“Sometimes Driven Too”- Sexuality need

not neccessarily be Innate

Right now when I’m writing this essay there is a more positive environment encouraging not
only the discussion on female sexuality but also on the fact whether it is innate or acquired but
consider it being portrayed more than 75 years from now, and one can only imagine the
backlash a person could have experienced and her being a woman only worsened the condition.
While one can’t deny the role that Western art and literature has played to help homosexuals
gain acceptance by the society, we must acknowledge Ismat Chugtai for possessing the courage
required to present a content talking about female’s desires in those conservative times. Yet
there is a question that arises through her story, that despite homosexuality being largely
portrayed as an innate trait which is owing to the difference in chemical composition of a
straight and a homosexual person. The story is trying to represent it as a trait that the protagonist
of the story acquired through the passage of time with the shift in her surrounding environment,
affecting her directly. Thus, making it the subject of argument whether “homosexuality is a
born trait or an acquired one?” The question is tried to be tackled in this thesis through various
evidences from short story, scientific researches and psychological findings.

There are various evidences that can be given to support this stand first being the portrayal of
Nawab, he is portrayed as person who’s homosexuality is his identity that he is a born
homosexual as he is marrying in late years of his life which is clearly for social approval, also
there is no mention of him having any other wives or prostitutes in his house which was a
common practice for Nawabs in those times, he spent most of his time with young men and
was not at all interested in indulging in any sort of sexual relation with his wife. Begum Jaan
on other hand was of significantly young age and longed to be sexually satisfied by her
husband. In the story she was even shown seeking the help of superstitious practices like
reading Talisman to make nawab attracted to her, but getting nowhere through them she tried
to suffice her desires by reading sensuous novels to ignite up the missing spark, it was after her
failing in her every effort to be loved by her man and being run away with unattended sexual
desires that she turned to her masseur for physical satisfaction. She is being the most likely
option as Begum Jaan shared majority of her private time with Rabbu. The reason for calling
her sexual orientation physical and not emotional can be backend by the evidence that when
Rabbu went to visit her son, Begum Jaan’s sexual urges increased to such an extent that she
didn’t even hesitated in molesting her own niece. Thus, it is not wrong to say that these things
didn’t came to her naturally but she was rather driven to them owing to her surroundings and
situation. Linda Garnets and Anne Peplau in their work “Paradigm Shift” into female sexuality
described that women’s sexual orientation is potentially fluid, shaped by life experiences and
can change over the course of a life span. shaped by such social and cultural factors as women’s
education, social status and power, economic opportunities, and attitudes about women’s roles.
(Garnets and Anne 2002)

There still are various reasons which one can give to support the concept of homosexuality
being an absolute inborn trait, which indeed is a prevalent choice looking at the kind of
understanding being created about the topic. As the famous scientist Simon Levay claimed in
his general that hypothalamus of Gay men is slightly different from that of straight men, (Simon
1991) giving the homosexuality debate an upper edge to be a legitimate identity which is not
by choice and the person with that identity can’t do anything to change their orientation and
thus be decriminalised. I agree that someone’s choice of their sexuality definitely shouldn’t be
the topic for badging them as criminals doesn’t matter if it is something they are born with or
have chosen to be. But this research of Levay was criticized by Rebeca Jordan Young in her
book “Brain Storm” stating that his researches are unable to make it clear whether this change
in their brain structure resulted in homosexual orientation or was the result of them. (Young
2010)

The other research to back this was presented by Dr Allen Sanders in his research on gene pair
of 409 gay brothers found out that they have a specific gene marking on their x chromosome
and chromosome 8 thus making homosexuals genetically different too. (Sanders 2017)
Although he later on confirmed that these altered genes have a very little role to play, it is the
environment that is the key to make them dominant or recessive. In addition to this there still
isn’t any scientific blackening to prove the similar kind of genetic alteration in women, keeping
in mind as the protagonist of the story Lihaaf is a woman. One more evidence that can be given
is from the famous tv series “Orange is New Black” in which the protagonist of the show who
did had some lesbian encounters in the past but was a proclaimed straight by the time she got
into prison, when exposed to the homosexual environment again had a shift in her sexuality.
Similarly, in the case of Begum Jaan one can’t deny the possibility that her encounter with
Rabbu was the first time she had a homosexual urge. But again, at the same time bringing the
issue which hasn’t been presented anywhere will be quite vague.
There isn’t any question about the fact that one’s sexuality can’t be chosen, it is something that
comes to him. By what means? Well that is what we are discussing here, apart from evidences
from biologist perspective there are also a psychologist’s inputs on homosexuality Vera
Whisman in her book “Queer by Choices” proved with her studies on homosexual females that
most of them admitted that their environment and surroundings played a vital role in deciding
their sexuality. (Whisman 1996) one thing which can be drawn from above arguments is that
researches show genetics involved in decision of men’s sexuality though not absolutely, it is
the situations and life’s encounters that have a bigger share in deciding female’s sexuality. In
the story Lihaaf the reason for Begum Jaan to have a shift in her sexual orientation was
unattended sexual desires by the person she wanted to suffice them and this was not the unique
case, noted psychologist Sigmund Freud described them as “Concept of Displacement”.
Displacement according to Sigmund Freud is an unconscious defence mechanism where the
mind transfers emotions, wishes, thoughts for a new aim to stop the anxiety as the original
wishes are dangerous or unacceptable.

In 2015 the ‘Born This Way’ slogan served a progressive cause, but a more historically
informed perspective on the idea is troubling. Biological determinism has had a long career of
serving oppressive and deadly cases; to the millions who have been subject to its horrors, its
sudden emancipatory role would come as a shock. It was only a few decades ago that genetic
difference was a way to identify and exterminate. It was quite effectively portrayed in the
Academy Award winning film “Justice at Nuremberg” that how Nazi judiciary was imparting
judgements for sterilization for those who were mentally challenged. Nazi science was
committed to uncovering the genetic differences associated with perversion, be that
Jewishness, homosexuality, people of colour, the mentally ill, or others deemed ‘born that
way’.

The pure genetical link of sexuality can also be debunked by the example of skin colour,
process of making differences in skin tones and bodily features into ‘race’ is a social act.
(Helsby 2015) That act has a past – the slave trade and its consequences, colonisation, scientific
categorisation. It also has a present. As Barack Obama ascended to the US presidency, we saw
a remaking of racial possibility and understanding. When demonstrating that something we see
as natural is in fact a social construction, history and cultural difference tend to be the scholar’s
tools. When scholars say that gender is a social construction, they don’t mean that there are no
biological differences between the sexes, nor do they mean that biology has no influence on
behaviour. What they mean, in part, is that genetic impulses express their meaning through
human culture.

Thus, though there are ample of evidence to prove that homosexuality is an inborn trait there
are yet enough evidences to prove their driven nature, but the purpose of this thesis is not to
prove any of them wrong but to accept both of them. We need to come out of this medieval
way of thinking, letting those exercising the authority decide who and how we are supposed to
love, and it can only be made possible by us accepting the possibility rather than denying its
existence and for what? To prove its legitimacy in the eyes of very people we want to show
that love doesn’t comes with the boundation of genders, won’t that make us hypocritic? The
key is to make people realise that no matter what kind of sexuality they associate themselves
with, doesn’t matter if they are “Born like This” or are “Driven to it”, they are accepted, and
we stand united holding each other’s back and accepting each other with Pride.

RAVI PRAKASH SRIVASTAVA

BALLB (E)

18010304

Works Cited
1)Garnets, Linda D, and Peplau Litia Anne. 2002. "A new Paradigm For Understanding Women's
Sexuality And Sexual Orientation." Journal of Social Issues .

2)Helsby, James. 2015. "Not born this Way." Aeon.co. July 23.

3)Sanders, Allen. 2017. "Genome-Wide Association Study of Male Sexual Orientation." Scientific
Reports.

4)Simon, Levay. 1991. "A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure between Heterosexual and
Homosexual Men." Science, New Series, Vol. 253, No. 5023 pp. 1034-1037.

5)Whisman, Vera. 1996. Queer by choices. Routledge.

6)Young, Rebecca Jordan. 2010. Brain Storm. Cambridge: Harvard University press.