Cyber Sexy: Rethinking Pornography

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Review ------ 'Cyber Sexy is the book India's women need right now. The government's official stance is that "lady-oriented" stories and "women's fantasies" have a corrupting influence on Indian audiences, while the male gaze continues to pervade everything from music videos to ads to billboards. This book and the stories within it act as an equalizing force. Richa's depth of research about the history of porn in India, interwoven with the interviews and real stories she's gathered from around the country, all come together to build a remarkable and deeply necessary argument: Indian women are sexy, kinky, adventurous, curious and, thanks to the internet, not waiting for your permission to start exploring their sexiness. I considered myself open-minded and progressive, and still found myself further liberated by the time I was done reading Cyber Sexy. This book blows the lid off the mass-scale lie that Indian women are shy, demure and sexually inhibited. It will give each of its readers permission to lead a freer life. I hope every woman in India reads this book' (Rega Jha, editor-in-chief, BuzzFeed India) In an original voice truly her own, Richa Kaul Padte echoes the storytelling fluidity of Judy Blume and Gloria Steinem. Cyber Sexy is highly intelligent and a great read. With obscenity laws and morality keepers at one end of the porn wars, and some feminisms at the other, this is the provocative book you didn't know you needed (Karuna Nundy, advocate, Supreme Court of India) 'Provocative and sharp. This book is going to make a great conversation starter. Or ender' (Rohan Joshi, comedian and writer) 'Voices as uncompromising in their progressive and often provocative assertions around taboos are rare enough as it is, that Richa Kaul Padte has deployed hers in Cyber Sexy in a way that is also generous and nuanced is both a breath of fresh air and a fresh pair of eyes through which to reconsider our own foregone conclusions on the topics of sex, identity, gender, pleasure and consent in a culture still wrestling with identity and its potential legacy for the 21st century. Precise and unflinching without sacrificing the humour and conversational tone that make these otherwise difficult topics unapproachable, Richa has created an essential text on the particular crossroads at which her country stands in this cultural conversation and has done her readers the tremendous service of making them fully engaged with that moment and thus empowered to join that conversation themselves' (Alana Massey, author, All the Lives I Want: Essays about My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers) About the Author ---------------- Richa Kaul Padte grew up in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, and became a person in Brighton, England. She is co-founder of the award-winning publication Deep Dives, and her writing has appeared in several places, including BuzzFeed, Vice, GQ, Racked, the Caravan, India Today, Open and Rolling Stone. Cyber Sexy is her first book.