The Sex Files

The world around them may be changing but indians seem to be stuck in the same groove when it comes to sex, reveals India Today’s 17th sex survey

- Prachi Bhuchar

Her fingers move across the smartphone with evident intensity, scrolling through the multiple videos that have popped up after she typed in ‘erotic couplings’. They are lying side by side in his paying guest accommodation in Pune and the internet on her phone allows her uninterrupted access to a world that is at once exciting and overwhelming. Every now and then, the girl can’t help but giggle as images of men with penises the length of her arm flash past. It makes the young man nervous, as he sheepishly tells her—“These men are not the norm, you know.” The couple, in their early 20s, are eager to experiment and seeking inspiration from the porn videos on their phone screen. Even as they are sex-surfing, someone solicits them on a chat window.

The internet and the mobile phone have irrevocably changed the Indian sexscape. There is no sexual fantasy that has been left to the imagination—if it’s in your mind, then it will definitely be on the internet. And easily accessible too, given the increased internet penetration. It has made the Indian bedroom— urban as well as rural—an exciting place. You can know all you want to know about sex in one swipe of the screen, in the privacy of your own bedroom, rather than furtively rifle through the well-worn pages of a porn magazine, a steamy novel or movie. Google has become the new mentor and guide.