By R. Jennifer War
Apropos Patricia Mukhim’s article “Deconstructing the God role in reproductive rights” which appeared on July 19, 2013, I would like to share some research data from the five day intensive “Reproductive health, sexuality and life skills education” course which is part of the compulsory complementary curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate students at Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU). We know that reproductive health, just like our physical, mental and emotional health is an important aspect of human development. Young people between the ages of 15- 24 years have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections worldwide. Due to the taboos related to sex, the reproductive health needs of young people is usually neglected or treated as problematic. The education sector is shouldering some responsibility as a large part of that population spends a significant amount of their time in schools and universities. The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has recommended teacher-led sex education for children during classes 9-11 (NCERT 2010). However, cultural discomfort with sexuality has limited the implementation of these recommendations with states such as Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh having banned sex education (The Economic Times 2007).
The findings presented here cover the period 2009-2012. In total there were 643 participants in the study, of which Khasi youth made up the majority. The average age of the participants was 22 years. The findings presented here are those of the Khasi youth only. We documented the sources of information on sexual health. 34% of the participants reported to have received their first information on sexual health from schools, 12% from friends and 6% from parents. The participants said that the sex education they received in school was very basic and that there was general silence at home in matters pertaining to sexual health. Most youth seek information from friends, but in this study we found that though young people seek information from their peers yet they do not find the information to be credible. It was also found that the church was not a source of information on reproductive health for the majority of the Khasi youth.
One theme that came out very strongly from this study is ‘silence’ on issues related to reproductive health and sex education. Outsiders often view our society to be an open society where marriage is by choice and co-habitation without marriage is accepted. However, in this study, Khasi young adults reported a general silence around reproductive health and sexuality in their society. To get an insight into the Khasi terms used for the male and female reproductive parts, we asked participants to list in a piece of paper the term used to refer to the genitals by their parents or elders in their childhood. The general consensus that was reached was that there were no acceptable terms in our language for genitals that could be used without embarrassment.
A public vocabulary to talk about the reproductive organs without feeling any hesitancy is still not developed, posing problems for the advancement on reproductive health education and family planning awareness programmes especially in the local dialect. More so, Khasi etiquette (Ka akor Khasi) cautions our people against the loose use of words where words must be decent and language used with dignity. In our society, this silence around sexuality perhaps arises from cultural norms and is possibly aggravated by the lack of culturally acceptable words to discuss sexuality in public. This could possibly be one of the factors attributing to Meghalaya having the highest fertility rate and lowest contraceptive use (National Family Health Survey -3). Students emphasized the need of getting accurate information from the right sources and often suggested that repro-ductive health awareness should be provided to youth in rural and urban areas in the local language and also be extended to parents, religious and community leaders.
Students also had misconceptions about rape. The victim is often blamed in rape cases. More Khasi women (41%) than men (25%) blamed the woman in a rape. The reasons they cited were loose morals and provocative dressing. Surprisingly, some female participant said that women wearing a provocative dress ‘asked to be raped’. Post-workshop surveys there was a change in the attitude of the participants and the majority now absolved the woman (victim) from blame.
It was surprising to find that in our matrilineal Khasi society women still blame their female counterparts for being raped. Patricia Mukhim in her article “Create a Language to Portray the Trauma.” (The Statesman, March 25 2012) suggests that the lack of a proper word for rape in the tribal language somehow fails to convey the horror of the crime. The prevalence of rape myths and false beliefs tends to shift the blame from the rapist to the victim. News reports claim that the numbers of rape cases are increasing in Meghalaya (Meghalaya Times 2011; The Hindu 2012; The Shillong Times 2013).
Continued silence, within a rapidly urbanising society could be one of the factors contributing to increasing sexual violence against women in Khasi society. This silence around sexuality potentially contributes to the persistence of myths and misconceptions into adult life. Khasi youth receive very little appropriate information on sexual health, be it from parents, school, church, peers or the media and the little information they do receive seems steeped in notions of morality. Blaming of rape victims, intolerance to people with different sexual orientations, addiction to pornography and the practice of unsafe sex were some of the potential consequences of the prevailing silence in the community. The young adults of the Khasi tribe, like young people around the world, need opportunities and space to discuss sexuality and reproductive health among themselves. This course on reproductive health, sexuality and life skills education provided a forum and space for these conversations to begin to take place. These discussions are reported to have had a ripple effect, stimulating discussions among peers, within families and in neighbourhoods.
In our country life skills and sexual health education is offered to adolescents (Adolescent Education Programme) in some states at school level but neglects young adults or youth at higher education levels. UNESCO in its International Guidelines on Sexuality Education (2009) recommends that sexuality education should be provided at the level of higher education as many students may live away from home for the first time, develop relationships and may become sexually active. Shillong being the educational hub attracts college and university students from all over the North eastern state. The onus in disseminating such information lies in the education sector as it has a critical role to play in preparing children and young people for their adult roles and responsibilities and mould them into well rounded and responsible citizens.
(For more details on the findings of this research please refer – War, R.J and Albert, S (2013). “Sexuality and ‘silence’ among Khasi Youth of Meghalaya, Northeast India.” Culture, Health and Sexuality journal. For access to this article email author at [email protected])
(The author is Assistant Professor, Allied Health Sciences Department, Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong)