By Florine Roche

Mangaluru, Dec 28: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had recently issued an advisory to all TV channels not to air any condom ads from 6 am to 10 pm. The ministry contended that the condom ads were “indecent especially for children” and can spark “unhealthy practices”. While the conservatives and pseudo-moralists welcomed the decision saying it was long overdue an overwhelming majority especially the younger generation ridiculed and criticised the government’s decision terming it as retrograde and antediluvian.

This archaic and antiquated advisory has left me wondering whether we are moving forward or backward or whether we running away from the responsibility of educating our children that sexual development is a normal and natural part of human development and is not something to be ashamed of. It is even more baffling that this kind of directive is issued in today’s digital age in a country which has ample religious scriptures and erotic sculptures on temple walls in different parts of the country giving explicit sexual content which was a means of imparting sexual education to the masses centuries ago.

Following the widespread criticism and ridicule to its advisory the I & B Ministry has now come up with a clarification that the ban was only on those condom advertisements having ‘sexually explicit’ content in nature. May be the ministry might come up with another directive explaining clearly what is ‘sexually explicit’ and what is not. Buoyed by the ban on these advertisements during primetime the conservative pseudo-moralists have now gone a step forward and are seeking a ban on children entering Khajuraho, a UNESCO protected heritage site well-known for its erotic but graceful architecture.

A Bunch of Hypocrites

This ban on condom ads on television channels during prime time once again proves that talking openly about sex and contraceptives is still considered taboo in this country which prides itself as the land that gave the world the world’s most comprehensive sexual treatise ‘Kamasutra”. At the same time it can be said that despite the so called progress we have achieved in diverse fields, we still harbour the archaic and age-old traditions and beliefs when it comes to sexual behaviour. Or are we just a land of pretenders who harbour different views when it comes to their private lives and a separate set of thoughts for public consumption?

It required a Sunny Leone’s Manforce condom ad for public angst of conservatives who sought a ban on such ads because they felt that the advertisement featuring Sunny was too sexually explicit. Yet, I am unable to comprehend what explains Sunny Leone’s popularity among our men as Yahoo’s list of India’s most searched female celebrity for the sixth year in a row and also Google’s list of most searched personality for four years in a row? A majority of heterosexual Indian men are utterly obsessed with Sunny Leone though they refuse not admit it openly for obvious reasons. This is mainly because we are nation of hypocrites who have refused to admit or accept our guilty pleasures if you can really term sexual adventure as ‘guilty’. So, why not use Sunny Leone’s popularity to promote or sell condoms? I am not surprised that there are many takers for the I & B Ministry’s advisory banning condom ads during prime time. What else can we expect from a country which is so obsessed with sexual innuendos but at the same time avoid speaking explicitly about real sex or about using contraceptives?

When it comes to contraceptives, sex and sex education Indians have always demonstrated nothing but two-facedness and that has been the reason India has become the second most populated country in the world. We are in the 21st century wherein information of all types is available to all and sundry at the click of a button and internet data is available freely and is cheapest as compared to other countries. Children as young as 8 or even younger have access to mobile phones and computers with internet data where they are exposed to web porn which may lead to unhealthy attitudes toward sex and this is very much evident with some of the incidents reported in the media recently.

Sex education in curriculum – a must

There is a strong opposition to the idea of teaching sex education in schools, which should have actually been a vital part of school curriculum so that our future generation is able to comprehend and practice healthy sexual habits. However, states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala and our own Karnataka have banned sex education in school curriculum because some parents, teachers and our law makers s still harbour the long-standing belief or at least pretend that sex education promotes promiscuity and it is against our culture and ethos. In fact once again our hypocrisy of our pseudo-moralists is exposed as these very people want to pretend they are on high moral grounds.

Haryana government on the other hand, has recently taken a very progressive and bold step of introducing sex education for class 8 to 12 in the state run schools and wants to expand it even to lower class students and its decision has been welcomed by many. An open and honest discussion and spreading right type of information on sexual and reproductive health at the right age, is the need of the hour if we are serious about dealing with the rampant online misinformation children are exposed to. The silence or taboo around the word ‘sex’ has compelled our children to source for sexual content which is unsafe and adopt unhealthy sexual practices including unwanted pregnancies and spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

When it comes to sterilisation and adopting contraceptive Indian men have always escaped putting the burden entirely on women who are the targets be it sterilisation or use of primary contraceptives - oral or injectables. The only contraceptive available for males in our country is condom and its use is a miserable 5.6 per cent. Sex is natural part of human life and condoms are essential part of the sexual well being of our country. Whether steamy condom ads featuring Sunny Leone or Bipasha Basu with beau Karan Singh Grover would have encouraged men to use condoms is not the issue here. But the very thought of ban and the taboo associated with the word ‘sex’ which the ministry is trying to reinforce, is condemnable. In fact the government should have taken the lead in removing the stigma associated with sex and contraception rather than adopt a retrograde step. On one hand our Prime Minister is pushing for digital India and his own Ministry is adopting a rigid and conservative idea and is taking India backward.

The very idea of restricting timing of explicit condom ads is ridiculous. Today’s kids have developed odd sleeping patterns – courtesy mobile phones and internet and there is no guarantee that restricting the timing of these ads would serve any purpose. Instead of banning it is better if we inculcate proper sex education to the younger generation. As someone has pointed out ‘There is no point in airing condom ads after 10 pm as the target audience will be busy in the act than watch television’. It also must be remembered that the real target audience will be busy searching for all sort of unsafe and wrong sexual content through other means.

By 2024 India will slip past China to claim the number one position for which it is unprepared for in terms of its economic advancement. It might be a herculean task to get rid of that not so proud tag considering our current fertility rate and the lack of concerted efforts to limit our population. The Ministry’s advisory to ban condom advertisement despite subsequent clarification has, in fact, sent a wrong message and is much against whatever success has been achieved by the Department of Health and Family Welfare in spreading the message that sex is not immoral and adopting safer contraceptives is one of the best ways to protect the sexual health of the nation. Minister Smriti Irani would do well to issue directives against advertisements that promote gender inequality or ads that treat women as commodity. It would definitely find more takers. Karnataka government too should make it mandatory to include sex education as part of the curriculum – the earlier, the better.