Actor Abhay Deol says he refuses the “Western way” of identifying sexuality and believes in operating without any labels, which primarily exists for the comfort of others to “neatly slot” an individual. Abhay Deol was asked how he perceives sexuality, to which he replied “as a spectrum.” Abhay said he refuses the Western way of identifying sexuality because “it’s so black and white.”
“The Eastern approach is so different; it recognises the whole of us. I don’t define my sexuality, and this might sound controversial but for me it’s not something that I think can be defined. I think it’s more for the other person’s comfort, so that they can put you in a box, neatly slot you. Why should I define myself in Western terms? I have embraced all experiences in my life and I continue to do so. I don’t know how to label that, I don’t want to label that. All of us have a masculine and feminine within us, so in my opinion we are all they/them,” he said in an interview with Dirty Magazine.
For Abhay, star of films such as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dev D and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, masculinity is the “ability to make people feel safe and included.” The actor said as a man, he does feel like a “protector and provider”, which he points out could either be an individual experience or “conditioning”.
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“But there is a sense of taking charge and leading. Having said that I would happily give it up to a woman too if she wanted to take charge and lead, that’s also part of my masculinity.”
When noted that his views do not make him a “toxic” man, Abhay added, “It’s very easy to be provocative through violence and sex, it’s much harder to be provocative through silence. How the f**k do I provoke you by not saying anything? That’s what interests me.”
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