Delhi High Court reads down Section 377 of the IPC, decriminalising same sex activity amongst consenting adults – 2009
Supreme Court sets
aside the Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising 377, effectively
“re-criminalising” same sex activity – 2013
Supreme Court
“finally” decriminalises 377 – 2018
Transgender
Protection Bill (however controversial) becomes law - 2019
Supreme Court hears
PILs on Marriage Equality – 2023
First Kink Convention
in India is held in Goa – April 2023
This
is an unprecedented time in our country, newly awakening to the concept of equal
rights for gender/sexual minorities, and probably the ideal time to talk about
a project like “BEYOND BOUNDARIES”
which examines and documents the many faces of the Gay Fetish culture.
It
is a fact well known to kinksters of all shades, straight or gay, and whatever
they might be into, that the support the women’s movement has earned over time,
for example, or the growing support for the LGBTQIA+ movement over the last few
decades in the country, most definitely does not extend to the kink/fetish/BDSM
community. More than ever the new inheritors of “the love that dare not speak
its name”, the members of this community still inhabit shadows and peripheries,
even in the already peripheral and marginal communities of the sexual/gender
minorities.
Demonised
worldwide, in spite of – or maybe partly because of – the immense popularity of
“mommy porn” like 50 Shades of Grey which gets kink completely wrong, too often
these proclivities and activities are confused and categorised as abuse, and
kinksters seen as deviant and abnormal (something sexual/gender minorities are
all too familiar with).
This
is exactly the reason why projects like BEYOND BOUNDARIES are so significant. As the site says, BEYOND BOUNDARIES is a powerful
exploration of the gay fetish culture, through over 70 stunning portraits that
challenge societal ideas of normal and natural and push the boundaries of what
is considered acceptable by the general public. Society, as our long history
has taught us, fears and “others” what it does not understand. This fear and
othering has been the cause of a lot of historical discrimination, exclusion,
and hate towards marginalized groups based on race, colour, gender, sexuality,
and more.
One of the most powerful ways that the othering
of people has been perpetrated over the centuries has been through
over-sexualisation. “We” are the ones who are normal, believe in love, are cultured
and controlled and all about building relationships based on affection and
loyalty, while the others, “they”, are the wild, animalistic, uncontrolled,
oversexed, uncivilised influences who will destroy human civilisation and
culture. Whether it is the white man’s narrative against BIPOC, the image of
the “dangerous native/wild tribal” one must protect “our women” from, or the
more recent warnings against wilful, feminist women, or queer people, this
image of us = love versus them = only sex seems to have worked well to maintain
many a status quo.
It has been used, as recently as last week, in
the Supreme Court in India, to try to block access of LGBTQ+ people to civil
rights and justice in the form of the right to marry partners of their choice,
regardless of gender. One of the most often used “whataboutery” excuses given
against queer/gay/lesbian people having marriage equality or decriminalisation
has always been – what about incest then? And bestiality? Clearly, the LGBTQ+
community is viewed as simply a collection of bodies which are seeking other
bodies FOR SEX, minus the humanity of two (or more – but that’s a whole other
debate) people falling in love and seeking commitment and companionship just
like most other humans do. This dehumanising tool has always been quite
effective since it reaches somewhere deep into our collective lizard brains and
taps into the species memory/fear of a lawless, pre-civilisation life where
everyone was forced to fend for themselves.
It is not difficult to imagine how much worse this
dehumanising is, because it is that much more effective, in the case of people
who self professedly enjoy activities leading to things that most people fear (and
maybe secretly desire?) – such as pain, humiliation, helplessness, loss of
control, and more. Never mind strict rules of consent, never mind mutual
agreement, anyone seeking to “hurt” someone else or to “be hurt” just HAS to be
abnormal and deviant, says the common imagination. Never mind people who spend
inordinate amounts of money on shoes, cars, watches, and collectibles, anyone
professing to be attracted to or turned on by a particular “item” just HAS to
be weird! It is so much easier, then, to think of these people as less than, or
separate from.
The re-ordinarying – if one might coin a term –
of these communities, the representations and explorations that re-examine
demonised and marginalised identities and find the ways in which they are
mostly or quite a bit like us, rather than some kind of alien creatures, is a
very important and integral part of the ongoing fight for rights and equality
for all. Not, as some activists claim, to servilely “fit in” and beg for
rights, but to remove the fear, the horror, through a simple realisation of a
shared human-ness, if that is possible, and to incite curiosity, eventually leading
to understanding/acceptance, maybe, about a culture and lifestyle that is new
to you. As Rudra says, “The first thing that comes to mind after viewing this,
is the fact that the diversity of the fetish culture needs to be explored with
a few examples of how and why a certain fetish has become part of this culture.
For example, cosplay, military and uniform fetish, leather or latex etc. Each
of these fetish categories have a history and delving into a few of them will
be interesting.”
Other Indian kinksters also chipped in with
comments. Rahul
appreciates the art, finds the images wonderful and evocative, but has not much
to say about the overall significance of the project. He just thinks it is
important to have more work of this sort.
ToB
feels that the images, one after another, look somewhat like a fashion show, or
a fancy dress event, where people have dressed up in costumes. The fact that there
is usually only one person per photograph makes it “fashion show” like for him.
IT would have been more dynamic and sensual for him if there were more than one
person in a frame and some kind of “action”. He also wonders if the team has
any plans of working with nudes in the future and how they are planning to
handle the fine line between art and porn.
Sam
says “projects like this one is something which is needed to diversify
representation. In India kink is such a big taboo that it is mostly mistaken
for assault and as far as I can recall hasn't been considered non sexual. So
displaying something which I like and would want to showcase can be a way of
opening up as well. It can be a form of awareness too.”
Shankar
had several points to make. He was surprised by the complete absence of Asian
men, while he also wondered why the current project seems to be representing
only able bodied and younger men, even though people who cannot get
gratification 'normally(?)' are more likely to indulge in something that gets
labelled as a Fetish. There also seems to be an absence of improvised/self-made
gears, gadgets and consumables? (Think impact or sensory deprivation plays
where a lot of the 'tools' are often custom/self-made. He also wonders if the
project is making conscious efforts to avoid the binarization of the world into
kinky and vanilla, (or fetish and non fetish) instead of defining fetish as a
spectrum, where the level of weirdness, risk, ability, displayability are
multiple continuous planes that converge.
XylemPhloem
says that “in the Indian context , people generally view the Gay community through a singular prism. But the
truth is it's an incredibly diverse community. It is much more vibrant than the
rainbow. Our cultural, political
leanings, expressions of our sexuality everything is different. Hence it would
be great if this can be documented in such art projects, so that these
voiceless , faceless lives long after they turn ashes may someday provide the evidence , that they
were also there, silent , ostracised”.
Kinkster
Dead Fox says that the “subject is great and maybe has a lot of scope in the west
....but we have to think of it in the Indian perspective.... here LGBT
community is still stuck fighting for their basic rights.... photography on kinky
subjects is light-years away.... Being a straight kinky myself...here in India
unfortunately it's a taboo subject though we are fortunate to born in a land
which has an evident history of erotica in culture and religion... our history is
the only one where there is a mention of transgender, homosexual apart from
other straight sexual fetishes which are now marked taboo by modern culture
vultures
As the site states, “Photography has always been a powerful medium for
showcasing diverse perspectives, experiences, and identities.” What better way to
capture the diversity of human identities and cultures and break down the
stigma and misconceptions surrounding them. One of the key messages of
"BEYOND BOUNDARIES" is that gay fetish culture is not just about sex,
but is also a way of exploring and expressing one's identity and desires. Something
that kinksters all over the world, (in India as well – through groups like The
Kinky Collective), are struggling to get across to non-practitioners. The
project also helps to challenge the notion that fetish/kink is something to be
ashamed of or hidden away and encourages people to embrace their true selves and
celebrate the unique beauty of each individual. Projects like these are valuable
tools to foster the ongoing conversations – worldwide – about identity and
inclusivity.
