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Playing Naturally

A fallacious link between sex toys and Sec. 377

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Playing Naturally
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Shoud sex toys be banned? It’s no secret that these kinky playthings are used, sold and mopped up by eager customers at select online stores. The internet has given easier access to those who crave erotic gadgets, even if their sale is illegal under obscenity sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). But stores like Kaa­ma­stra.com, IMbesharam.com, thatspersonal.com, along with Flipkart and Snapdeal, sell ‘adult lifestyle’ or ‘sexual wellness products’ such as edible lingerie and fancy lubricants, claiming they comply with all existing regulations.

Recently, sex toys and their sale in India came under a rude glare when Delhi-based Supreme Court lawyer Suhaas Joshi filed a complaint against e-giants Snapdeal and Chennai-based Ohmysecret.com for abetting gay sex and for exhibiting obscene products like anal lubes and massagers. Joshi says he wants to test the limits of India’s anti-homosexuality law under  Sec. 377 of IPC. “My petition is not against the LGBT community, but about the hypocrisy of the law,” he says. “On one hand Sec. 377 criminalises unnatural sex and on the other hand you let websites like these sell such products that are used by gay men. Ours is not a dildo nation, either you have the law or you don’t.” The magisterial court has ordered an investigation.

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Gay rights activist Jerry Johnson believes the complaint is confusing. “Ins­tead of targeting Sec. 377 of IPC, the lawyer could have challenged the obs­c­e­nity laws. Anyway, there is no way for the government to monitor anyone’s sexual activities. Street vendors here in Colaba sell dildos and sex toys openly. Laws against using sex toys make criminals out of ordinary people. E-commerce websites become easy victims,” he says. The controversial anti-gay law criminalises any intercourse that is “against the order of nature”, sparking  the raging debate over what constitutes unnatural sex. The Delhi High Court had earlier decriminalised the act, but the SC subsequently overturned the decision and has now left the matter for the Parliament to decide.

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Yet, the identification of sex toys with only gays and lesbians is perplexing. Heterosexuals are, of course, are their primary market. “The petition to make sex toys illegal under Sec. 377 of IPC has cleverly used the legal ‘gap’ in the judicial system to question the government over this ambiguous law. Nowhere is it written that these ‘objectionable’ products are being specifically used only by homosexuals,” says Siddarth Negi, a Delhi University student. And going by the booming business of sex toys, it does seem largely a preoccupation of the ‘straight’. What used to be peddled in dark alleys with a stench of the disreputable about it is now a lucrative industry pegged at Rs 1,500 crore, say insiders. Furthermore, websites dedicated to the sale of erotic merchandise have given the business a big boost, as buyers can now order them from the privacy of their homes.

Indian laws are unclear about the sale of sex toys. In most cases, objection is raised in the manner in which these products are sold—often with suggestive pictures and graphic descriptions. Ind­eed, if the obscenity law is strictly followed, whoever sells, hires, distributes, publicly exhibits, makes, or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing or painting is punishable with imprisonment and fine. But as some portals sell sex toys as lifestyle products, the jury is still out on what exactly constitutes obscenity. As also, who considers them obscene. But some authorities are determined to stop their sale. The Telangana government recently wanted to block sites selling sex toys for their “objectionable content”. More states will keenly watch the outcome of the current petition to make them illegal under Sec. 377. But is it the state’s role to come in the way of how an adult may want to pleasure himself or herself?

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