Guess Why a Women’s College in Kerala Withdrew Permission to Release a Book on Lesbian Love?

By Ila Ananya

Apparently a women’s college can’t host a book release when the book is about lesbian love. You must know where this story is going: after all, it seems a lesbian love story can, heaven forbid, “impact the minds of students.” Especially when they’re all women.

Sree Parvathy, a Kerala-based author and freelance journalist has accused St Teresa’s College in Kochi of going back on the permission they had initially granted her to launch her book Meenukal Chumbikkunnu (The Fishes Kiss) in their college auditorium. It is Sree Parvathy’s first novel, following her work Pranayappathi. Reportedly, the college took back their decision when news about the book’s theme began circulating, you know, to be in line with their “stance on lesbian identity”.

Meenukal Chumbikkunnu is supposed to be about two girls who fall in love and are forced to hide it. Sree Parvathy reportedly told The News Minute, “It is a college for young women and girls. I don’t understand why they have cited this reason for cancelling the permission for the venue given to us. There are so many female students in the college. There may be students who love each other deeply, and they need not necessarily be lesbian. Why do college authorities fear a story like this?”

The idea had been to release a book about women to an audience of women, because it seemed ideal for such a book. What’s probably true is that the college’s added fear comes from the fact that theirs is a women’s college. Sree Parvathy reportedly told Manorama that the college told her, “’Such books’ would influence the minds of their students and theirs is a women’s college.” But the college reportedly told The News Minute that permission had been denied because there was maintenance work being done in the auditorium.

It reminds me of a story my friend once told me about her boarding school, where there was a huge dilemma in a girl’s hostel because her warden had banned them from reading Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet, because it would “influence” the girls to “try things”. But this story had a fairly happy ending — the girls found ways to read the book anyway.