NEW DELHI — The “Savita Bhabhi Movie,” India’s first full-length animated porn film is helping to shake up the patriarchal country by sparking a change in the way the country views women’s sexuality.
The New Republic reported that the wildly popular cartoon, created by artist and U.K entrepreneur known as Deshmukh (whose real name is Puneet Agarwal), has given Indian women an erotic heroine with whom to identify.
Despite her inherent “sluttiness,” the Savi character portrays a more sexually liberated woman that’s beginning to change attitudes of how Indian women feel about sex.
“As a role model, Savi isn’t the best judge of character — she entices teens, a bra salesman, and a terrorist — but she’s bossy, playful, provocative, and she gets what she wants. She has an orgy with three of her husband’s poker buddies just because she finds it sexy. But she is a self-possessed woman,” the article said.
The creator told The New Republic that he wants to push society toward greater openness about female sexuality.
“One of the reasons for creating Savita Bhabhi was to portray that Indian women have sexual desires too,” Deshmukh said. “India is a country which is still sexually repressed, and to break the shackles, it is the women of India who are going to have to come out first.”
But it may be a long process. Although things are changing, a 2012 India Today sex poll reported that only 17 percent of women admitted to masturbating, 41 percent watch porn, 26 percent had oral sex, 6 percent are voyeuristic, and 9 percent role-play.
What's puzzling is that a lot more women apparently watch porn without masturbating, the implication being that they just aren’t speaking up about their sex drive in a country that still criticizes sexually liberated women.
The Savi character (along with the acceptance of porn stars like Indo-Canadian Sunny Leone) however, may be the first signs of a changing society. “We should be grateful for Savi if only because she stands to keep issues around women’s sexuality in the news,” the article said.
