KamaSutra and the War Between the SexesThe film KamaSutra is a story of love and passion. It is set in ancient India and tells the story of Tara, a princess, and Maya, her servant. Maya was always in Tara's shadow. All she used were the princess's leftovers. Maya always had to move in Tara's shadow. Although she was prettier and more accomplished in the arts, Maya could never be considered Tara's equal. To take revenge, Maya seduces Tara's husband, king of a neighboring province. For Maya, this is just an act of revenge, because now Tara will have to spend the rest of her life with what Maya had used. On Tara's wedding night, Maya offers herself to Tara's husband. After Maya seduces Tara's husband, she finally finds herself. Instead of seeing herself as Tara's shadow, she now sees herself as the queen's equal, because now Tara will have to spend the rest of her life with something that Maya used. Tara is repeatedly rejected by her husband. His shyness and inhibited sexuality annoy Rajsingh. On their wedding night, he leaves her to go to one of her courtesans. Afterward, Tara is always depicted as crying or watching her husband leave with another woman. She is a bitter, jealous and ugly woman until Maya teaches her the art of love. When her husband, Rajsingh sees her now, he desires her. It is after she sees herself as a sexual person that she can find herself. The queen appears as a strong woman, and no longer as a crying lost soul. When Rajsingh begins to falter after being rejected by Maya, Tara takes control of the state and the king. It is through sexual relations that the relationship between man and woman is represented. It is the tool of love, power, destruction and identity. Through sexuality...... middle of paper ......n emphasis on the emotional aspect of the child. These differences set the stage for unhappy interactions between adults. The divorce rate in most Western countries is alarming. In Eastern countries, they are clearly increasing. Both sexes are taught so well to be different from each other that when it is time for them to live together, they cannot. Perhaps the only solution is to go back and unlearn exactly what constitutes femininity and masculinity. So that future children will grow up to meet our expectations of what is human rather than what is feminine or masculine. Work Cited Horney, Karen. “Distrust between the sexes”. A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for Academic Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 337-351. KamaSutra. Real. Mira Nair.Earl Jackson Jr, Strategies of deviance. Indiana University Press 1995