Male Sexuality sells and how!

With due respects to India and its rich culture, the country has always been a place that has looked at women as mere objects of affection. There have been quite a few exceptions but largely women are looked at as sex- objects and nothing else. This is more than evident from the manner in which women have been treated from times immemorial. Manusmrithi said that women do not have right to freedom. She is protected by her father in her adolescence, her husband in her youth and her son in her old age. Women have been depicted in seducive postures in the ancient sculptures and paintings of India. The female sexuality has been used and is still being used in selling everything under the sun in India. Things have not changed much in its last 10000 years of history which is evidenced by the incidents of molestation that hogged the limelight on the dawn of the New Year at Mumbai and Kochi. However, the increasing awareness, education, the reach of the media and the many other effects of globalization has brought in something else that is selling like hot cake these days in the country and that is nothing other than male sexuality. As is the case with everything else, it was Bollywood that started this trend in the late 90's. Salman Khan took off his shirt to exhibit his well toned body in "Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya" and left the ladies drooling over him. Come 2K and entered Hrithik Roshan whose bulging biceps sent the whole nation crazy. 6 years later, Hrithik exhibited much more than his biceps in "Dhoom:2" and the girls were crying for more. All the boys wanted to be like Hrithik and this was evidenced by the number of multi- gyms that mushroomed all over the country. The Diwali of 2007 was the ultimate! The 2 big Diwali releases had the same USP- both of them flaunted the sexuality of its leading men while the ladies remained neatly clothed. Om Shanthi Om had Shah Rukh Khan flaunting his newly acquired six packs while Ranbir Kapoor, the craze of the nation, showed off much more than what anyone else has ever done in his debut vehicle- Saawariya. Things were not very different down south either- Dhanush used the climax of "Pollathavan" to flaunt his packs while the usually reticent Vijay took off his shirt to gyrate with Namitha on the beaches for a song sequence in "Azhagiya Tamizh Magan" Come year end and it was not just the Kingfisher calendar with the bikini- babes that hogged the limelight, it was also Daboo Ratnani's stud- calendar that had Hrithik and Dino Morea (shirtless, of course) with a lot of other dudes like Abhishek, Akshay, Ranbir and Neil Nithin Mukesh that was also very much in the news. The ad world and the serials are also not to be left behind. Everyone is on the look out for that well toned torso and everything else matters very little in a man! I am not complaining at all because I feel it is now that we have really become an equal opportunity country. Women are finding sexual liberation in a country that always thought of them as subservient to men; thanks to media and globalization. It is reassuring that the new generation men are also accepting this as a way of life. How else can one explain the new found interest in body building and the number of successful gyms and gents beauty parlors that have come up all around the country? Guess, it is time for me too to get back to my tread mill!