Writers on Pleasure and safety: Safer Sex in the Texts

Wrapping up our stint at Jaipur Literature Festival The Pleasure Project wanted to commend three people who have won our hearts this week..

We heart Candice Bushall, author of the “Sex in the City”  novel and many others since. She is not scared to tackle sexual taboos head on in her work and I told her so.  The Pleasure Project caught up with her at the Jaipur Lit Fest.

Candace said that she felt she did not do enough and wants to do much more to discuss  good safe sex in her books. So lets watch this space. Here is a little from Sex in the City with an unusual take that does not exactly big up the pleasure but shows a novel incentive to promote condoms…

“The condom killed romance but it has made it a lot easier to get laid” said a friend. “There is something about a condom that for women makes it like sex that does not count. There’s no skin-to-skin contact so they go to bed with you more easily”

(Sex in the City, Abacus, Candice Bushall, 1999)

Just before catching Candace, The Pleasure Project’s intrepid reporter pushed her way to the front of the ecstatic crowd at the “Pulp Fiction” event to ask catch Pritham Chakravarthy. Pritham has translated hundreds of Tamil ” pulp fiction” including lots of hot sex. As she said and sex was never brought to India by any other “decadent” nation, as many are fond of stating, but is here for large audiences every day in pulp fiction.  Pritham said it is sad but true pulp fiction authors like their sexy scenes but rarely include safer sex, in fact she could not remember one from the books she translated. But as she said “we should try it!”.

But our lifetime pleasure propagandist award goes to Jerry Pinto who when talking about his new  book told an entertaining “condom moment” tale. He was talking about how his wonderful mother would torment his teenage self  by finding saucy magazines behind the toilet and teasing him. However she would also tell him to have lots of sex in college “that’s what you do there” but to use a condom every time to avoid getting a girl pregnant.

Three Cheers for Auntie Pinto !

Round of applause for Jerry, Pritham and Candace for being creative and daring – with the aim of  good.safe.sex. clearly in mind. The Pleasure Project left Jaipur Literature Festival satisfied that lots of writers know how to do it right but there is still lots more potential for action.

And leaving Jaipur on the train – we saw lots of Pulp for sale…….