Despite several policies and programmes, the sexual health of young adults remains neglected. By Team Viva
Around 28 per cent of India’s population comprises of youngsters and adolescents between the age group of 10-24. Despite such a large section comprising of youngsters, there is a complete lack of focus on their sexual and reproductive health, especially education pertaining to the subject.
Despite several well-planned policies like the Adolescence Education Programme (AEP), The Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) program and the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), there are gaps in the on-ground implementation. The lack of effective financing for the programmes that provide information and health services to young people, along with the political landscape which stands against comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) often leads to this gap. A limited view of who adolescents are and what their needs compise of, adds to it.
However, we do not have a policy that makes sex education compulsory in schools or outside it. The selective focus on issues in CSE, shows that social conservatism and patriarchal attitudes are prevalent. For instance, the curricula designed for adolescent health often operates from a heteronormative lens and only caters to the traditional gender binary.
There are certain questions on sexuality and human reproductive system that remain unanswered for many adolescents and even youngsters.
Examples abound on what the lack of education and awareness about sexuality can do which has had drastic results. When a 12-year-old girl in Sugamau, near Lucknow, who was a rape survivor, became pregnant, it was decided that once the culprit was released from jail they would be married. The incident came to Yeh Ek Soch (YES) Foundation’s notice when a participant of the group of the youth leaders shared the news during a session on ‘Access to Safe Abortion’ in the community. The need for urgent action to help the girl with medical assistance was pressed upon, going against the girl’s family, as they wanted her to steer clear of the matter. However, the girl gave birth to a baby boy later in December.
But not just cases of sexual harassment and intimidation, even basic concerns about menstrual health and hygiene remain unaddressed. During a two-day workshop on menstrual hygiene and sanitation in Littipara High School in Pakur, Jharkhand. , which was attended by more than 50 adolescents (15-17 years of age), few school dropout adolescent girls, the ASHA workers, and government officials. The session focussed on young girls’ knowledge, awareness and practices around menstrual health. While programmes have been made to promote sex education in schools, yet menstruation is an overlooked chapter in the curriculums. It is even more difficult to reach out to rural adolescents and women.
It was obvious that the girls got incomplete information on menstruation with the minimum discussion in their home, schools and even in Anganwadis. “We have never spoken about menstruation in school. Not with teachers not even with our friends,” shared a school girl. The girls also shared that they knew that every friend of them has started menstruating but no one talked about it. For many, menstruation is a taboo which is not to be spoken about. They said that this was the first time that they were discussing and talking to their friends about it. They realised that they could discuss it openly without any need to hide. “We didn’t even know that we were allowed to talk about it,” was a common refrain.
There were hardly any discussions about the subject with the male teachers and ironically they are the ones who teach subjects like biology and science and hesitate to discuss it.
The girls, in their feedback, expressed how pleased they were to have a workshop that discussed a taboo subject. There is a need for more awareness-building sessions among not only the young women, but also among those who engage with these issues, including administrative officers, educational institutions, parents and frontline health workers, who must be sensitised on engaging with young people.
Another issue that was flagged was that since 2016, Jharkhand has funded Rs 25 crore to promote menstrual hygiene among school girls, by distributing free sanitary napkins. But till July 2018, the adolescents from the Litipara school had received the sanitary pads only once. They even shared that they didn’t like the quality of the pads. Thus a need for checking the quality of the pads and the mechanism to evaluate the process of their distribution needs to be checked. On the other other, girls who did not go to school shared that they had no media to receive the pads. Apart from the lack of sexual hygiene and menstruation awareness, there is yet another stigma which has now been worked on to a great extent — transgender people.
In a session at the capital, gender was discussed which also emphasised that “trans women are real women.” While everyone agreed that trans women experience violence within and outside their families, the main issue was whether they were women or not. One of the girls argued that trans women are not real women because they do not have experiences similar to hers while growing up where she faces discrimination. She said that it was only when a trans woman started feeling like and identifying herself as a woman would they experience womanhood. Debating against her was another girl who argued that if one cannot see her struggling with her gender before she begins to identify as a woman, does not make her struggle less significant. The nuanced discussion on understanding the invisibility in the struggles of trans women was exceptional. Such nuanced arguments haven’t been heard in a training before. It could be considered a success as there was a space for the girls to think critically and articulate their thoughts on gender and sexuality. This is one of the examples of the CSE programme resulting in critical thinking for young people.With more such examples of evolution as well as a lack of a proper sexual knowledge, the policymakers and government officials need to be sensitised on issues of sexual reproductive health and rights in order to have a comprehensive understanding of young people’s issues and be equipped to address them.
This will lead them to be aware of what young people want from them as they are also equal stakeholders in policies that are designed for them. By working in an all-inclusive manner, we will be able to create safe spaces for young people irrespective of their caste, class, religion, gender or sexual identity. By strengthening our approach towards adolescent and youth health, we will be able to cater to their needs. After all, every young person has the right to be informed and have access to health services.
However, with NGOs taking up health initiatives and sexual and reproductive rights, there has been an increase in the awareness of CSE and its need to be inclusive of all gender identities. Limited gender diversity leads to young people having inadequate information and impacts their perspective.
