There is a shadow on the innocent bikini. Gently sunlit beaches, an alluring mix of peace and luxury, frolics in the sea, that holiday to remember — all that the bikini evokes has been transformed by a sudden awakening in Goa’s tourism department. Advertisements for tourism in Goa are no longer to carry images of bikini-clad women; the department will censor such advertisements. The move is meant to emphasize that Goa is not a spot for sex tourism but for family holidays. The Goa government seems to be suffering from an ailment that afflicts most of male and female India: the conviction that women’s bodies and sex are somehow indistinguishable. Therefore, if Goa is becoming famous for rapes and molestations — as it had earlier gained a name for child prostitution and paedophilia — the bikini is the culprit. Funny logic: it is mostly men who do these things. But wipe out the bikini from advertisements, and only families with little children and grandparents in tow will come to visit Goa.

The silliness of the Goa government’s decision has various fascinating levels. First and foremost, it is another manifestation of the reaction typical of most Indian institutions — if a situation cannot be controlled then ban anything that can be made to look guilty. Women’s apparel, whether they reveal or cover “too much”, are always a good target in such situations. But how a tour operator chooses to conduct his business, and what effect the image of bikini-clad women has on holiday-makers, cannot be the government’s business; it cannot censor what it likes just because it is the government. All censorship arrogantly reduces the consumer to a cretin who does not know what is good for him and so cannot be allowed his adult freedom. Additionally, in this case, the tourism department in Goa cannot suddenly pretend that a significant part of its revenue does not come from visitors who enjoy the freedoms that the place offers, even some freedoms that are not quite licit. Contrasting these with a Victorian notion of the “family” and suggesting that anything outside it leans towards sexual revelry is an unusual form of sublime stupidity.

But most important, the access of concern for the pure-as-driven-snow image, to be achieved by erasing bikinis from advertisements, exposes the government’s inability, or unwillingness, to tackle the real problem, that of corruption and lax law-keeping, and of the complicity of politicians and the rich with criminals and criminal activity. If people think that Goa is a good place for sex tourism, the fault is not the bikini in the advertisement — the bikini is beachwear, not lingerie — but the ease with which certain illegal activities can be carried on in Goa. The government would be better engaged in thinking out plans to scotch those, and not run about looking at pictures of women and censoring them.