Sunday, 22 September 2019

Engaging on 'Love, sex and relationships' with the adolescents of My Perch


Girl participant: If he would have asked Paro before the kiss, she would have definitely said NO!

The session on ‘Love, sex and relationship’ began with the story of Paro who is kissed by her friend when she was alone in the classroom. The participants were asked to share what would be their reaction if they were Paro-

‘She might be too shocked to react’
‘She would slap him hard and then run away from that place’
‘She would break her friendship with the boy’
‘She would be very angry with him’
‘She might be embarrassed or ashamed’
‘She might ask him as to why he kissed her’


One of the girl said that she will kiss him back, following which few participants agreed and shared that she might fall in love with the boy. On asking ‘do you think the boy should have asked the girl before kissing her?’ – 80% of the participants agreed while 20% said there was no need of asking for consent! That’s when this girl meekly said that the boy knew the girl would say No that’s why he went ahead and kissed her. This is very dangerous thought, a 12 year old girl saying that girl’s consent is immaterial clearly reflects that she might have seen or experienced something along the line! So it became imperative to assert that consent matters, and saying NO is important and the one who violates consent is wrong and in no world it is okay to neglect someone’s consent.


In the next activity, the participants were asked to share ‘whether they have heard this word sex before? Or seen it?’ in their respective groups

‘I went to my uncle’s home in the village. There were no one in the house when my cousin showed me dirty videos on Whats app’
‘I saw condom in my cousin’ car, then he told me what the purpose of it is’
‘I saw my cousin watching some bad videos on phone on the roof of our house’
‘I have heard my friends talk about sex in the school’
‘My friend whenever sees a beautiful girl talks about having sex’
‘There is lot of sex in Hollywood movies, actors talk about sex in Bollywood movies’
‘I have seen lot of rape news in the news channel’


‘I had asked my teacher directly after the class on reproduction system – she said children are borne because of sex’
‘Lot of condom advertisement in TV’
‘Friends keeps pushing about sex and the conversations around it’
‘I have seen it in the park, posters of condom in medical stores and random walls. We have seen papers/pamphlets on the road’
‘Someone got married in my neighborhood. Their window was open and we saw what was happening’
‘There was rumor in our society that a particular girl had sex. But later on it was found that it was all false’
‘My friend told me that her boyfriend is asking her to have sex!’


These all sharing emphasis that adolescents are very well aware of this term and many of them have seen it, or are exploring it so it’s important to engage in the conversation around sex so that they can make sound decision for themselves.

Post this we screened two videos where in a 10 year old asks his father about how babies are borne and what inquiries are condoms? It was evident how gender plays role in these conversations while boys were very excited to know more about it and were full of questions on the other hand, girls were quiet, and some of them had turned pale and were scared! They too wanted to ask questions but being girl asking questions on sex would put them under radar of shame and shameless which made them restless!


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