Love in a Different Climate : Men Who Have Sex with Men in India

by Jeremy Seabrook

In this carefully researched and finely written work, Jeremy Seabrook deals with subjects rarely discussed in Western narratives about South Asia. Going beyond a straightforward contextualisation of the gatoei (lady-boys) in Thailand and the hijara (eunuchs) of India, he unravels the less familiar and more complex territory of homosexual and homoerotic encounters in general, and asks how valid Western models of sexual identity are in the South Asian context, and how effective they might be in dealing with global issues of sexual health, HIV awareness and gender politics.

Much of the book is based on interviews which reveal the extent of the complexity at wives who traditionally vacate the marital bed to accommodate their husbands’ friends; kotis —”passive” male sex partners of men—many of whom will be married but see their relations with the kotis as fulfilling their destinies as males; the fundamentalist politicians who curse the Western influence of “gay liberation” and continue to justify the punishment of life imprisonment for homosexuality; and the activist groups who are working towards a clearer and more helpful understanding of contemporary issues.

The first work of its kind on India, Love in a Different Climate reveals how a traditional shrouding in mystery of sexual difference is slowly but surely giving way to a more open and essentially local celebration of that difference.

Genres: India, Gender

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

Jeremy R. Seabrook was an English author and journalist who specialised in social, environmental and development issues. His book The Refuge and the Fortress: Britain and the Flight from Tyranny was longlisted for the Orwell Prize.

Reviews

[Rakesh]

The concept of being gay, as it is understood in Europe and America, is inadequate when it comes to understanding sex between men in India. A British man talks to men who have sex with other men in Delhi. He is not looking to do any sort of scientific study. He is just interested in learning from these men how sex with other men fits into their view of life, family, and society.

I found it interesting how willing the participants were to discuss in detail with the author their sexual activities. The author says that his age helped. Many men told him they cannot discuss matters of sex with their fathers. They saw the author as a sympathetic substitute father.

The variety of explanations by the men in the book on why they have sex with other men is interesting and worth reading.

[Priya]

This book provides educational and emotionally-gripping insight into the culture of male homosexual behavior in India. The writer shares the stories of many of the men he met in India who spoke to him about their homosexual encounters and how their same-sex desires impacted their lives. This is a very useful book for those who are from the West and have interest in the experiences of LGBT people in other countries, and how those experiences differ greatly from Western experiences.
I appreciated the strong anti-colonialist slant of the book. I am a bit wary of books that are written by white people regarding non-white cultures, but this one did a decent job. Seabrook lets the men he interviewed do a lot of his talking for him, which certainly helps.
I found this book very emotionally touching. Some parts were difficult for me to get through because of discussions of pedophilia and sexual assault. Still, it was an excellent book and I learned a lot.