letters
The Titillating Witness
NOIDA Bal Govind : Your cover story ( Pati , Patni Aur Cam , July 23 ) shocked me initially , but then we realise that we are no more living in an era where sex is a taboo . The way couples in both urban and rural areas are filming their most intimate acts proves that people have shed inhibitions . But doubtless , they are venturing into dangerous territory , without knowing the repercussions of such acts . We are anyhow the land of Kama Sutra . But we need to take note whether all such clips are being put into the public domain with the consent of both partners , or it is the men who are breaching mutual trust and putting their partners at risk . An act which looks like fun may have ruined someone ’ s life forever if it was put out on display in the virtual world , which has a boundless memory .
GANDHINAGAR Manoj Oza : Your cover story on webcam sex tries to understand tales of 21st century visual int imacy . The analysis on inter rac ialstyled , ‘ communal ’ porn was quite interesting . It would have been nice to read your analysis on the incest phenomena prevalent in porn too . There lurks something more sinister behind these pornographic indulgences ; it can corrupt the gaze of viewers , numbing them into objectifying not just bodies but identities as well . Porn needs regulations .
GOA M . N . Bhartiya : This refers to your special issue wherein Paromita Vohra states in her interview that “ The only sex education people get to see is western commercial porn .” Ashok Nagpal writes : “ Video captures intimacy we can ’ t observe ’’. These are myo pic observations . Sex is not limited to homo sapiens , live demonstrations imp arting sex education and scenes of sex intimacy by cattle and dogs are seen
July 23 , 2018
in each and every corner of India in broad daylight . Children start getting sex education without any instructors . Outlook need not get unnecessarily obs essed with such topics , which use more conjecture than facts and reportage . It may increase the magazine ’ s counter-sales but it will be self-defeating in the long run as it will spoil its image . Khuswant Singh had app lied these techniques as an editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India , which finally collapsed miserably .
PERTH , AUSTRALIA Sanjiv Gupta : Selfie sex is a disturbing pattern which may be considered another form of pornography with live transmission . The consenting couples are no better than porn stars . While there is no harm having liberal views on sex , transmitting live intimate moments are a bit too much for me to digest . This is too much of pleasure and exploration of the sexual self to be handled in the current scenario . It is in some ways destroying the sanctity and decorum of the act , which is mostly kept under the ‘ covered ’ bedroom sheets for the wider public . If such trends continue , I wonder what kind of society we may have in the future .
LUCKNOW M . C . Joshi : While some are engaged in legal battles with the government over bedroom-policing — surveillance and control over private lives — there are also those who revel in sharing their moments of sexual intimacy , ign oring the risk of it all ending up in porn sites . The trend is certainly a shock to the laws that police pleasure and sexuality .
Kerala Tuskers
ALAKKAD C . V . Venugopalan : This refers to your story on Tenzing Bodosa ( This Planter Doesn ’ t Stop the Elephants , July 23 ). Kerala , or at least my home district Palakkad , needs the services of somebody like Tenzing , who belongs to Assam . In Kerala , caparisoned elephants are a regular and necessary feature of any temple festival . Thrissur is famous for its Pooram , where the piece de resistance is the change-of-parasols competition between elephants of two competing sides . Massive feeding of elephants ( aanayoottu ) is an annual event at the Vadakkunnathan temple . And yet disturbing reports of attacks by wild elephants are quite common in the state . Some recent headlines : “ Elephant raids : Adivasis sit-in at the Tekkadi Forest Station ” , “ Young villager killed by a wild elephant in a Wayanad plantation ”, “ Wild elephant herds : A nightmare in the Wayanad plantation region ”, “ Villagers and farmers on warpath against wild elephant raid ”, “ Crossing wild elephant herd stops train ”…. In Palakkad , electric fencing fails to stop wild tuskers as they find alt ernative routes . And sometimes they one-liner
PUNE Anil S .
Cam the act if it pleases you , but beware the online voyeur republic and the perils of going viral .
4 OUTLOOK 6 August 2018