Gandhi, the pacifist, the oppressor, and the pervert

Damn, it should be required to give us the full facts about influential figures! In the London Review of Books October 8 2026 from Raghu Karnad his article titled mother father he mentions the “weird sexual stuff” Gandhi was involved in. That is all I read and I had questions. I knew Gandhi wasn’t the best husband and I knew his wife wasn’t the best wife. I knew Gandhi was quite rigid and his thinking at times and could be just as oppressive as others If not more so in many ways. I also completely value, admire, and have been inspired by his views of pacifism Or nonviolence. After reading about how oppressive Gandhi could be to others, it did somewhat Sully the vision I had of his nonviolent stances, but it still helped me understand how flawed people are and how they can still come up with some wonderful ideas. But this one threw me a bit off too.

I had to look up what Gandhi’s strange sexual stuff was about, and I didn’t know that he was celibate and use that as his spiritual practice as a way to conquer I guess his biological Drive and as a way to discipline himself, but I did not know how extreme he took this view and how his extreme views on it could be very detrimental to others. He actually slept with young women and his grand niece, naked! He was open about doing this and defended his practice about doing this, but damn couldn’t he read the room or couldn’t he understand the impact this could have on these young women and especially his grand niece. They might come out and say that it was actually beneficial to them, but the impact this could have on their psychological well-being would be further than understood. I have met many people who identify with the aggressor, I’ve also met people who have been molested by family members and thought it was a gift! It is better to leave these sexual perversions to himself then to grace others with this Traumatic burden. If he really wanted to master his sexual desires, he should not involve others in those practices. He really has no idea the impact they can have.

Damn Gandhi! I wish you could’ve thought about this more compassionately. I suppose there’s many things I wish you could’ve been more compassionate about. I also wished more of us practiced nonviolence. I wish Putin and Trump could learn a thing or two about this.