Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/The-birds-an d-beads/articleshow/48407422.cms
The birds and beads Nergish Sunavala,TNN | Aug 8, 2015, 12.00 AM IST The birds and beads "The idea over the next couple of years is to do workshops around the country including Pune, Nagpur, Bangalore and Chhattisgarh," says POV co-founder Bishakha Datta. And these workshops won't only be limited to women with disabilities. . "So what if we've been dating a year?" shrugs Ankita. "I still don't want to kiss you." Ankita is a student at the Kamla Mehta Dadar School For The Blind, Mumbai. Her remarks are addressed to her painfully shy 16-year-old classmate, Leela. Both girls are role-playing as part of a sexual education workshop conducted by Point of View (POV), a Mumbai-based NGO. Leela, the pretend-boyfriend in a blue pinafore, is more than willing to acquiesce but Ankita's on a roll. "It's not even raining, so there's no romantic atmosphere," she adds. Her teenage audience erupts in giggles. Later, workshop facilitator Nidhi Goyal, who is a visually impaired disability and gender rights activist, gently points out that a real boyfriend might be more persistent. "He would say, 'Can't you show your love for me with a small kiss?' Then, switching to a lighter vein, Goyal teases, "Or he might pour a bottle of water on your head and say, 'You wanted rain. Here you go'." It's this mix of fun and the fundamentals of sex and relationships that makes POV's sex education workshops for visually impaired women so effective. Initially, the girls were reluctant to even acknowledge that their breasts developed during puberty. But after a few ice-breaker exercises, they were shouting out the names of anatomical parts like "garbhashaya" (uterus) and "yoni marg" (vaginal passage). When POV's community builder Rajutai Gandhi pointed to the tip of a penis replica and said it should be covered during sex, pat came the reply. "Yes! With a condom." Gynaecologist Dr Shrutika Thakkar was amazed at how well informed the teens were. While conducting similar workshops for women at the National Association for the Blind (NAB) and the Andheri Industrial Home for Blind Women, Thakkar found huge lacunas in their knowledge base. "They didn't even know there were three holes," she recalls, "like the vaginal opening or the anal opening." At the NAB workshop, where the age group ranged from 18 to 65, sex had to be explained as a spoon slipping into a jar and the hymen was likened to a foil covering. One participant asked if there are two wombs - one for a boy child and another for a girl, which precipitated a discussion on X and Y chromosomes. The Andheri workshop was POV's pilot project. "The idea over the next couple of years is to do workshops around the country including Pune, Nagpur, Bangalore and Chhattisgarh," says POV co-founder Bishakha Datta. And these workshops won't only be limited to women with disabilities. According to POV's road map, they will gradually expand to include their spouses, care givers, peers, and doctors. Initially, figuring out how to explain complicated concepts without visual aids was hard. Once while speaking to a group of blind women from rural Maharashtra, Thakkar compared sperm to fish only to realize that 99% had no concept of what a fish looked like. To help them "visualise", Thakkar now hands out scientific models of penises and vaginas making sure to explain in advance that none of these are real. She also painstakingly creates raised charts of the reproductive process using beads and corrugated paper to approximate antral follicles and the uterus's endometrial lining. So participants, with varying degrees of vision loss, can run their fingers along the contours to better understand the mechanics of sexual intercourse, menstruation and reproduction. The girls agree that it's the opportunity to handle models that separates this workshop from other sex seminars. "In the past, they would show us images on a TV screen so we never understood everything clearly," says Sangeeta, who can see a screen only if it's very close. "But the models have clarified things." While the girls study the anatomical replicas with their fingers, Goyal tells them, "You have to be gentle with a man's testicles because they are very sensitive. Unless of course, the man is harassing you. Then, don't worry about hurting him, just kick." When the girls are reticent to share personal stories of attraction or sexual harassment, the facilitators delve into their own experiences. Goyal described feeling uncomfortable with an eye doctor, who would lean in too close. This led to students opening up about uncomfortable encounters. "Once, a man on the station pinched my butt," recalls 14-year-old Priyanka. "I told my mum. She shouted at him and I felt better." POV's facilitators often have to tackle the misconception that visually impaired women are intrinsically asexual. At one workshop, a girl confided that adult boys and girls were placed in the same hostel. Since she has partial vision, she could see the boys misbehaving with the girls but when she complained she was told to turn a blind eye. "The assumption is what will they do? They don't even see each other," explains Goyal. Names of the workshop participants have been changed to protect identities? _____ Regards, Shiv Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. 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