Shhh! ‘Sex’ is a forbidden word in Indian society much like the name Voldemort is in Harry Potter. You are not even allowed to read it in your mind, because it will implode your Indian morals and values. It’s an interesting fact that even though we don’t have sex here, we are competing with a population of 1.3 billion people. It’s all by God’s grace: after our psychological drama called ‘marriage’, we pray to God and God puts a baby in the tummy. Hooray! That’s how we have a baby, but if it’s a girl child, we realise that God is not happy with us, and think that he has cursed us with a baby girl and eventually we kill her. Tada! We don’t talk sex here, even though we live in a country which is world famous for the Kamasutra. Sex is against our morals. This is the great Indian society we are part of.
In India, 62 out of every 1,000 pregnant women are a teenage girls: this figure is double that of the U.S.A (although they are “westernized people”). Fifty three percent children between ages five and 12 have been subjected to sexual abuse. Every 15 minutes, a child is getting abused, which means that by the time you read this, an innocent soul would have been toyed with. You talk about Indian values, now hear this: in around 90% of the reported cases the culprits are close relatives, friends and family members including the child’s own grandfather, uncle, aunt and sometimes even the father. Forty underage girls are forced into the life of prostitution every single day.
Oh, Thank god! See, I have always told you that the girl child is a boon to the family. But, did you know that of the 53% children that are being abused in India, 57.3% are boys? More than half of the child-abuse victims are boys. Are you sure your child is safe even if he is at home? Just do one thing – dig up a small hole, bury your child inside it with the dreams you had for him, the gifts you bought for him, the memories you made with him and yes don’t forget to add his Indian morals and values. Instead, if you want to save your child, give him/ her sex education!
Sex education is a taboo topic in India and is primarily considered a western construct. We are always forbidden from doing things we don’t understand. Sex education never teaches you to have sex at an early age, instead it teaches you about the biological need of a human body; it teaches how it is normal to get attracted to another person, be it emotional or biological. It teaches you the importance of looking at your own body, learning to protect yourself, and understanding the natural process that is sex.
Prevention is a ton better than cure. Around 0.26% of Indian adults are diagnosed with HIV infection amongst which 67% are men. Sex education teaches your child the pros of having safe sex and avoiding unwanted pregnancies. It also talks about biological aspects like menstruation. As a typical Indian boy, I never understood the miseries and sufferings of menstrual cramps that women go through until I was committed to a romantic relationship. For boys, it’s very easy to criticize girls for talking about their cramps because of the way the Indian society brought us up. Not just boys, even girls consider menstruation a sin. Understand that the greatest ability that a human being possesses is to bring a new life into this world and women are blessed by God. We mortals have a god whom we can cry to, feel, and touch, called ‘mother’. Whatever a man does in this world, he will never be able to indulge in the divine emotion called motherhood. Hence, motherhood is never a sin, it’s a blessing.
Will I get pregnant if I kiss? Does the HIV virus spread through a kiss? These are some of the many questions Indian youth circulate around internet out of helplessness. “This is not your age to understand this, don’t talk about these things, not even at home or elsewhere, don’t even think about the S word,” is what parents give us for “sex education” in India.
Tell me something, when was the last time you used the Pythagoras theorem or Bernoulli’s principle? Ok, let that be! When was the last time you used (a + b)2. Not a clue, huh? I am sailing in the same ship. Let’s see if you remember this: when was the last time you spoke to your best friend about sex, watched porn, heard about child abuse, or rape? Quite often, right? This basic life science is what we call sex education. Today or tomorrow, your child will enter this arena, and it’s not like your child is born, brought up, and on his divine “first night”, he gets introduced to a new process called sex. Grow up parents! Half knowledge is very dangerous. Is it better if you tell us about this or would you rather have us learn from our friends and porn sites that we watch out of curiosity?
Despite blocking 3,500 porn websites, 35-40% content downloaded from the internet in India is pornography. Kerala, the state with the highest literacy rate, ranks highest in watching child porn, and Haryana and UP top the overall viewership ratings of porn.
How wicked is India: The 8-year-old Kathua gang rape victim was trending on porn websites.
In such a scenario, it is essential to remember that trained faculty, proper syllabus, and open-minded parents will lead to a better future. Sex education should not be an option that one can opt out of in schools and colleges. It is extremely important to talk about the natural process called sex, teach children the importance of understanding every gender, respecting women, and not getting addicted to senseless blue films which provide nothing useful for the human experience. Teach your child to be confident and love themselves, to love every human being as they are, and to understand biological needs such as sex, menstruation, etc.
“God has not put the little baby in your mom’s tummy, there is a baby in the tummy because your parents love each other and they had sex to bring you into this world.”