Voice of Protest against 'Universal Male Sexual Sadism': An Interview with Sarojini Sahoo (2009)

Sarojini Sahoo (b.1956) is a reputed Indian feminist and bilingual writer who has won the Orissa Sahitya Academy Award (1993), the Jhankar Award (1992), the Bhubaneswar Book Fair Award, and the Prajatantra Award. writes in both Oriya and English and besides her eight novels and eight anthologies of short stories in Oriya, she has published one novel and two collections of short stories in English. novel The Dark Abode has gained critics' appreciation abroad and has been translated into many languages like French, Bengali and Malayalam. Two of her novels have been published from Bangladesh. Besides writing, she has been also an Associate Editor of a city based monthly magazine, Indian AGE, published from Vadodara and Chennai. is a known blogger for her ideas in feminism and has gained worldwide fame. Thanalonline has commented thus about her literary genius: Her novels have gained a reputation for their frankness about sexuality and of feminist outlook. is also an advisory board member of the Indian Journal of Post Colonial Literature, published by the English Department of Newman College, Thodupuzaha, Kerala. In a detailed conversation, Dr. Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal (another Advisory Editor of IJPCL) engages Sarojini on several issues related to, feminism and her creative art. NKA: Your website 'sarojinisahoo.com' introduces you thus: She writes with a greater consciousness of women's bodies, which would create a more honest and appropriate style of openness, fragmentation and non-linearity. Is not this candid and frank portrayal of female body anti-woman? The titillating material provided by the feminists may arouse the opposite-sex and may further make the women playthings in the hands of men. In the poem 'An Introduction' by Kamala Das, we have the candid expression: became tall, my limbs swelled and one or two places sprouted hair. I think this type of excessively candid expression may titillate the baser instincts of the men to make them sex-maniacs and thus creating a long army of parochial men, considering a woman just a toy for the gratification of their desires. What are your views on this? SS: It is very important to understand that this social movement centers on the notion that sexual freedom is an essential ingredient of women's freedom. I believe in sexual self-determination of women where each woman has the right to determine who she will be intimate with. I am strongly against the system where without being judged for her choices, a woman is forced to be involved with her partner. According to my survey, between 60 to 70 percent of married women of India don't know what an orgasm is in their whole life. Only they are used by their husbands and become a mother of children. Our Shastras also support this milieu as Putrathe Kriyate Bharya (means: wife is meant for a son). I stand just as strongly for a woman's right not to have sex (of any kind) if she doesn't want to and I believe that women who make that decision deserve support and protection as well. I refuse to be a victim of some imaginary universal male sexual sadism. As a human being, I always argue about equal status for women and I refuse to believe that by denying our sexual selves, women can be equal with men. But what I oppose is patriarchal society's unfortunate decision to grant more liberation for a man than a woman. Our current society uses woman as an object and not as a human being. If a painter paints a nude of a woman, we can appreciate it as a masterpiece. We can enjoy the erotic sculpture showing women's nude bodies on the temple wall. We can digest all these from the pen and brush of a male artist, but if Kamala Das writes, we feel disturbed thinking that society is now in danger. When Sunil Ganguly writes about his affairs with other ladies, it is cited as a literary boldness, but when Kamala Das expresses her passion, it is considered as 'perverted thought. …