Belly Dance & Cultural Taboos

Belly dance is a social dance that heals body, souls and minds. War torn Sri Lanka needs a social comfort & economic development. After defeat of terrorism of 30 years Sri Lanka is facing challenges of stengthning ethnic harmony, eradication of discrimination (on gender, class, sexuality, power), corruption and taboos. Dark clouds and stormy days have passed-by, the silver lining yet to come above Sri Lanka. Since Mahinda Rajapakse came to power, Sri Lanka is heading right direction victoriously with minor short comings which exaggerated by west, especially last two months on war, UNHRC, world politics, economy, lives of Sri Lankans. We should not forget the areas we can improve on human rights concerns, human rights, discrimination on ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, abuses, intimidations etc.

Sri Lanka needs re-organization of civil administration system with zero tolerance to corruption and strengthening of legal system. There should not be any room for double standards, hypocrisies, taboos, and politicization. A true freedom to all people in all aspects including freedom of speech and discrimination free society (beliefs, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, sexual identity).

Sri Lanka needs a change in traditional thinking. Globalization is standing at the door step of Sri Lanka, discussions and debates on socio-cultural issues necessary than ever to stimulate peace & development of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka needs development of infrastructures, cities, re-organization of inefficient civil institutes that have negative impact on development. Roads, transport, communication, and digital communitation, computer literacy which can contribute rocket speed development are needed to be modernized with help from Asian giants like Russia, China, Japan and India if necessary. Dealing with India and Europe must be cautious. We should not be disconnected from west Europe but be vigilant and absorb them.

Sri Lanka legal system has to be broad minded, ensuring cultural harmony, respecting different political and religion views. The age of consent in Sri Lanka is 18 year or above, but a man and woman above 18yrs cant check-in to a hotel room unless they have a marriage certificate. A boy and a girl above 18 cant have sex before marriage and individual's feelings controlled by government. Some release sexual tensions in either public transport or in an abandoned street or a temple as a result of sexual oppression. Youths have to explore sex secretly. If they found staying in hotels, they will be arrested and treated as criminals. A survey conducted by the Health Ministry placed the average age of sexual debut for males at 15.3 for males and for females at 14.4 (in Sri Lanka) while France have an average age of 17.5 and 17.2 for men and women respectively. Better results could be achieved by proper sex education. One can argue our culture doesnt permit sexual acts, but youths curiosity have enormous threatened the society.

Our needs have changed along with civilization, digitalization and time has come to have discussions and debates on current issues such as taboos, social issues and human rights with all concerned parties in a constructive way. Sri Lanka and its people cannot be isolated from rest of the world with regard to life styles, democracy and development. Sri Lanka should be a model of democracy and freedom, the cream of buddhism.

Ayurvedic health centres can be promoted and should be used to heal and rejuvenate people which are often raided by police. Why should we think adult entertainment should be banned? Why not having that at least for people who have imbalanced hormones so rest can live in harmony (rather than oppresed by religion). I am not suggesting an immitaion of west but when you see life-styles of people, they are oppressed from taboos. Massage parlours, casinos, Karaoke bars are money springs for corrupted police officers. The entertainment industry have stood still for the last 30 years.

Government must implement a national health monitoring system to ensure prevention of spread of sexually transmitted diseases, unexpected pregnancy for risk groups and bring them under control not by corrupted police officers who raid hotels and other places but by medical officers and health clinics implemented island wide. There must be sexual awareness programmes through media and schools, so people can be prevented from falling to danger.

People are sent to jail often just because smoking a cigarette or visiting a club. But serial murderers and criminals are free on the streets. They are arrested (some cases have evidences) but are bailled out and continue threatening society. Those are the things that have to be tackeled; making sure cities are safe, vilages are safe, streets are safe, homes are safe for people. We need crime free society in Sri Lanka. We have battered for 30 years from war. Now time for people to enjoy life, while education and development continue. Smoking is banned in public but no smoking zones provided in public areas, deliberate violation of rights of smokers.

Tourism industry can contribute rapid development of Sri Lanka enormously than any other industry. Tourism in Sri Lanka must be given as a priority, and need huge investments for development of accessess to main cities and meet the expectations of tourists who come to Sri Lanka. Most come for sun, beach and cultural interests. Our beaches should be clean, free of criminal beach boys and disturbing vendors, possibly provided with identities. Safety of tourists and Sri Lankans has to be strengthened by police. Police should be tourist friendly. More tourist attractions, entertainment, such as nude beaches (a trend for nature loving people should not be mistaken with sexbeaches), theme parks, shopping malls, cultural events, site scenes, tours, travel agents, national and internal cuisines, clean entertaining clubs & pubs, spas with traditional and international standards should be available. So, more tourists will be attracted. Culture should not be collided with tourism but should give an added value to tourism.

Entertainments such as Belly dancing consider as an adult entertainment in Sri Lanka, but it is socializing event in middle-eastern cultures and western cultures. Costume of Belly dance make it a seductive or social dance performed either by women or men which is characterized by hip swaying and contracting of the stomach muscles. People are forced to look away the beauty of the world. A beauty for one peson can be disgusting for another. But what we need to realize is life has lot to offer, explore and enjoy rather than doing samething from one generation to another. We need a change, a change just like Mahinda Rajapakse and Barack Obama have already shown.