Flibbertigibbet

Repression and Education

Everything that I've heard about attitudes toward sex in India tell me that a significant part of the population is quite repressed when it comes to sex and romance. So, it really surprised me when I read this article.

Reuters: India looking for "Mr Condom"

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India, struggling to promote greater condom use among its population, is looking to hire its own "condom man" to follow the example of a former Thai cabinet minister who successfully pushed for safer sex, the Times of India reported.

[...]

"He has to feel passionately about the cause as Mechai does ... have a dynamic personality to change both government policy and public perceptions about HIV/AIDS, sex and condoms," [National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) chief Sujatha Rao] said.

India is the home of people who protested Richard Gere's affectionate, but closed mouth kisses, with Shilpa Shetty not long ago. Male-female contact in public is regarded generally as impolite and inappropriate at the very best.

Periodically, India makes the news because of the "hundreds, if not thousands" of honor killings each year. An honor killing is where a woman's relatives may kill her to preserve family honor in the event that it is suspected that she has had sex outside of marriage or committed some other "sin" related to sex.

Homosexuality is illegal in India and some see that as "not likely to change in the near future because the society is based on religious traditions where procreation is an obligation for the performance of various religious rituals." Violence against gays is said by some to be relatively common in certain areas and even condoned by law enforcement officials.

But now they're going to have a man who is going to campaign "passionately" for the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS?

Methinks this is an uphill battle for Mr. Condom.