Condoms to consent, this zine offers sex ed for the confused Indian male

Last year, as the #MeToo movement gained momentum in India, Priyanka Paul heard many Indian men asking “How is this molestation?”. And this was in cases where it was rather obvious. This kind of male confusion inspired the 20-year-old artist to launch a sex education zine.


Targeted specifically towards Indian young men, the guide is both fun as well as informative. Are

birth control

pills better protection than condoms? How do you maintain penis hygiene? Embarrassed to buy

condoms

over the counter? Here’s how to do it… These are just some of the things that Bedx Talks talks about. The zine started by Paul along with her friend Rushil Bhatnagar, deals with a variety of topics that concern men—covering everything from

anatomy

, protection, consent and safety.

Bedx Talks explains consent by stressing that a reluctant, forced, or intoxicated yes is not consensual. It also compares being given consent to being invited to a party—it doesn’t matter if you showed up uninvited because you were drunk, or because you had been invited before— “you are still not invited,” according to the

zine

.

“With the emergence of so many feminist collectives in the country as well as conversations around sex and body positivity, there are lots of resources out there for women. I decided to create a resource for Indian men,” Paul says.

The Mumbaikar says sex used to be a taboo topic in school. “Even when they taught us about anatomy, they separated girls and boys which just created more stigma,” she says. That’s why she made this zine— “for young people, by young people”. Talking to friends, and reaching out to her 30,000 Instagram followers, she gauged the gaps in knowledge and the issues that needed to be discussed. “My immediate group of friends talk about protection like it’s optional. These are people who go to my college, St Xaviers and are supposed to be smart,” she says.