ABSTRACT
This chapter traces what we mean by sexuality and the contradictory ways in which sexuality is perceived and understood in South Asian communities. It also highlights gender relations within the 'South Asian community' by examining the role of patriarchal structures that seek to minimize transgression from the moral order and inhibit the expression of alternative sexualities such as lesbianism. In the last decade developments concerning the celebration of South Asian women's sexuality, has included Meera Syal and other South Asian actors featuring in the production of The Vagina Monologues in Britain. The Bangladeshi community, in its attempt to regain control over women's sexuality under the guise of racism, threatened to hold protests against filming an adaptation of the novel in London's East End in 2006 such is the fury of patriarchy when it is challenged. South Asian women's involvement on issues of sexuality and sexual violence represents a movement towards social change.
