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Are we really in the 21st century?
April 7, 2007 | 9 Comments
Do Indian government policies reflect the need to built a modern society in the interest of all its citizens? Apparently not. Appeasing the fundies who still live in the Middle Ages takes greater precedence. If women have sex education and make their own choices about their bodies and reproductive systems, it threatens some fragile egos. The bogeyman called ‘western culture’ can always be invoked. Let’s not talk about the AIDS epidemic. If we sweep it under the rug, it will cease to exist. Those ‘westernised types’ who get AIDS deserve it anyway.
Santhi of Pashi writes:
Maharastra is the fifth state in India to ban sex education in schools..the other states being Kerala ( imagine our torch bearer for literacy doing this ! ) , Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and I am sure, others to follow the trend very soon. And to top it all, even the Central board schools(CBSE, ICSE ) have to follow the state dictum here.
The reason being cited for such a move is that sex education in schools is ” an assault on Indian values” and that it is a means of ” imposing western culture on the state”.
Read the rest here.
More insanity by political vested interests:
A case was filed against former Test cricketer Ravi Shastri in a local court here for allegedly hurting the religious feelings of Hindus by reportedly eating beef during the India-South Africa Test match in Johannesburg.
The case was filed by Bajrang Dal, Indore incharge, Manoj Malpani in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), R K Batham.
The Bajrang Dal bloke, who filed the case after seeing Shastri eat beef on TV, ought to watch less telly and read his own scriptures , maybe?
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states:
VI-iv-18: He who wishes that a son should be born to him who would be a reputed scholar, frequenting the assemblies and speaking delightful words, would study all the Vedas and attain a full term of life, should have rice cooked with the meat of a vigorous bull or one more advanced in years, and he and his wife should eat it with clarified butter. Then they would be able to produce such a son.
Read more at India Uncut.
Of course, this is the same moral police that legislates how others should get married and enact the rest of their existence. Liz Hurley’s wedding in India didn’t meet their approval, so they file a case in court.
The general response will be, “Who cares if some nutjob files a case against Shastri or Liz Hurley? It’ll get thrown out by the judge. Why do we need to give these attention-seekers more attention by highlighting their idiocy? ”
We need to highlight this idiocy, however attention-seeking it is.
Here’s why.
The Indian legal system is clogged and overwhelmed. The judges should be focussing on genuine grievances, rather than perceived slights against some insecure people. There is no constitutional right that guarantees against hurt feelings.
Secondly, such acts cumulatively work to create an atmosphere that suppresses free expression and generates fear. No one should have to look over their shoulder while ordering what they want for lunch. No one needs anyone else’s permission to get married any way they choose if it does not cause public disturbance or disruption.
Third, these are not isolated nutjobs. They are affiliated to groups with political backing, out to generate issues to create mass hysteria as and when it suits them, and to influence policy, as they are doing in many states.
Is it a coincidence that everyone in this picture is male? We don’t think so. Telling women how to behave and what comprises ‘Indian culture and tradition’ seems to be their self-imposed responsibility. 50% of Indians are women, but these frustrated attention-seekers don’t seem to want to know what Indian women and men who don’t live in the Dark Ages have to say about about sex education, or whether they care about Ravi Shastri’s eating habits.
As Elie Wiesel said:
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Fundies thrive and are enabled by the silence of the masses, ‘cos their voices can be heard loud and clear.
Filed Under: fundie-watch, india-sex-education, MUSINGS, Politics
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9 Comments
even almost 15 yrs bck , we had sex education in our school ( it was a convent) just for the boys ..this was when we were in 10th std . when the boys were learning that , the girls were taken to another classroom in another floor to teach abt menstruation ..yeah right when 95 % of the girls in 10th std have already got it 2 yrs before ..too late..we were just bored and wanted to be in the other classroom..
Bee n’ Jai:
Really, it does get frustrating at times when the netas try to force their views on others…..time and again. and no, its not just males who behave like fundies, women are competing with them really well. In the name of Bharatiya Sabhyata, these enlightened souls examine if one is eating meat and what kind!! Yeah, the fundies care about the kind of meat consumed by an ex-cricketer but have no time to think or do something about the plummeting standards of Indian sports. Imagine political netas telling young couples to either get married or tie a rakhi!! I recently saw pictures from a Bombay park or some such public place (posted on Ultrabrown), where a warning and the less said about the plight of single working women in the capital, tsign clearly tells youngsters to “behave”!! Another particularly disgusting incidence that comes to mind is the big time bashing of actress Khushbu when she expressed her views on pre-marital safe-sex practices!
and Ranjani, you summed it up well!
Hope you all are having a great weekend.
OOOOPs! big mess up in my comment courtesy my key board! Its should read:
“I recently saw pictures from a Bombay park or some such public place (posted on Ultrabrown), where a warning sign clearly tells youngsters to “behaveâ€. Another particularly disgusting incidence that comes to mind is the big time bashing of actress Khushbu when she expressed her views on pre-marital safe-sex practices! and the less said about the plight of single working women in the capital, the better!”
My apologies!
Bee,
I am truly impressed that you have even dug out that particular reference from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. When I had read this for the first time, I was quite shaken up, but you will hardly find any Hindus practising that method to have a son, may be because not many would have actually thought of going through the Upanishads in today’s times.
You must read some books by Roberto Calasso especially Ka. He has done some indepth research into India’s ancient Hindu rituals.
it’s a defence mechanism, nandita, to shut the fundies up, atleast for two minutes. when some fundie in the u.s. lectures me about how bad a hindu i am, i like to remind them how they should have adhered to their scriptures and never crossed the ocean. j just shakes his head and laughs. i have trouble holding my tongue. – bee
Jai and Bee
I followed the whole sex education ban with increasing alarm and embarrassment. I think it is pathetic that every time some political nut feels the need for media attention, the people (and the state) have to suffer the consequences of a regressive religio-political decision. Almost every seminar on HIV/AIDS I have been to have stated the same thing. That the AIDS epidemic in India is getting blown out of proportions and sadly no one in India realizes that as of now. Definitely not the government who are apparently happily living in a state of denial. There are no effective public health measures. The general squeamishness whenever sex or AIDS is mentioned is certainly not helping. And now this. Just what we need…..more gullible teenager bodies for the virus to infect. I wish there was a way of smacking these politicans on the head with something very heavy.
Whooo….so much for my sunday morning rant
Jai and Bee, you have a great blog! Enjoy reading it and trying out new recipes 
see, swati, if women have sex education, they may decide not to become compliant little incubators. or, they may, gasp….become lesbians. that should not be allowed. – bee
Well put. Seriously, what are they thinking? As a country, there is so much ignorance around sex in India, providing the right sex education will help prevent not just sexually transmitted deceases and unwanted pregnancies, but most of the sex related domestic violence cases too, the root cause of most of which is sexual ignorance… I can’t believe those men of power don’t get this!!! What else can you expect from a country which arrests people for their homosexuality and try to cure the “disease”?
Haha the hypocrites are back at the game! One thing for the masses and different thing at home. I am sick of these. Bee me too am like you I can’t shut my mouth when I see hear such people. Double standards thy name is Politics.
At 12 yrs in Std VI we had sex education classes. The timing was perfect. When the first girl in my class got the stain we knew what needed to be done and above all we were not ashamed becoz we were told it is a beautiful phase that we will move into and there would be a special person for made by God just for each one of us!
My Mom was happy that some one better qualified was doing her job of keeping me informed about what I will go thru in the future.
Instead of corrupting me it made me a responsible person and helped me make choices as a woman.
Majority of the Politicians qualifications can be just scanned to know who we have elected to lead us. The people who speak about it have no experience in matters concerned. When they don’t have regular education I don’t expect them to have education on the topic they choose to talk. They are just full of rubbish up there with grey matter not to be found even under a microscope.
Indians all over have to realize they will get a leaders they deserve. Only way to bring change is dump the non peforming ones. The ones with no education. When I say this I mean from a university or from LIFE. Else just dump them!
There are a lot of expectation from Priya Dutt, Milind Deora yet you will always have a Rahul Mahajan. Second generation politician have better degrees from fancy colleges in the US/ UK so why not expect a change. If they can’t prove they are better off we need to show them the door.
I try to educate my domestic staff and women in the village when ever possible. I feel sad that I lost a young relative aged 22 yrs due to TB becoz inspite of educating her she accepted to be married at 16yrs had 2 children by the age of 21 and was gone by 22. That vivacious face just keeps smiling at me saying Tai you did tell me. My heartaches.
i’m sorry to hear about your loss, anjali. – bee
Bee..thanks for starting this discussion and giving a reference ! It is true that in India, every day you will find innumerable instances, both big and small where political parties/ religious groups try to define what Indians should live like…and like Anjali rightly commented it is true that none of these people are qualified to even make a statement about any of such matters..
But thats the world we live in,..and if we need to make a change, we need to get people with the right qualifications, right attitude and who will be able to manueveur the system rather than become a part of it..I am saying maneuver since we cant fight it now…it is part of India’s existence now…and we cant do it with 48% of Indians not being able to read and write, leave alone make decisions ( only 40% women and 64% males are literate in India)…
well, the only way out is for the more aware and educated Indian citizen to enforce his participation in the system…
Meanwhile, there is a steady regression in the US too. The Bush administration is cutting funding to all sex-education programs while funding abstinence-only education. What are these governments thinking? No, wait, they’re not thinking at all.
fundies are the same everywhere. they have nothing constructive to contribute. the governments are thinking – they want to create more and more fundies, ‘cos fundies vote as a solid votebank. – bee