Coen’s defense of this article was disappointing, but not unexpected. I’ve greatly reduced my clicks on Jez lately, out of frustration for the racist, sexist garbage they’ve been posting lately (very often about India, but the Middle East gets this treatment, too). The only thing they care about is clicks and, as an…

Smiling children. Don’t forget the smiling children.

And Bollywood & generic curry. Because that’s ALL we are about.

Ms. Coen — Honestly, I found this essay to be highly problematic on several levels. The author’s viewpoint is culturally-condescending to the point of being vulgar and offensive. The piece should be required reading on any “Orientalism 101” syllabus. Other commenters here have articulated their concerns and criticisms…

Thank you so much for this comment. As a young Indian woman, I found this extremely patronising as well.

Agreed. Indian too, and I am not interested in defending any of the patriarchal mores this woman so gleefully demonizes. She sounds petulant, ill-adjusted and just plain annoying.

i knew that if i came back later,i’d see a comment like yours. thank the lord. girl,you know men of color’s sexism is different than white men’s,right? america is such a bastion of equality yet only 3 percent of rape survivors get any kind of justice and on and on and on.

He fit the bill for an exciting foreign romance: tall, dark, and handsome

Listen guys, this is ridiculous. Deleting comments that point out how tone deaf and culturally offensive this article is really not helping the whole “We’re not a white feminists’ thing you all are trying to buckle down on all the time. People are giving you valuable feedback: that this article is condescending and…

Thank-you, this really rubbed me the wrong way. It felt icky. I wasn’t proud of her, I wasn’t happy for her. I don’t even know what else to say about it.

I found it to be condescending as well. It was a little too “Eat, Pray, Love” for me.

It’s a typical narrative of wealthy white women who reduce India to a series of experiences. Same song, different tune, I’ve heard it all before. The people she encounters aren’t really people with their own hopes, dreams, and lives, they’re magical shamans on the path to her enlightenment. There are versions of the…

The story itself is about her experience with this brown dude in a foreign land. She was a Cali co-ed. The story is still the same typical story as she presented it. Doesn’t matter if she’s black, white or Asian. The trope of his culture’s stifling otherness against the shock of her feminist awakening is the same old…

My wife is Indian. She would definitely comment on an erect donkey penis.

And what bothers me just as much as his overt gender-based disrespect is the subtler disrespect of this kind of romantic tourism. A travel affair that’s never meant to mean anything more than “surprises and adventures” is fine if both parties go into it with their eyes open, but he was bringing her home to be with his…

No, not only must you complain about his orthodoxy, you should say things like: “ I had never felt consciously confronted by sexism! It was strange to discover the reality of patriarchy on the other side of the world.” and “I genuinely wanted to respect his bible belt culture, but this was too much. I’d also been…