A minister's remarks in the State Assembly [1] sparked a huge controversy as he used vernacular language to explain how women's education played a role in population control while describing the pull-out method. This led to overly dramatic reactions from political leaders and the media alike, from a member exiting the assembly in tears to others labelling him as shameless and mentally ill, which eventually led to the minister apologising for his language and taking back his words. While this incident sparked debates about the appropriateness of such comments in parliament, it is worthwhile to take a look into what alternatives language offers one who wants to talk about sex, sexuality and sexual health and rights.
Sex education in India
Sexual health education in India is met with strong opposition from religious and political groups. India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. [2] Despite this, there is little to no emphasis on the bodily empowerment and autonomy of the youth. A study shows that 88 per cent of the Indian youth emphasised that sex education should start in primary school, 66 per cent reported that teachers in primary and secondary level are not equipped with the knowledge and skill to impart sex education, and 90 per cent of the youth agreed that parents and teachers should be provided factual training which will equip them with the skill to talk on this subject matter. [3]
In 2005, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced a program called ‘Adolescence Reproductive and Sexual Health Education’ (ARSH). The central government released it in 2006 but it was not very successful. While some states incorporated the program, most adopted it with variations according to what they considered important or appropriate. According to a report [4] by the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR) submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council,
“When this Programme was introduced in schools affiliated to state education boards, it was objected to by certain organizations on the ground that its explicit content was contrary to Indian culture and morality. As a reaction to these protests, it was banned by twelve State Governments including the large states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat on the same grounds. In response to these bans, the Central Government has not taken any further action. It has justified its inaction by pointing out that under the federal structure of the Indian Constitution, Education and Health are both subjects that can be exclusively legislated upon and executed by State Legislatures and Governments.”
In the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, sex education was one of the major topics that were removed from the curriculum.
Similarly, sex remains a taboo topic at home. Often it is parents who are against schools that offer comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) as it is deemed culturally inappropriate. A study [5] revealed that the majority of parents were reluctant to talk about sex education to their adolescent children as they found it embarrassing to discuss these issues. The knowledge regarding sex education was found to be inadequate among 67% of parents in urban areas and 87% of parents in rural areas. A study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown that sex education does not encourage young people to have sex at an earlier age or more frequently. [6] On the contrary, the study shows that sex education delays the start of sexual activity, reduces sexual activity among young people and encourages those already sexually active to have safer sex.
The argument against providing sexuality education to young individuals from an early age has always been that it will encourage them to be sexually “promiscuous” and result in having increased unintended pregnancies and STIs. However, this is far from true. In India, sex is considered “gandi baat” however, children and adolescents need to be taught how to identify good and bad touch, they must understand how consent works, and be equipped with information on safe sex practices so that they can make an informed decision if and when they choose to have their first sexual experience. This information should come from a trained professional or a guardian instead of peers, porn or movies. CSE is proven to reduce the risk of intimate partner violence, STIs and unwanted pregnancies.
Studies [7] from Scandinavian countries, where CSE is legally mandatory in schools, show lower rates of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and abortions, despite having comparable rates of adolescent sexual activity as the US. Similarly, the Netherlands (also having mandatory CSE from primary school onwards) boasts some of the best outcomes when it comes to teen sexual health. On average, teens in the Netherlands do not have sex at an earlier age than those in other European countries or in the United States. Researchers found that among 12 to 25 year olds in the Netherlands, most said they had “wanted it and had fun” in their first sexual experiences. By comparison, 66 percent of sexually active American teens surveyed said they wished that they had waited longer to have sex for the first time. [8] According to the World Bank, [9] the teen pregnancy rate in the Netherlands is one of the lowest in the world, five times lower than the U.S. Rates of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections are also low.
Linguistic Limitations
The medicalisation of sex and sexuality leads to stigmatisation and fuels the already present cultural divide. In mass media and elsewhere, it is seen as more appropriate if English words are used rather than the local language when referring to sex. This excuses sexuality as a “Western concept” and deems it alien to our “Bharatiya sanskriti”. Though ancient erotic sculptures in temples and texts like the Kama Sutra suggest that India used to be a sex-positive land, the current scenario is entirely different.
From teachers preferring to use medical sounding words such as ‘coitus’ or ‘intercourse’ when discussing reproduction to filmmakers resorting to botanical imagery and objectification, we rarely see the actual word ‘sex’ being used openly in society. From the censor board to personal censorship, a major aspect of sexuality is its association with shame and impurity. Even as medical students, are we able to ask patients about their sexual history without making them uncomfortable? What options does one have to convey sexual health education effectively to the masses, without using English as a crutch to sound more scientific?
Via @ ShoaibDaniyal on twitter.com (Now X)
Society has steered clear from talking about sex so much so that while the formal translations of words are uncommon in daily usage, the slang versions are unfitting and even offensive. For example, masturbation is called “hastamaithuna” in formal Hindi, and vagina is translated as “yoni”. Some words like “bhrun hatya” have negative connotations and their usage might lead to propagation of stigma. There can be small changes made to existing words, for example the word “garbhpaat” which means a miscarriage can be exchanged with “garbha samapti” for induced abortions.
Hindi and Urdu being some of the most commonly used languages, are also heavily gendered. All nouns are identified with a gender, either masculine or feminine. A noun’s gender is reflected through rules of agreement in verbs, adjectives, and postpositions. While a pronoun’s gender does not affect its form (for eg: main, tum, voh, etc), its gender still exerts grammatical influence over other elements of a sentence. For example, one has to choose between the masculine and feminine verb and adjective forms in simple sentences:
“Main khana kha rahi/raha hoon” (I am eating food.)
“Tum acche/acchi lag rahe/rahi ho” (You are looking good.)
This can be problematic for someone who identifies as non-binary or gender fluid. Moreover, it reinforces stereotypes as the gender has to be assumed when it is not known. For example, “Yaha ke malik kaun hai?” (Who is the owner of this place?) assumes the owner is a man. Certain words like “rashtrapati” (president) are masculine with no feminine equivalent. Some have suggested that the term should be replaced with a more inclusive word such as “rashtradhyaksh”.
Bridging the Gap
Language experts and teachers must come together to introduce necessary changes in Indian languages. One does not need to look too far for a solution. Marathi and Gujarati have a neuter gender for nouns. Abhishek Atvans in an article [10] explains that most Dravidian languages use a semantic basis for categorising nouns. For example, in Tamil, there are two basic genders: uyartiṇai 'rational' and aḵṟiṇai 'non-rational.' The rational gender includes humans, gods, and demons, while non-rational gender covers non-human things. On the eastern side of the subcontinent, we find Indo-Aryan languages like Assamese, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Odia where grammatical gender is absent, but classifiers aid noun categorisation. Similar elements can be incorporated into other languages as well.
Indian linguist, Suniti Kumar Chatterji, outlined a similar proposal to remove grammatical gender from the language. His proposal dealt with the fallout in various ways, including the use of a single verb form, equivalent to Standard Hindi’s masculine singular, for all persons and numbers. The scheme would have replaced the first-person singular pronoun mein, with the first-person plural pronoun ‘hum’. The use of the first-person plural pronoun to mean ‘I’ is common in many varieties of regional Hindi speech in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Women in this region, especially, tend to refer to themselves with verb forms that are technically masculine plural. So, although the verbs in the following two sentences are masculine plural, and the pronoun is the first-person plural hum (‘we’), it will sound acceptable in today’s colloquial speech. For example, “hum bazaar ja rahe hai”. [11]
The University of Texas has introduced ‘Inclusive Hindi’ which is a project [12] aimed at making Hindi language more inclusive by introducing non-binary verb conjugations.
Here is what they suggest:
The evolution of language, however catalysed, will take a long time to occur. Until then, one must try their best to modify language personally to incorporate all people, identities and roles. Policy changes must be advocated to make CSE not only compulsory in schools but also to make sure that its instruction is effective and unbiased. Several organisations are working to provide sexual health education in schools and colleges. Social media can be a useful platform to bridge this linguistic and cultural gap. Projects like Agents of Ishq that use colloquial terms and pop culture references help to deliver sexual health education and gender sensitisation to the masses. Sexual health educators such as Seema Anand are gaining massive popularity on social media platforms as they bust myths and answer queries regarding sexual health and wellness. Medical professionals should also make efforts to educate their patients about sexual health and rights, speak in an inclusive manner and de-medicalize terms whenever possible while keeping in mind the cultural barriers.
परिवर्तनमेव स्थिरमस्ति। The only constant is change.
Resources:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nitish-kumars-remarks-spark-debate-about-culturally-appropriate-ways-of-disseminating-sex-education/article67513646.ece/amp/
https://population.un.org/wpp/
https://www.outlookindia.com/national/a-culture-shock-called-sex-education-news-330564
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/lib-docs/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session1/IN/YCSRR_IND_UPR_S1_2008_YouthCoalitionforSexualandReproductiveRights_uprsubmission.pdf
https://www.journalcra.com/article/knowledge-parents-sex-education-their-adolescent-children-residing-urban-and-rural-area
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X20304560
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248965605_Sex_education_in_multicultural_Norway
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/spring-fever
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.ADO.TFRT
https://www.himalmag.com/culture/dialectical-beyond-the-binary-language-gender-2022
https://melbourneasiareview.edu.au/queering-hindi-as-a-foreign-language/
https://inclusivehindi.la.utexas.edu/inclusive-hindi-grammar
Very nicely written, kudos on a thought provoking piece!