Asian-American Village News villages/asian/ AP Headlines Update Page Vang convicted of killing deer hunters in WI MN Hmong comm'y questions trial's fairness Akaka announces new Nat. Hawaiian bill OR internment camp wins landmark recommendation Ent Briefs: Dia Mirza's no good girl; plus Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee Hurricane Katrina Special Section Secret Asian Man
9/12: Secret Asian Man: Katrina, coming together Specials
"Wall of Angels"
Employers announcing open jobs, other aid available to those displaced by Katrina
Donate directly to APIA Katrina Relief
NEW! Sports-related jobs
Pharmaceutical Careers Channel
Graduate/ Professional School Opportunities
What's New @ IMDiversity Career Center?
In the United States, images of sexuality are apparent in nearly all forms of media – magazines, newspapers, billboards, television and movies – creating cultural wallpaper that bends and shapes individual sexuality. However, as a nation, we’re still sexual babies – mere infants at 226 years old. Compared to the ancient civilizations of Asia, the U.S. is just beginning to discover, understand, and define its own sexual culture.
The Kama Sutra, which dates back nearly 1,800 years, was written in India and served as a guidebook to everything from personal finance to human sexuality. Its most notable aspect is its instruction on sex and love, so frankly addressed. Without technology, its spread was slow, but eventually it came to be recognized as an icon of Asian sexuality and a popular personal/sexual resource worldwide.
Globalization has facilitated our awareness of Asian countries’ long-standing traditions of sexuality. It has promoted a cross-cultural introduction between the sexually knowledgeable and experimental East and the sexually immature U.S., enabling us to sample the enigmatic offerings of Asia's long, diverse sexual histories. While globalization is most often viewed as a "west-to-the-rest" flow of information, media, and products, there is significant reverse underway in sexual material that is facilitating a change in American sexuality.
A more contemporary representation of Asian sexuality than the Kama Sutra is the "sex toy" or "sex aid", many of which are Asian in styling, packaging, or theme. The toys are marketed to the mature or sexually curious – often those with limited familiarity of Asian culture and sexuality – capitalizing on exoticism and eroticism. The wide availability of and fascination with Asian sex aids allow voyeurs to expe rience a recondite culture, to employ all of the "mysticism" associated with Far East sex – by way of ancient prose, contemporary marketing methods, and personal fantasy.
But are we really to believe that an orgasm with Asian underpinnings is different than any other? What does consuming "Asian-style" sex toys do for users – Asian or otherwise? Does using them drag Orientalist perceptions into the bedroom, allowing them to construct our nation’s sexuality? Does it allow one to be transported, through fantasy, to distant, perhaps unfamiliar shores, and so explore new horizons in a safe, personal, and even relatively progressive way? Are American companies that concept or market these sex toys accurately representing the Asian culture?
And for the sake of sex, does it matter?
Kamasutra 2002 transl. Wendy Doniger, Sudhir Kakar
The Illustrated Kama Sutra: Ananga- Ranga and Perfumed Garden - Classic Eastern Love Texts, transl. Sir Richard Burton (Microsoft Reader e-book edition)
The Complete Kama Sutra: The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text, transl. Alain Danielou
The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra: With Extracts from Koka Shastra, Ananga Ranga and Other Famous Indian Works on Love, transl. Indra Sinha
Kamasutra for Women: The Modern Woman's Way to Sensual Fulfillment and Health by Vinod Verma
In ancient India, Sanskrit was the spoken and written language. In Sanskrit, the broad translation of Kama is "love" or "desire" while the translation of Sutra is "teachings." Historians believe that the Kama Sutra was originally a very large treatise—or, as Indians called it at the time, a voluptuary—that was composed of no fewer than one thousand chapters. In actuality, the Kama Sutra is not just one book. The standard contemporary adaptation is an abridgement of revisions that have been written over centuries – the reduction of hundreds of thousands of words into one volume.
India has been home to many of the world’s illuminated prophets, saints, and thinkers, and among them was Vatsyayana, author of the most widely accepted version of the Kama Sutra. While it is not known exactly when Vatsyayana wrote the texts, various scholars narrow the time to between the third and fifth century A.D. He was commissioned by the King to produce a how-to guide on many important issues. The Kama Sutra was written for the socially/economically powerful; however, its universal themes facilitated its tremendous cross-cultural appeal. Many kings, as well as emperors in China, believed that those who mastered the art of love gained power and advantage over their enemies and became unconquerable.
In addition to its first definition, the word "kama" is also the name for the Indian god of love in other hybridized Sanskrit languages (similar to Cupid, the Americanized symbol of love). Indian legend tells of the god Kama wielding his powers over a yogi who lived deep in the jungles of India. The yogi fell desperately in love with a yogini who complemented his powers in a uniquely feminine/sexual way. The two lovers perfected their yogi practices and learned how to direct their intense orgasmic powers to personal thought and creativity. This early positioning of Asian sexuality would sustain multiple interpretations, and thousands of years of curiosity and education.
Kama Sutra board game from Xandria Collection
"Sex toy" or "sex aid" is a broad – often euphemistic – title given any object that is designed to sexually educate, excite, or arouse its consumer. Although it is not known precisely when the first sex toy was invented, it is believed that the use of cylindrical objects for sexual gratification dates back to Ancient Greece. This peculiarly shaped item eventually acquired the name "dil do" from the Italian word "diletto," which means to delight. Even during the time of the first writing of the Kama Sutra, women were thought to entertain themselves with phallic objects for the purpose of sexual stimulation. Eventually, the dildo’s purposes became limited and "technology" began changing and surpassing this minimalist object.
A precursor to the electronic vibrator was first developed in the mid-nineteenth century to treat a newly discovered "disease" called "female hysteria." A modern assessment of the symptoms of female hysteria would be identified as sexual arousal; during the Victorian Era, however, women were not considered sexual beings. Physicians would manually massage the agitated woman’s clitoris, exciting her to "paroxysm," or orgasm, and her symptoms would subside. By the late nineteenth century, the first electronic vibrator became available. Although it was still disguised as a doctor’s tool for treating hysteria, the electronic vibrator eventually was marketed and sold outright, appearing in a Sears & Roebuck catalog as a useful tool in curing hysteria. Eventually, the primary use for the vibrator became evident and it was no longer euphemistically advertised in mainstream publications. Meanwhile, by the early twentieth century, in technologically experimental Asian cultures, the electronic vibrator was being mass-produced.
On to Page 2: Contemporary Representations of Asian Sexuality in Adult Products
IMDiversity.com is committed to presenting diverse points of view. However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at IMD.