Gender and Nationalism An Overview of Joseph S. Alter’s Celibacy, Sexuality and the Transformation of Gender into Nationalism in North India
Joseph S. Alter, visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburg, examines in his work Celibacy, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Gender into Nationalism in North India - the use of Hindu concept of Brahmacharya (celibacy) in contemporary India. He relates the concept of Brahmacharya with gender and nationalism in North India. Celibacy can best be practiced as a form of political action targeting against the post-colonial idea of “freedom”, i.e. Westernization. The article focuses on biological as well as spiritual nature of semen and how semen is innately male which makes the concept of celibacy and nationalism a gendered phenomenon. The very first part of the article is- Celibacy, Semen, and the Science of Sex. In a nutshell, this section talks about how semen conservation is essential and provides with various works of people who believe in spillage of semen as a sin. Because the youth of today are destroying their semen they ...