Horny, Confused, Hopeful: Notes on Sex and Self-Love

In India, pleasure is personal and paramount—driven by curiosity and an urge to step out of the shame bubble.

- Leeza Mangaldas

Running a sexual wellness brand in India is a curious position to be in: Especially when your primary audience is millennials and Gen Z. Curious not because young people in India are prudish (they're not), but because they are incredibly open and deeply anxious at the same time. What I've learned from building our intimate wellness brand Leezu's, writing about sexuality, and having hundreds of thousands of young people share their questions and confessions with me online is this: Young India is horny, confused, and, most of all, hopeful. We want scientifically accurate, shame-free answers to our sex questions, yes, but we also really really want community and care.

When the pleasure brand I co-founded launched, we knew there was a gap in the market. But, what we were most driven by is the powerful personal and social change that comes with women claiming agency around their own body and pleasure, feeling entitled to a more pleasurable sexual life, and acting on it. Many women have their first orgasm with a vibrator. That was the case for me too. Pleasure products thus often spark an inner revolution.