Restraint as a Feminine Strategy
This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-99, Mar-Apr 1997)
Though sexuality is considered an innate human drive, its expression varies in different cultures. Patterns of sexual behaviour in a society are outgrowths of a whole cultural ethos. The same sexual behaviour can acquire substantially different meanings and consequences in different societies.
Most societies have tried to regulate sexuality by placing it firmly within their marriage and kinship structure. However, in societies which evolved male dominated forms of family, marriage became an instrument of control over women’s sexuality. In the West, Engels preceded the feminists in critiquing the sexual morality inherent in such male dominated family structures. He saw the destruction of the patriarchal family as a necessary step towards freeing women from men’s control…