gay (or transgender) in a city that won't think out of a straight box.
If enough people get talking, maybe the next time someone like Kushboo suggests people should use condoms people will listen rather than threaten to throw her in jail.
For more information about the Shakti Center, or to get involved, go to the website http://www.shakticenter.org
posted by Scott Carney @ 8:34 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
kudos to padma for starting this!
I am not Indian, however, I've just returned from my third trip to Chennai and Tamil Nadu. I was in Chennai on New Years Eve and read all the news accounts of what happened in Mumbai with the women being grabbed, and also watched a news show about the "safety of foreign women in India."
I can tell you that the male attitudes in that show had me spitting nails I was so enraged. while foreign women only have to deal with those attitudes while they are in India, Indian women deal with that shit on a daily basis.
I have a feeling that a quiet feminist revolution is going on and all I can say is more power to 'em.
wishing much success with the center.
it's good to see this information in your post, i was looking the same but there was not any proper resource, thanx now i have the link which i was looking for my research.
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