Damsel in Distress? Well, I Suppose the Solution is Children

Tomorrow October 14 2012 is 59th Death Anniversary of Raghunath Dhondo Karve (रघुनाथ धोंडो कर्वे).

Camille Paglia:

Pharmaceutical companies will never find the holy grail of a female Viagra — not in this culture driven and drained by middle-class values. Inhibitions are stubbornly internal. And lust is too fiery to be left to the pharmacist.
 
(June 26, 2010, 'No Sex Please, We’re Middle Class', The New York Times)




Artist: Emiliano Ponzi, The New York Times, June 2010

(This graphic that accompanied Prof. Paglia's article)

Stephen Jay Gould:

"Why, in particular, does the existence of clitoral orgasm seem so problematic? Why, for example, did Freud label clitoral orgasm as infantile and define feminine maturity as the shifting to an unattainable vaginal site? Part of the reason, of course, must reside in simple male vanity. We (and I mean those of my sex, not the vague editorial pronoun) simply cannot abide the idea-though it flows from obvious biology-that a woman's sexual pleasure might not arise most reliably as a direct result of our own coital efforts." 

("Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples" from 'Bully for Brontosaurus',1991)

म. वा. धोंड:

"विवाहसंस्थेची अनावश्यकता, स्वैरसमागमाची इष्टता, अप्राकृतिक संभोगाविषयी उदारता, इत्यादी (र धों )कर्वे यांची मते आजही भारतीयांना मान्य होणे कठीण. मग ४०-५० वर्षांपूर्वी या मतांबद्दल त्यांची कुचेष्टा झाली, तर ते स्वाभाविकच म्हटले पाहिजे. कामशास्त्र, संतातिनियमन व गुप्तरोगप्रतिबंध यांविषयीची माहिती कर्वे यांनी तत्कालीन समाजास दिली, हे त्यांचे कार्य मोठेच म्हटले पाहिजे; परंतु संततिनियमनाचा प्रचार त्यांनी ज्या भूमिकेवरून केला, ती कामस्वातंत्र्याची भूमिका त्यांच्या कार्याला मारकच ठरली."

(मार्च, 1982)

Alas no female Viagra yet but The Times of India June 24 2012 greeted us with a full page ad of 'i-sure'.

I wasn't sure what it was until I read the entire copy!



courtesy: The Times of India and Piramal Healthcare

[My first thought. There should be a tagline: "Woh Do Din" (Those 2 days) ].

The ad claims 99% accuracy. What about the anxiety and suffering due to 1%? Will the product encourage not using contraceptives on the other 28 days? Will it end up pressurizing women more?

If a religion believes that sex is only for procreation, will it recommend using "i-sure" to avoid recreational sex?

The lady in the ad is worried about delay in getting pregnant. What about the gentleman? Will he be ready when she is?

Imagine she declaring to him in the morning before they head out to work: "TONIGHT show me you are a man or wait until next month"... Won't he have performance anxiety? Will he too need some assistance?

Artist: Barbara Shermund (1988-1978), The New Yorker, 9 July 1932

(Liza Donnelly on Ms. Shermund: “Barbara Shermund was one of the more prolific cartoonists of the early New Yorker. Her breezy drawing style and humor reflected the new attitudes of urban women in the twenties and thirties, and she can be considered one of the early feminist cartoonists.”)

p.s.

The late R D Karve (र धों कर्वे), one of the greatest 20th century Indians, would have been most happy to see female Viagra being available to the women because he wanted them to have as much sexual freedom (कामस्वातंत्र्य) as men did. Family planning, in the way we understand today, was NOT his ONLY mission.

(Read essay 'Ra Dho Karve Ani Santati Niyaman' from 'Jalyatil Chandra', 1994 by M V Dhond, 'र धों कर्वे आणि संतति नियमन', 'जाळयातील चंद्र', लेखक: म. वा. धोंड)