As a common man, when I think about what the Indian society needs first ?, police reforms and change in society’s attitude towards sex come to my mind. Faith based society of India needs social reforms first which will automatically be visible later in every field.
Do you know that the NFHS-5 report found that only 22% of women and 31% of men in the age group 15-49 had comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The figures seemed very shocking, hence before police reforms, we need sex education which will not only bring change in the behavior of boys in the society but will also prevent child marriage, crimes especially sex related crimes and diseases in India.
Now the Question arises that who should get Sex education ? I believe that sex education should first be included in the curriculum of government and private schools of growing children. But people who are misrepresenting women through their memes and AI websites and making deep fake videos also need Sex education. Sex education is an essential need in the age of AI.
Those who consider Sex education as an enemy of society, I think their perspective is very limited. Sex education is not just about sex or reproduction. This is the understanding of the body with age which is directly related to many evils and crimes of the Indian society.
Sex education can directly solve many issues and diseases, the first of which is awareness about AIDS. Crimes against women and girls can be prevented or a lot of work can be done through Sex education.
I remember when I was in school, how boys were eager to see girls’ figures and curves so that they could get mental satisfaction. Due to this, boys developed a different attitude towards girls as if any woman or girl was an object.
This attitude of boys continued or increased as they grew up. I remember how boys sitting at tea stalls used to make sexual assumptions about girls by looking at their buttocks or breasts. And this excitement and curiosity is a mental stimulus due to which crime or domestic violence against women is increasing in the society.
Now, such boys who get married later and for whom a woman’s body is a matter of great curiosity from the very beginning, will always keep it locked in the house so that no one else sees it. And when a woman deviates even a little from this, it becomes a reason for male violence.
But why is this a matter of curiosity? The reason for this is that in the present Indian society, talking about sex is seen as a rebellion and the biggest reason for this is the extreme religiosity of the society which considers sex as impure.
Take women’s periods, how many wrong and illogical concepts have been created about it in India, that girls become impure during their periods and hence do not go to the kitchen or temple.
There is a need to change this because many women and girls suffer from not being able to talk about periods, while governments are continuously distributing sanitary napkins, but still the thing that the society should do first is not happening, Sex education.
Sex education will bring change in people’s behavior which will prevent many future crimes and diseases. Sex education can increase the share of women in India’s GDP, which is very important.
But the question is who will tell the right things about sex? Of course, this should start in the family. It is most important that any growing child can share his personal issues with any member of the family, whether male or female, so that solutions can be found at the family level.
In this, mother and father should have equal role and responsibility to explain scientifically to the children about the things of interest in their upbringing. But this can happen only in educated families.
What about those where the family is illiterate or less educated? Sex education in such families can be done by including sex education in the Anganwadi center or school curriculum.
But then the question arises that when and how will sex education be taught in schools in India? I believe that the present society is still bound by the beliefs given by thousands of years old religion. Therefore, religious people will always oppose it because they are still stuck between pure and impure.
But the Constitution can enforce it. The government can make rules or laws on this and make people aware. But this does not seem to be happening because the same people of the society who are uncomfortable with Sex education are also the public representatives in the government.
I believe that in such a situation, only educated and aware parents can give sex education to their children. Therefore, universalization of general education will one day inspire families to give sex education or has already done so in many places.
About the Author
Manish love to write and he is a Civil Servant. Users can follow Manish on Instagram