Dr Mahinder Watsa, Mumbai sexpert who addressed sexual misinformation with humour, passes away aged 96

Sexpert Dr Mahinder Watsa, who regularly wrote about sexual health, has passed away at age 96, reported Mumbai Mirror. A Mirror columnist, he educated readers about sex through his column Ask the Sexpert. “Dad was a man of many dimensions. He lived a glorious life and on his terms. Today, we would like to celebrate his life as he has passed on to join his beloved [wife] Promila,” said his children in an official statement. He wrote and educated about sexual agency and pleasure, foreplay and orgasms, “quietly infusing a part of the country with progressive feminist thoughts,” as the documentary about his life, Ask the Sexpert, makes clear. “By taking the spotlight away from penetrative sex, Dr Watsa encourages couples to discover other fun things and to come closer to finding acts that really bring women pleasure.” Dr Watsa started as a columnist in the 1960s, writing medical advice and health columns in women’s magazines. He’d once remarked that through his work, he’s learnt about the lack of sex education in India. In 1974, when working as a consultant for the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI), he proposed that a sexual counselling and education program be introduced. Despite opposition, this proposition was accepted and the FPAI started India’s first sex education, counselling, and therapy centre. Since the early 1980s, he’d been working full-time in counselling and education.