Following Gehana Vasisth’s guest’s casual admission of pressuring her husband into intercourse, a video clip from her podcast is trending on social media. The woman in the video claims that she “uses” her husband whenever she pleases, even if he doesn’t want to. Despite her humorous tone, the online response has been anything but. Many people have dubbed it out as marital rape, pointing out that the response would have been far worse if a guy had said something like that. Serious conversations about consent in marriage, particularly with regard to men, have been triggered by the video.
The fact that India has no laws protecting males from sexual abuse, even by a partner, just serves to heighten the fury. Male victims are not legally recognised by Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines rape only in terms of a man doing the offence, as was brought up during the debates. This implies that men who experience sexual abuse at the hands of others have no legal options, particularly when forced intimacy occurs within a marriage. People are now wondering what message such gendered legal gaps convey about male consent and how they impact real-life situations. The viral video has also drawn attention to the tone of Gehana Vasisth’s podcast, which frequently shares private and intimate details in a casual manner, occasionally without taking into account the wider ramifications.
