Lowered Age Of Consent

On the one hand, we want the age of consent to be lowered, and on the other, we treat virginity before marriage as sacred. We explore what gives. 

While there's a clamour to reduce the age of consent from 18 to 16, thereby granting more sexual freedom to our youth, we are also witnessing the invasion of the marketplace by products that promise to tighten, whiten, and brighten it down there. Are we confused or what? What is it that we want? This is the land where the Kamasutra originated, so why are people so obsessed with virginity? 

A city-based media professional, Divya K, says, "We are a nation of hypocrites and women are stupid for allowing a male-dominated ad world to tell them that having sex is not OK or that for some reason men want a tighter assets." She adds, "Indian males have always been insecure about the size of their member and perhaps, the size of their ego is the polar opposite of the size of their endowment." 

DJ Tuhin Mehta has a different take on it: "People want to be young even as they grow older. Maybe they are just confused and are trying to be who they are not, or rather what they are not." 

Perhaps the law makers need to be well-versed with the current scenario of the country before passing a law. Hair stylist Sangita Raj says, "People who make laws are ridiculous, and should think about what they would tell their children. In a country in which a four-year old can comfortably use an iPad, they should stop masking reality." Sangita feels that there is a generation gap now because young adults are progressive thinking. She says, "No one is going to care about a law that deals with matters hormonal, so kudos to lowering the age of consent." 

Some think that we are a patriarchal society and the thinking reflects in the actions of the people. "Those who want to raise the age of consent and those who endorse women using virginity restoring products are both upholders of patriarchy. It is hypocrisy to sell a product to women telling them it will sexually empower them, but the question that should be asked is, better for whom? Does the woman really care?" asks Madhuri VK, a mother of two. Progressive, or regressive?

Model Rittvik Mudgal thinks that there is a disparity in thinking. He says, "It's funny that on one side they asking to lower down the age of consent and on the other hand, you have to be above 18 to watch mature movies. And as far as virginity products are concerned, I feel its all business. Human race has always been involved in innovations and giving new things to society be it highly useful or totally weird, so it's up to one to use such products or not." 

Sangita too, echoes similar sentiments when she say, "I think that the products marketed for virginity are more for upkeep. I don't even understand the fuss about these products, just because they are about female genital; they are looked upon as sexual. What a product is used for is consumer's choice, you can use or abuse. So, here I fail to understand the target audience because it's probably for married women." 

Entertainment professional, Rohit Barker sums it all up when he says, "I think we are hypocrites. We need a higher level of sex education in India, I see that completely lacking. One needs to be able to openly talk about sex because without proper knowledge it leads to complications and that is when we have thoughts like virginity is a virtue and so on."