Sakhiyani: Lesbian Desire in Ancient and Modern India (Sexual Politics)

Rating:
Summary: An informative book on the history of lesbianism in India
Review: Lesbianism in India is still socially unacceptable, it is seen as an illness from the West, a disease which has polluted the purity of Indian culture. Consequently it is denied any visible form within the fabric of modern Indian society. This has resulted in lesbians being forced to exist secretly, with no sense of identity.

Thadani has written a book to disprove the assumption that lesbianism is a western disease, and show instead that it is a deeply embedded phenomenon within Indian culture. In doing so she hopes lesbians in India will eventually be able to construct a conscious identity within their own culture, instead of having to frame themselves and be framed as exiles from 'the west.'

Thadani sees the denial of lesbianism as the result of an overbearing male dominated social order. Consequently she digs deep into Indian mythology to uncover a culture which exalted the female form above that of the male. In doing so she draws attention to the fact that women dominated Indian society way before patriachal norms were established.

She then charts the change over from a matriachal to a patriachal society, observing how Indian mythology has been rewritten, promoting through rape and the act of penetration, the submissive role of women and the dominant role of men.

Thadani contends that this patriachal order has been continually propagated through the ages, particularly during the colonial era, when the Victorians accentuated to an even greater extent the role of the hetrosexual family unit and the submissive role women must play within that unit.

It is the hetrosexual family unit which is now seen as the norm in India, and lesbianism as a western construct, which is ironic considering the abundance of lesbianism within Indian culture, represented through a vast array of materials such as temples, iconography and sacred texts.

Thadani, in her effort to highlight the lesbian side of Indian culture, hopes to free Indian women from the straight jacket of the family unit. She wants lesbians to be free to assert a self-conscious identity within the boundaries of Indian society, which as Indian women they have every right to do.