Kamasutra: Is this Ancient Text On Sex In Society still relevant?
We’ve marched against discrimination. We’ve fought for equal pay. As we sip our well-earned Cosmopolitans with our fearless female friends, where does an ancient, and some would say archaic text, like the Kamasutra fit into our lives?
Because we all know that the Kamasutra is about hundreds of impractical, impossible sexual positions, right? Wrong.
In fact, sexual positions form only a small part of the actual text. Instead, the book is a joyous celebration of the glory & poetry of sex. Pleasure for the sake of pleasure. And nothing else.
A history of sex
You’ll find pages devoted to every form of foreplay from kisses, love bites, love marks and more. A handy little book to dip into when things get stale between the sheets, perhaps?
And there are pointers on how a man should conduct himself when initiating sex with a less experienced woman. Tenderness, says the author, will take a man a long way. And what I personally find rather sweet, pages devoted to how a man should get himself ready for his lover. Like this extract:
“In the pleasure room, decorated with flowers, and fragrant with perfumes, attended by his friends and servants, the citizen should receive the woman. He should then seat her on his left side and holding her hair, he should gently embrace her with his right arm. The lovers may sit on the terrace of the palace or house and enjoy the moonlight, and carry on an agreeable conversation”
Now I find that much more romantic than some bloke’s much-used pick-up line in a bar.
A liberal text
It’s not just about the poetry & the pointers though. Despite being written between 400 BCE and 200 CE, the Kamasutra is an incredibly liberal text. A woman’s sexual pleasure is mentioned as an essential part of the act.
However, it’s important to keep this in context. Today, we expect our men to be able to find our G-spots without any signposts and even your mum reads ’50 Shades of Grey’ at the local library. But in 400 BCE that sort of focus on a woman’s sexual pleasure was a revolutionary idea.
To sum up, attitudes towards sex were far more open during the times of the Kamasutra. In fact, sexual expertise was expected to be part of the repertoire of any intelligent, cosmopolitan adult.
Perhaps if that same attitude carried on in modern-day India, sexual violence against women would not be as commonplace as it is today.
So yes, the Kamasutra is still relevant today. And yes, you should get your own copy if you haven’t already.
Female pleasure
It’s heartening to read that during the time of the Kamasutra, both men and women had plenty of sex.
The Kamasutra says:
“On some pretext, he moves close to the woman he wants, when she is facing him and touches limb to limb. This is touching.”
It’s obvious this is ‘touching’ both parties want because she is facing him and she desires him.
The Kamasutra goes on to talk about different types of embraces between men and women. Climbing the tree is a beautiful example of one:
“As a vine twines around a great tree, so she twines around him and bends his face down to her to kiss him.”
It’s ironic that the land of the Kamasutra has come such a long way. From a world where women would take the lead in love-making to one where women now hide behind their bags and clothes hoping NOT to attract the attention of men that lurk on their streets.
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