As Delhi fumes over the rape and now murder of ‘India’s Daughter’, Sri Lankans may feel like we’re somehow better off. However, India has the 6 suspects under arrest. Last year, around this time, a British national was brutally killed at a resort in Tangalle and his girlfriend beaten. It wasn’t rape, but it was egregious violence, in this case against tourists, and a year later the suspects are out on bail and reinstated to the ruling political party.

Everybody likes sex, but I suppose not everyone is getting it. According to Google, Sri Lanka is number one in regional interest for search terms relating to sex. By a mile – Sri Lanka scores 100 (out of 100) and Bangladesh and India are number two and three with 87. In response, the National Child Protection Authority has taken the sensible step of asking for sex education to be taught in schools, rather than people Googling for it (or, more likely, learning from porn).

I borrowed and read the hit book 50 Shades Of Grey (actually a trilogy). 50 Shades is the fastest selling paperback of all time, beating Harry Potter. Somewhat literally. It a romance novel, but lightly about BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism). You know. whips and chains, na na na come on. I honestly don’t think the book is that bad.

I just saw this music video by Macklemore, produced by Ryan Lewis. Both the music and video are really engaging and well produced, and deep and honest and true. It’s in support of the Music For Equality campaign, as the right of gay people to marry is spreading across the US. People all over the world are still struggling for the right to be gay at all, but marriage is an integral part of preserving families and relationships. I only hope that this, one of the last civil rights struggles, reaches Sri Lanka soon.

I’m all about the gay. The struggle for homosexual rights is the civil rights struggle of our generation and it’s hopeful to see that gay people have made so many gains, especially regarding marriage. Sri Lanka, however, sadly lags way behind. In Sri Lanka it’s OK to be gay, as long as you marry a woman. Gay behavior is somewhat tolerated, even in gay politicians, but being gay, being gay as part of your identity, is more taboo.

Molesting children is a horrific crime. Is being attracted to children also criminal? For some people their attraction to children may be impossible to change, even if they never act on it. No group of people is as widely reviled as pedophiles, but crime and punishment alone may not be enough to stop the real problem – actual children being abused. To prevent that, we may have to understand and treat the pedophile.

I’m kidding with the title. I think women as barmaids and waitresses is great. It’s just that Sri Lanka/Colombo has so few of them. Except O! Bar (at Dutch Hospital) which has girls working the bar and as waitresses. Which I think is commendable. They’re not dolled up or anything, they wear the same uniform and muscle trays and drinks around like everybody else. Very good. But very different.

Wow. This is a cavalcade of retardation. Via Dinidu, this is advice from The New India Express on choosing a bride. This advice from Dr. Titus Sankaramangalam in insanely dumb, it’s like Scientology in that he uses a lot of scientific sounding words to describe a crazy and offensive thesis. For example: “Look for symmetry. An easy way to find this out is to look at her elbows to see whether they are shapely and symmetrical. Large breasts are no good unless they are of the same size and shape” (How to choose a bride? What science has to offer?).

I actually mentioned this idea at a Women And Media Collective panel and people looked horribly offended. I still think a sex strike is a great idea. It’s been used apparently since the Greek days, modernly in Liberia and Philippines and now in Togo.

Indian women are renowned as some of the most beautiful in the world, but they still haven’t appeared in Playboy. Until now. Bollywood C-lister Sherlyn Chopra (Twitter) will be the first Indian to appear nude in the softcore glad rag this November (Hollywood Reporter).