Vibrating condom does not uphold Indian culture; banned in MP

20 June, 2007:

Crezendo, a condom from Hindustan Latex, comes with a vibrating ring. It is anti-Indian and a sex toy, and therefore we ban it forthwith, says Madhya Pradesh

Sexual pleasure is apparently against Indian culture. Or that is what condom maker Hindustan Latex has found out to its discredit when it invented a condom that doubled up as a birth control device while providing pleasure to the user. No sales crescendo now from its Crezendo, the company now sees trouble from none other than the lawmakers in big, bad Madhya Pradesh. The Crezendo condom pack, which was launched by Hindustan Latex six months back, comes with a vibrating ring. The vibrating ring is what the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government refuses to approve. It has gone ahead and banned the sale of Crezendo in the state saying it's against Indian culture.

Vijayvargiya, the Public Works Minister in the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet, has donned the role of a moral cop and is up in arms against Hindustan Latex’s Crezendo. According to Vijayvargiya, the condom is a sex toy and will not be allowed to be sold in the state.

When a trusted man takes up the cudgels to protect India’s moral framework, the state’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also joined hands with the moral cop saying that anything that doesn’t uphold the Indian culture will not be accepted. So apparently, normal condoms and even dotted or striped condoms uphold Indian culture while one with a vibrating ring doesn't!

This isn’t Chauhan’s first brush with such an issue. He had earlier this year banned sex education in state schools because of the graphics and pictorial descriptions used in the course material provided under the adolescent education programme.

Significantly, law makers such as Chauhan and Vijayvargiya exist in an India that is fighting an ever-growing population problem as well as a meteoric rise in HIV/AIDS cases. Condoms are accessories that are necessities in today’s world. MP’s moral political cops seldom realise that they are being ridiculed by their brethren from across their nation for calling a condom just a sex toy. It may be a toy, but it is also something that India needs in the present day to make its future secure, if not perfect.