Magazine Review: Debonair - A Sad Sack Version Of Playboy and Maxim
Published June 08, 2006
There was a time when the Indian magazine Debonair was supposed to be a subdued version of Playboy. It had racy pictures (babes always had their scanty clothes on with lewd poses on various bits and pieces of furniture) and the articles were quite salacious.
But when I picked up the magazine opposite Koshy’s, at the magazine-wala who is considered to be one of the hallmarks of Bangalore, he had a different story to tell. The magazine had nearly been banned a few years back, he told me, and Playboy had yet not been able to make an entry into the Indian market.
He took pains to tell me that there was really no freedom of speech or expression in India. He was upset about a lot of things - the banning of The Da Vinci Code in certain states of India, the attacks against Hussein for his paintings and certain magazines becoming more and more like porn, and yet others, which would get more readership, not being allowed into the Indian markets.
I stood under the canopy of his stall and listened to his words and the pitter-patter of the torrential Bangalore rain. It all seemed too alien to me at that point. India, despite her call centers and big flashy malls, still had a long way to go.
The magazine-stand guy and I were on the same page. It isn't porn that we are in favor of but the concept of freedom of speech and expression being curbed under the guise of morality. Until the time the stuff is being viewed by adults and does not deal with pedophilia or snuff, I fail to see how it is anyone else's business.
As it is, the Bollywood suggestion of sex in the movies is far more vulgar than the act itself. The magazine stall guy continued his rant about freedom of expression not existing in India but my interest in his rant began to wane. I began to leaf through the current Debonair and nearly fainted with what I found there - advice about how to deal with one's in-laws.
All of sudden, I felt I was reading Women's Era and not a racy magazine. The article talked about loving and respecting one's in-laws as they were the husband's parents and that they had brought him into this world. It further went on to state that the hallmark of a strong marriage was mutual trust and respect and attraction in a marriage could be maintained when the foundation was built on love and respect.
- Magazine Review: Debonair - A Sad Sack Version Of Playboy and Maxim
- Published: June 08, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Magazines, Culture: Society
- Writer: Deepti Lamba
- Deepti Lamba's BC Writer page
- Deepti Lamba's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Ruvy, I'm suffering from bit of a reverse culture shock. Some things have become better and others remain chaotic.
My own reaction to the glaring gap between the rich and the poor took me by surprise as I am, afterall, an Indian and was used to the chasms in our society but this time round the teeming masses, the noise, the constant activities, color and the massive traffic jams jarred my senses.
Relocation is never easy but I'm sure it will be a matter of time before I will become part of the masses:)
Deepti,
The one thing about America that I really miss - aside from Oreos and M&M's being cheap - is the reliability of the society created there. Things happen on time and in order. There is no such orderliness in this country, and I suspect the same is true in your homeland.
Could it be this that has you so jarred?
Best,
Deepti,
Your article is interesting and bold. But to my surprise I was completely unaware of the fact quoted by you in this article.
Do you have the technical explaination as to why "doggie-style penetration after vaginal penetration is a no-no for health reasons".
I hope your answer will help others too..
deepti,
my applauds for a well written article.but i just wish you'd kept men's desires in mind before penning it down. the example quoted by you indicates some ignorance on your part when it comes to sex.
doggie-style penetration, by all means is vaginal-pentration only.its only that the position differs.refer kamasutra for more.hence that was a seductive way given over there.
anyways...overall nice views.my admiration for the same.
I wonder, why the freedom of speech occur to the world, when it came to the girl naked. Nakedness of girls, in accordance with historical facts, just like femenism is because of the men's own interests, hence giving it the name freedom.
What freedom would be there in the society, if they torch bearers of freedom of speech would be giving us the nude pics, but put us in jail when someone would try to rape their sisters.
Or when someone would like to have a relationship with their own daughters. WHy would not the world have thought of the idea like this kind of freedom before 1850s. While they can think of socialism and democracy and making men busy in industry or cultivation since more than 1000 BC.
This is just an excuse of men's madened sickness to keep their eyes cool. Do let me know if you have found Hef Hughner's daughter posing for play boy. NEVER, you see. Thats why these freedom bearers are hippocrites.
For the puer rule of thumb, any mind that can think can easily draw conclusion that
"The more freedom of self expression the more anarchy it will create".
Hence we have a concept of LAW.
The more strictness of law there is, the more civilized we would be.
Now dont you givge me example of America, they might have been industrialists, Capitalists, but also they are murderous barbarians. And it can be seem throught the American History, strating from the War against Native Americans, to Hiroshima to Russia to Afghanistan, and finally Iraq. And now they are looking towards Iran. WHat more examples would you be needing for freedom of expression changing into a Mass destruction.
This and other such things are bullshit, THe thing of need is to realize the importance of Law. Read Kant's theory and try to look into yourselves. Rather than thinking about other women nude, you should be looking for covering and protecting others.
Freedom of speech and expression, is nothing but a delusion. How many women dop you think would be proud of their nakedness, if they were not given a million dollars for posing nude.
Its all just a crap. No weightage, historically and by nature, we humans are here to invent, to rule, to live among animals to prove that we are different from them. Not to pose nude and prove that that girl's ass is perfect and to fantacize and corrupt our Mind with such garbage.
Think.
it appears your knowledge on sex is quite dim... doggie-style sex doesn't necessarily mean anal penetration. In fact usually it doesn't. The article in debonair was therefore correct.
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Great article, SP.
Hope you feel comfortable back home... Do I sense hints of criticism under the pleasure?
Israeli magazines have flashy models and the like, but Jewish society, no matter how much you try to jazz it up with the outsider's bullshit, is still Jewish society. The same may be true in India.
We used to have one bang up intelligence service. Nothing could beat the Shin Bet. Period. Now, they're a bunch of clowns. You guys came out with that fantastic sex manual centuries ago, if not millennia ago. But things may have changed... Something to for you to ponder.