Mangalore: A National seminar on the “Reconstitution of Sexuality in Media and Popular Culture”was held on 7 and 8 February, 2014 at Eric Mathias Hall, St. Aloysius College,Mangalore.

The inaugural ceremony took place on 7 February, 2014 at 9:30 a.m. The Chief Guest at the event was Dr. GeralynPinto, Professor at St. Agnes College. The other dignitaries present included the Principal Rev. Fr. SwebertD’Silva SJ, Dr. RatanMohunta, the Convenor Dr. AlwynD’Sa, Dean of the Arts Faculty and Dr. Sylvia Rego, the Organizing Secretary for the seminar.

The valedictory function will be held tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. The seminar included talks by Dr. Geralyn Pinto, Dr. Padmarani and Dr. Poornananda. Papers by different delegates were also presented on the subject. The Chief Guest raised questions regarding the ‘hierarchy’ of same-sex acts and the recommended practice of pederasty among the Greco-Roman civilisation.

The Key note address was delivered by Dr. K.S. Vaishali, P.G. Dept. of English, Bangalore University. Speaking on the history of sexuality and the state of the alternate sexuality she said “We cannot cope with complexity, so we homogenise” While earlier sexuality charted the course of sexual deviant or perverse models through clinical studies or sexology, it was charted through the anthropological tendencies in the recent past.

She also spoke at length of the danger of ‘epistemic violence’, or knowledge that defines the very way we think of issues, especially when it came to sexuality,
Dr Padmarani spoke on the portrayal of women in soap operas. She said “Soap operas have been delivering messages of empowerment by portraying the traditional, conservatively dressed woman battling against injustices” Going into the history of the soap opera, she highlighted the various issues that ‘prime time soap operas’ touched upon.

A panel discussion consisting of presentation by the students and lecturers was moderated by Dr. Vaishali, followed by a lively discussion on the various aspects of sexuality in the media and popular culture, with questions from the audience.

The valedictory will be held on Saturday at 2.30 pm in Eric Mathias Hall. Dr A Lourdusamy, Chairman of PG Studies, St. Aloysius College, will be the chief guest at the programme.