Sangeeta Pillai from Soul Sutras and the award-winning feminist Masala Podcast talks to us about the way in which sex and sexual matters relating to menopausal and postmenopausal women are even more taboo in the South Asian community than they are elsewhere. She points out that India has a rich history of sexual exploration and practice, which goes back thousands of years to some of the temples in which sex was celebrated to the Kama Sutra and other traditions. At some point, with the rise of the patriarchy and the arrival of the British, it was driven out of public life and made taboo (a word which itself has a colonial history, introduced by Captain James Cook, from the Tongan language).
Her podcast is designed to break some of these taboos, and to discuss sex in all its varieties within the South Asian community and beyond. We talk about how sex and the over 40s is a subject frowned upon in all communities and societies right across the world. We in the West have gained a certain privilege and made some steps forward in sexual matters, but there is still a long way to go – particularly with the idea of sex and older people. The struggle continues!
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BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS WINNER
Masala Podcast
Available on Spotify, Apple & Castbox
Episode 36: South Asian Women and Sex