Valentine Week - 5

OK, Now I am daring to write about a very tricky concept in India. After all, discussing modern dating without that sounded incomplete. Following findings from various surveys over the past decade attempt at decoding the stand of India on premarital sex.

1. India Today Group MDRA Sex Survey (conducted across 19 cities)

• 76 per cent of respondents said their first sexual encounter was when they were between 18-26 years of age.
• A significant 13 per cent were below the age of 18.
• In Mumbai specifically, as many has 31 per cent respondents had their first sexual encounter when they were below 18

2. According to the HT-MaRS Youth Survey, an unprecedented 61% believe that premarital sex is no longer a taboo. Only, when it comes to marriage, 63% want their partners to be virgins

3. Men and women in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata are candidly admitting to casual-dating two or more persons at any given time

And few findings from older Google pages.

1. In 1994, an INDIA TODAY-MARG survey among 1,365 undergraduates from eight cities found that 18 per cent girls accepted premarital sex, 15 per cent didn't mind using sex appeal to get ahead and 34 per cent were amenable to having a fling even while going steady.

2. More than 40% of young urban couples in India say they have had sex before marriage. The survey conducted by India's leading condom manufacturer, Kamasutra, also revealed that a third of those polled had had sex before the age of 21.

3. 33 per cent have had pre-marital sex, while 50 per cent deny having it, in another survey done in 1996

None of these make any sense, because all surveys at the end proclaim the Great Indian hypocrisy. Why would truths be told if base of the argument is hypocrisy?

The only point I wanted to understand and make it to the bench is that physical intimacy is an important (the differentiator if I may be bravely stupid to proclaim so) element of romantic pursuits whether acknowledged or not by any community at any point of life on earth. Considering it as a taboo does not make one "pure" or "pious" or "true Indian" or "civilized" and using it as a toy does not make one "mature" or "advanced" or "liberated". There are emotional and physical consequences to both approaches.