The S-Word: Yes, the One that Raised Your Eyebrows
There are some questions I’ve always pondered upon as a child, something which I’m certain is a common experience for adolescents in India. Have the elders in your house always seemed suddenly interested in the sofa’s mesh pattern when the television splutters ‘ill-fated’ words like condoms and contraception? As a young, curious, inquisitive child, haven’t you ever wondered why your mother abruptly stops visiting the temple for a few days in a month? Have you ever been reprimanded by your parents for posing the question of how “babies are born,” and then instead embarrassingly been told that they’re a “gift from God?”.
To begin by saying that sex education in India is minimal would be a vast understatement in itself because the PowerPoint presentation afflicted upon seventh graders in a subdued, shameful, and uncomfortable manner, poses more questions than it provides answers to. While talking about sex education, I cannot help but look at our country’s hypocrisy — phallic worship is still practiced by devotees of Hinduism, throughout India.
In a typical regressive Indian household, any queries about sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, contraceptives, and masturbation, are met with frowns, raised eyebrows, anger, and/or disdain. Several parents choose to live in complete denial and obliviousness about the fact that their children could be sexually active.
In Hindu mythology, especially in some Shaivic cults, the devotees solely worship Lord Shiva in the form of a phallus. Commonly known as the ‘Shiva Linga,’ it consists of the male and female reproductive parts. It signifies the duality of masculine and feminine energies that exist in the world and their divine unification. In his book Hindu Mythology, W.J Wilkins writes that “it is impossible for anyone acquainted with the legends which account for its being the symbol of Siva, to see and worship it without impure thoughts being suggested,” and that “[i]t is intended to represent the male and female reproductive organs.” One of the more popular forms of the linga, the ‘Panchamukha Linga,’ also goes further to represent certain eternal attributes of Shiva, such as creation, preservation, and divinity. According to several Puranic myths, the worship of this benevolent, and almighty deity in Linga’s iconographic form, came into existence after the Lord was castrated, either willingly or due to a curse, as mentioned in Hindu Mythology. This has resulted in the establishment of several renowned and sacred places of worship in India, which welcome myriads of devotees every year.
What is exceptionally paradoxical is how Shaivite devotees have continued to be embarrassed and flustered about the entire notion that sexual organs can be associated with carnal pleasure and not just creation. According to Srinivasan (1984), this is exactly why, through the years, the shape and anatomy of the linga sculptures has become more and more amorphous and undefined. However, they continue to associate these symbols, sometimes even romanticize them into a deity, who is ‘invincible’ or the “everlasting ruler” or the “erotic ascetic.” How then, can numerous devotees today hypocritically worship the icon for one reason, while completely ignoring the other? Why does the scorn exist in accepting that the sexual organs can also connote carnal and sexual pleasure? Of course, doing so would threaten our “sabhyata” (values) or “sanskriti” (culture), correct?
Several people fail to acknowledge that our history was essentially quite liberal, not just regarding this but also in terms of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. One of the most famous icons, as stated in Stella Kramrisch’s The Presence of Shiva is the Ardhanarishwara (half man-half woman), the androgynous form of Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi. Even today, we have structures of Shiva in this form in numerous temples around India. Isn’t it unexplainable then- this bigotry that most of the Indian population lives under, and the one that needs to be questioned and changed?
Perhaps, satirical sketches and stand-up comedians could stray from the path of indulging in criticisms about the current faults and flaws in the sex education in place, and hopefully move towards genuinely and realistically busting up myths. Sure, they choose to create content about a well-needed topic; however, providing information and data would go a long way, especially considering how brilliant and creative East India Comedy, Girliyapa, and Netflix’s acts and routines are.
Most people are also under the wrong impression of what sex education essentially is. To put it simply, it educates one about topics like reproduction, sexual and romantic relationships, contraception and STI’s and also healthy communication and negotiation. I believe that sometimes, we fail to understand the importance and usefulness that appropriate sex education would provide in our lives. Surprisingly, sex education does not encourage teenagers to have sex, it’s the opposite actually. It teaches an adolescent to use protection at all times, the importance and necessity of consent and clear communication between partners, how anatomy works, and how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Additionally, adolescents have severely inadequate access to contraceptive methods. Lack of contraception sometimes works simultaneously with the prevalence of unsafe abortions. While an astonishing fifteen million abortions occur annually in India, barely 10% of those are performed through medically safe procedures and hospital structures. It’s time we detach ourselves from these baseless prejudices and altogether abolish the collective regressive ideology that does so much harm in our society.
What this will do, eventually yet undoubtedly, is that it would stop young teenagers and adults from relying on pornography to inform themselves, something that provides a wrongfully morphed, false, and dangerous narrative of sex. It is time that we stop living with the fear of the consequences of not following superstitions like offering gallons of milk to a rock and start addressing real life situations. For this, we need to ensure that there are government-run programs and NGOs actively in place at the rural as well as urban level.
While we must strive towards making these changes, it would be wrong to not acknowledge the little but substantial progress we’ve made. Today, people choose to open up and freely discuss sex education in several spaces and situations, something that needs to be cultivated and sustained moving forward. In the future, when we talk about sex education, we must talk about a curriculum or structure that does more than just the basic and is more holistic. It needs to exceed the basic knowledge about human anatomy and move towards a mindful and sensitive framework towards the LGBTQIA+ community. It needs to discuss consent and rigorously work towards establishing a healthy, two-way communication and lower rates of sexual assaults. Then, and only then, will we have genuinely achieved proper awareness and legitimate knowledge of sex education.
Editor - Shaon Bandopadhyay
Head Editor - Vibhavari Desai
