MSM | Men who have sex with men (38 images)

MSM

Officially, they do not exist. They are invisible. Or their existence is denied. They do something that is legally punishable in India. Because what they do is held to be ´unnatural`. Up to 10 years imprisonment can be given for it. Most of them do not admit it. Their families are unaware of it. Their friends do not suspect anything. Thus, they are living two lives in one. If it is discovered, they will be beaten, raped and robbed. In a society in which the...
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MSM

Officially, they do not exist. They are invisible. Or their existence is denied. They do something that is legally punishable in India. Because what they do is held to be ´unnatural`. Up to 10 years imprisonment can be given for it. Most of them do not admit it. Their families are unaware of it. Their friends do not suspect anything. Thus, they are living two lives in one. If it is discovered, they will be beaten, raped and robbed. In a society in which the thematisation or the suggestion of sexuality represents a taboo, it is almost impossible to live a sexual life that does not correspond to the norm. Article 377 of the Indian penal code criminalises all sexual practices that do not serve procreation. Same sex practices are thus forbidden and liable to prosecution. The discrimination and stigmatisation of all men who have sex with men (MSM) is thus officially institutionalised. The consquence is a rigorous social exclusion - and violence. MSM in India are completely different from MSM in the West, in so far as they are not allowed to live their sexual lives openly. They have, as a rule, two lives: a life as a husband and father and a life as a man who has sex with men. For the pressure to marry and found a family begins in childhood. Through marriage and having children - preferably sons - men show proof of their masculinity and only a few MSM manage not to conform to this social necessity. Quite differently to western countries, sex between men in India is primarily a question of gender role determined sexual behaviour and not a question of sexual identity. The western understanding of heterosexuality and homosexuality does not hold in India. For the MSM it is concerned with living out a gender role, which as a rule is based on the sexual partners in a same sex relationship each assuming a different gender role. Thus, sex between men in India is a sexual behaviour that combines several gender roles and 'communities'.
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