Sexuality and Pleasure
इसलिए, तुम्हारे आज के स्वः या अवतार के रूप में, मैं तुम्हें अपनी क्षमताओं में विश्वास रखने के लिए प्रोत्साहित करती हूँ, अपने सपनों पर केंद्रित रहना, एक स्वाभाविक मूल्य प्रणाली विकसित करना जो हठधर्मिता से मुक्त हो, हमेशा जिज्ञासु बनी रहना और निरंतर सीखने की अपनी इच्छा का पोषण करना, और अपना जीवन स्वतंत्र रूप से और पूरी तरह से जीना।
As shocking as his request for a nude was, what confused me even more was why would he want nudes from me, a woman who hated her body? Would he appreciate these saggy breasts with their stretch marks? My ever growing thighs and my belly which has body hair on it, wouldn’t he think I’m ugly?
Lawrence may have given Elena a world and a voice. But it was she who chose to delve into the unknown world of sexuality. It was she who chose to see the beauty and the richness of pleasure within communities of sex workers, soldiers, the elite, all alike. She alone chose to discern as well as reconcile love, as we commonly seem to know it, with a life in which she is capable of many loves.
You see, you are being pushed and pulled in all directions because people around you, whether family, friends or the larger society, expect you to behave in a particular fashion and stick to existing norms. However, your inner voice is telling you to challenge these norms and follow your own path.
In a society where the very pursuit of erotic pleasure is often stigmatised, when sexual desires are often seen through the narrow lenses of penetrative sex and as means for reproduction, it is considered radical for an older woman who is already the mother of adult children to seek pleasure.
We need to disturb the institutionalised infrastructure and skew power dynamics even when it comes to something as complex as pleasure. Being aware of our language and the practices of our sexuality and denuding them of socially imbibed constructions will open up a safe space for discussing the diversity of our sexual behaviour.