Around 4000 BC, in the pre-Harappan period, the Assyrian story of Etana — a king aided by an eagle and cursed by a serpent — features a goddess of fertility. It survives in cuneiform tablets from the Library of Ashurbanipal, now held in Britain. In the tale, the goddess grants Etana a potion so he can father a son — a myth often cited as marking a symbolic shift from matriarchal to patriarchal social structures.
By around 1500 BC, Vedic mythology carries echoes of similar themes. Hindus worship the Shiva Linga — the union of Yoni (representing Parvati) and Lingam (representing Shiva) — rooted in a story where sages, testing their devotion, encounter Shiva disguised as a wandering ascetic. When their wives are drawn to him, the sages curse him, and only Parvati's intervention in the form of the Yoni restores balance. The symbolism represents the union of masculine and feminine cosmic energy as the source of life.
The Lingam alone, without the Yoni, was worshipped as a standalone stone idol until around 1000 AD (the Gupta period); one such artifact is preserved in the Bharatpur Government Museum, Rajasthan.
Similar fertility worship traditions appear across cultures: the Kanamara and Hōnen festivals in Japan (Shinto phallic worship), erotic murals in Pompeii, Tantric worship at the Kamakhya Temple in Assam, the Shigmotsav festival in Goa, the Kukeri/Survakari-style fertility rites in Bulgaria, the Min festival at Akhmim in Egypt, Palo de Mayo in Nicaragua, the San Pellegrino festival in Italy, the Dionysian festivals of Greece (6th century BC), and initiation rites like the Chitundu ceremony in Zambia.
A 2025 discovery in a submerged Mexican cave — a natural rock formation resembling a phallus, adorned with a carved ring and surrounded by ritual offerings, dated to around 700 AD — is cited as further evidence of how widely fertility held religious significance across ancient cultures.
Literature such as the Kamasutra and Gaha Sattasai — celebrating love and desire — sits in tension with the Vedic ideal of restraint, which held that sexual union should serve procreation. The Garbhadhana Samskara, a Hindu ritual for conception, includes the Rigvedic invocation "prajāṁ ca dhattaṁ draviṇaṁ ca dhattam" — "grant us progeny and prosperity."
Modern couples increasingly separate sex from reproduction, aided by contraception — a shift some see as eroding the symbolic centrality of the Shiva-Parvati union in everyday life.
Freezing Eggs, Sperm, Embryos — and Surrogacy
Egg and sperm freezing is worth wider promotion among young professionals — doctors, lawyers, civil servants, academics — who delay marriage for career reasons. Subsidized freezing programs could help prevent involuntary childlessness later in life, and early screening during the freezing process can also catch fertility problems sooner.
In Israel, despite opposition from some Orthodox rabbis, the Knesset has permitted posthumous fatherhood using the preserved sperm of deceased soldiers. As of August 2024, roughly 174 such procedures had reportedly been carried out during the Israel-Gaza conflict, funded by the government; the practice has existed for over a decade, and children born through it are now in their early teens.
Type 2 diabetes, poor diet, obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and high blood pressure in one's thirties are all linked to fertility decline. Assisted reproduction is broadly accepted, in various forms, across Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism (Sallam & Sallam, Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn, 2016).
Surrogate mothers in India have reportedly lacked full legal protections regarding parental rights since regulatory changes in 2019. Advocates argue that surrogate mothers deserve stronger health and financial protections, and note that religion or caste is often set aside pragmatically in these arrangements.
Contraception
Contraception faced resistance when introduced in India in the mid-20th century. The Emergency period (1975) is credited with expanding awareness of family planning to roughly 10 million people, though coercive methods used at the time remain controversial. Many younger couples today use contraception without adequate guidance.
Female condoms remain far less promoted than male methods — a gap some attribute to lingering patriarchal norms — leaving some women more vulnerable within relationships involving abuse, addiction, or instability.
The Impact of Pornography
Erotic art has long had a place in Indian tradition — the carvings at Konark and Khajuraho, and Tantric philosophy, reflect an acceptance of sexuality as part of a nonviolent, creative cosmic energy.
Research suggests men are more visually stimulated by sexual imagery than women, both physically and psychologically (Psychology Today, Leon F. Seltzer). Historically, various cultures restricted how women's bodies could be seen in public — through the veil, hijab, burqa, ghoonghat, abaya, and similar practices (though the 10th-century scholar Al-Masudi noted the ghoonghat was not universal even among Rashtrakuta-era women).
Critics argue mainstream pornography is produced primarily for male gratification and often centers male fantasy, at times normalizing aggression toward women. Some point to unrealistic expectations it can create — around stamina, arousal cues, and appearance — that don't reflect typical female sexuality, which research suggests is often more responsive to emotional connection, touch, and reassurance than to visual stimuli alone.
Evolutionary biologist Thomas Junker has argued that differences in pornography consumption between men and women may have biological as well as social roots. Meanwhile, psychologist Sean McNabney (Valparaiso University) found that among women who do watch pornography, frequent viewers reported less difficulty with arousal and orgasm. Surveys also show meaningful female viewership — about a third of 18–24-year-old viewers are women — and a 2020 DW report found 60% of women surveyed felt porn had positively affected their sex lives.
Performers face real occupational hazards: heavy reliance on erectile medication, in some cases surgical implants, high rates of substance use, and reportedly short career spans (often cited around two years) due to the physical toll. Cosmetic practices in the industry — skin treatments, genital bleaching — are often driven by unrealistic beauty standards rather than natural variation, since darker genital pigmentation is normal across all ethnicities.
Suggested response: comprehensive sex education that addresses pornography's influence honestly, transparency about its psychological and social effects, and stronger reproductive health education for teens — particularly given the documented links between exposure to violent content and cases of gender-based violence.
Cosmetic Genital Surgery
Cosmetic genital procedures are becoming more common among urban Indian women, sometimes under pressure from partners to conform to particular aesthetic ideals — a trend critics compare to older forms of control over women's bodies. India now has a growing number of practitioners in this field, including proposed training programs at institutions like AIIMS Rishikesh (as of 2020).
Historically, Catherine de' Medici's ten-year childless marriage to King Henry II of France was reportedly attributed to a physical anomaly, addressed through a specific intercourse position recommended by royal physicians — an early example of applied anatomical knowledge in fertility treatment.
Infertility
Infertility is rising, especially in urban areas, with significant social costs — particularly for women, who often face stigma, relationship strain, and mental health impacts as a result.
Contributing factors include workplace stress and declining libido. Japan has seen a marked rise in sexual inactivity among younger adults; Italy recorded unusually low birth rates in early 2024. In India, later marriage age, delayed conception, disrupted sleep patterns, alcohol use, poor diet, and substance use are all cited as contributors — affecting an estimated 30% of working couples.
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