NEW HUES OF THE RAINBOW
If you thought not all desires could be put in words, think again. The vocabulary of sexual orientations is growing and everyone ‘fits in’. Well, almost
When 33-year-old Payal’s (name changed) friend called her a demisexual recently, she had to Google the word for its meaning. “He was telling me that he was gay and then went on to confess that he had always suspected that I was demisexual [someone capable of feeling sexual attraction only when he or she has formed a strong emotional bond with the person] ,” says Payal, adding with a laugh, “I had always called myself a romantic before.”
A WORD OF ONE’S OWN
The vocabulary of sexual orientations is expanding to suit individual emotions and desires that are beyond not just the heterosexual majority, but also that of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Sure there’s queer – anyone who doesn’t confirm to dominant expressions of gender and sexuality – but it is not enough, as an increasing number of people look for words that express their diverse experiences.
A 2017 article published in Time magazine uses the example of students in a high school in Utah to look at the “changing meaning of gender and sexuality” and how students are using words beyond the LGBT umbrella to identify themselves. A glossary on the website of the LGBTQIA+ (the last two letters represent Intersex and Asexual) Resource Centre, University of California, Davis, lists more than 10 different sexual orientations, including allosexual, asexual, demisexual and pansexual. There are many more labels out there on the internet, many of which also bridge the homo-hetero divide and can be used by people of either orientation to convey their more specific identities. As the LGBTQIA+ Resource Centre glossary explains the terms and definitions “are always evolving and changing and often mean different things to different people”. Spellings of the labels also often vary.
THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE
The use of these words is not restricted to the West. Delhi-based NGO, Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI), explains the meaning of some of these terms on its Facebook page. LGBTQ rights activist, counsellor and author Vinay Chandran also agrees that “there are more and more people seeking help and explicitly identifying themselves outside of the hetero-homo or man-woman dyad.” While the English-speaking, urban youth are more familiar with the terms, “even those who do not know the labels, like it when I am able to give them a word that represents their feelings. It helps them ‘fit in’,” explains says Megha Sheth, a psychologist working with the Mumbaibased Humsafar Trust. “I am getting an increasing number of people who identify as pansexual or asexual.”
Sheth, 36, who identifies as demisexual, says she had to experience years of confusion before, three years ago, she came across the word that she felt was right for her. “When I was 19-20, the only other sexual identities I was aware of, apart from heterosexuality were LGBT. ‘Q’ was added to that umbrella when I was about 24,” she recalls. “In school, others around me were dating and I would feel confused about why I was not interested. Sometimes, peo- ple called me a prude,” she recalls.
In comparison, awareness came early to 19-year-old Bharati (name changed on request), probably because the discourse on sexual rights and identities had already gained volume by the time she reached puberty. “I was in Class 9,” says Bharati, “when I started identifying as pansexual. I came across the concept online.”
Simply having a label to identify oneself by, may not make it easier for one to assert oneself or get accepted by those around, agrees writer R Raj Rao, “but these terms help people in understanding themselves better.”
Of course, in a country like ours which only made peace with its LGBTQ population as recently as last year with the striking down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalised sex against the order of nature or non-peno-vaginal sex, it will take time for these terms to find place in popular parlance.
ROOTED IN LGBTQ RIGHTS
The expanding vocabulary of sexual orientations, many feel, owes its roots to the movement for LGBTQ rights. “There were always people who had no sexual desire (asexuals today), had sexual desire for any gender (pansexual) etc. They just never found representation anywhere in society until recently,” says Chandran. “The LGBTQ movement helped give voice to these identities and more identities like these are likely to emerge.”
Also, as Rao puts it, awareness of and acceptance of LGBTQ rights “made people look for terms for sexual orientations that are descriptive rather than prescriptive. Many of the earlier words were abusive.”
The new, evolving vocabulary might be mind-boggling for the layman. But Chan- focuses on 10 phrases from the Rig Veda. Given their cryptic nature, she uses the five elements of Nature to explore connections with the other oral traditions.
These include architectural interventions such as mud walls, a common sight in the countries she visited, used here to denote the element of earth, which also disconnects the viewer from the outer world.
An installation titled ‘Stir a Miracle’ uses a medley of vowel sounds recorded by Butail during her travels to show how the pronunciations of a vowel influence the meaning of a word.
An interactive installation called ‘And secrets are secrets’ invites the viewer to dran says “the confusion is only for people who believe that everyone should fall into one or two categories”. Love may bloom at first sight and desire be spontaneous, but different experiences of attraction need to thought about, voiced and accommodated to stop oppression of sexual minorities, say queer rights activists.
Not everyone, though, is happy with the fixation with labels. “We are brought up to expect that desire will be heterosexual. Which of course it isn’t. All such labels of identity [whether it be heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual or other such identities] are massively constraining,” says Madhavi Menon, director, Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Ashoka University. “Desires can’t be categorised. Desires are queer because they tend to be unpredictable, unreliable and surprising. But by embracing labels, we are indulging in a kind of self policing, telling ourselves that we are this and nothing else,” she explains. For those who feel like Menon, the label to go for may be pomosexual – a person who doesn’t accept or doesn’t fit into any sexual orientation label! Some, though, do use it as an alternative for queer. It is not just the physical act of sex, but how someone expresses himself/herself as a sexual person, with all the emotions associated with it, including attraction, jealousy and concern., among others. An enduring emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional attraction, or non-attraction, to other people. Sexual orientation can be fluid and people use a variety of labels to describe theirs. It is how one labels oneself; how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically, emotionally and/or sexually attracted. The most common sexual identities are homosexual, or bisexual or straight respond to previous entries in any of the handmade diaries left on a bookshelf.
The result is an open book with no beginning or end.
ROOM FOR EVERYONE
The idea for this project first came to
Butail three years ago, and began to take shape after she won the BMW Art Journey award in 2017. This helped fund her travels through Yazd, Jerusalem, London, Varanasi, Pune, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Observing how the oral traditions were performed and preserved, Butail found striking similarities.
“People tend to think that these traditions are primarily about religion, but they are primarily about the ecology. Knowledge of ecological systems is passed on through all the oral knowledge systems It is different from sexual identity. Identity is the core of one’s being. It is unchangeable, like gay or straight. Preferences can change - one can sexually prefer tall or short people (which can be changeable)
AN EXHIBIT AT INDIA ART FAIR EXPLORES WHAT LINKS AVESTA, ORAL TORAH, RIG VEDA
that I studied. For example, they all have a water prayer or ritual,” Butail says. Moreover, most traditions use copper vessels to store water, adds Reha Sodhi, curator of the exhibition. “To mirror this, a copper water pipe runs through the show.”
Where the traditions differ most is in sound and rhythm of the hymns. These are key elements and ‘algorithms’ from that Butail incorporates in her art through the use of audio clips, geometric sculptures and interactive installations.
Videos play above a pitched white tent, offering glimpses of Butail’s journey and the performances of various practitioners that she interacted with. What the viewer experiences is an immersive journey through time and space.
“I am a very big fan of Astha’s and have seen the development of her practice of the last couple of years,” says Jagdip Jagpal, director of the India Art Fair. “I thoroughly enjoyed this show and felt it displayed her talent and unique approach.”
At a time when information is most commonly accessed at a click, ‘In The Absence Of Writing’ reconnects the viewer with a more tangible, visceral alternative.
“Even in the contemporary world, it is possible to incorporate the practice of oral history traditions in modern education systems,” says Reha.
As an installation of a Rig Veda phrase puts it, “There is room for everyone.”