Adolescent Boy Education in India: Swecha for Boys

For more than a decade, we have been conducting awareness sessions for Adolescent Girls, wherein we covered: Menstrual Health & Hygiene, Child Marriages, and Child Sexual Abuse. After about 3000 hours of educating nearly 60,000 girls with the help of 20 expert facilitators, we decided that it is now time to educate the boys as well!

We developed a curriculum for Adolescent Health Awareness based on our innumerous interactions with them over years. The program officially took off towards the last few months of 2021. Our sessions systematically educate Adolescent Boys and address their doubts, fears and about the physical, psychological, and social aspects.

These interactive sessions revolve around reproductive health education, changes during adolescence, toxic bully culture, gender sensitization disorders, and the myths, belief systems and fears they carry.

Awareness about Changes in Puberty for Boys: Objectives of Adolescence Education for Boys

You’d be surprised to hear what they have to say before the sessions begin. While some of them would write that sanitary pads are just like diapers, some would confess their doubts of underlying reproductive disorders.
Some have questions about gynecomastia- Most boys freak out thinking that there is something wrong with them when they start observing the growth of their breast tissues during adolescence without knowing that it is a condition that many boys go through and that it is a temporary phase in a majority of cases.
Some open up about monorchism or having only one testicle and what its implications are. They express their fears and doubts about reproductive health and as the session progresses, the conversations are ushered towards the changes in their psychological markups and thoughts as they pass through their puberty. With no one to answer them and to put things into perspective, they have many unresolved questions.

Gender Gaps: Misconceptions about Sexual Abuse & Gender Inequality

If you notice, most of the talks and awareness sessions on Gender Gap or Sexual Abuse are planned for a female audience. Very rarely do we see such lectures in boys colleges. Why?
Because most of us have been guilty of assuming that :

• • Teaching the potential victims (girls) about their safety is the best way to combat sexual abuse and rape.
  • Girls are the only victims of Sexual Abuse and Gender Inequality

The burden of such ignorant assumptions can get very hefty: both at the individual level and at the societal level.

1. 1. Only teaching safety to victims, shifts away the responsibility from the abuser to the victim. The same mindsets that result in victim shaming and blaming are the ones that pass on the responsibility of abuse onto the victim.
      
   2. Men and Boys are also equally prone to be victims of sexual abuse according to surveys. But, Gender Stereotypes and ideas of Toxic Masculinity handicap the male victims of sexual abuse from speaking out and seeking required help- legally, psychologically, emotionally, and physiologically.
      

Importance of Adolescent Education


Against the backdrop of all these, such assumptions in the minds of the next generation of society builders, future leaders, fathers, brothers, husbands is a great burden to the society.
Such limiting ideologies would in-turn make the society more unsafe and might result in an increase of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and more controlling behaviours- which are all the by- products of the patriarchal values they inherit.
Such mind sets increase conflict and deepen ideological gaps between both genders, leading to a reduced quality of life within family and social spheres. In order to ensure that holistic education and broader perspectives reach the most marginalized students, we embarked on this journey to empower through awareness.
Through these awareness sessions which are conducted for both the genders separately, we address some key areas of importance for adolescents. In this article, we’ll briefly mention a few key components of the Awareness Sessions for Adolescent Boys.

Lack of Awareness about Sexual Abuse of Boys:


As we are studying gender inequalities in various facets, we are realizing that both men and women are negatively affected by certain kinds of gender stereotypes and assumptions to varying degrees.
The results of our extensive pre-session surveys of students show that: 68% of the students did not think that boys can also become victims of sexual abuse. Actual statistics suggest that about 48% of victims of some form of sexual abuse are boys. But these cases often go unreported.
Girls and boys are equally prone to being victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. So, shouldn’t we be creating awareness to our boys too? Shouldn’t we be protecting them too? This is why we talk about sexual abuse and ways to seek help in case of any such eventualities with both genders


Awareness on Toxic Masculinity and Women Objectification among Adolescent Boys: Need for Gender Sensitization



“We live in a generation where women are questioned about what is happening to them, as opposed to people questioning what is happening to them”. _ Trevor Noah

The idea that the victims of abuse are somehow responsible for an abuse is quite common- we call it “Victim Blaming”. In a country where we hear unfortunate cases of sexual abuse and rape on women in the age groups of 1 to 70; in a country where there are reports of animals also being subjected to abuse, it is the need of the hour to address such wrong ideologies among the next generation.
Before our sessions, a shocking 59% of adolescent boys believed that women’s dressing is the reason why rapes occur. Such assumptions are not just divorced from the actual reality- they are also deeply problematic.
In our sessions, we sight real case studies and everyday examples to discuss with the boy students about patriarchy, victim blaming, rape culture, bullying, stalking, gender inequalities, objectification and the issues women face.
This opens a dialogue and provides them the logical tools to think with greater empathy by understanding the plights of the opposite gender in a better way.


Importance of Gender Sensitization and Fighting Patriarchal Mindsets: Breaking Toxic Masculinity right from Adolescence:



As the world is quickly progressing, as more and more women enter the workforce by the day, as we start striding towards gender equality and equal opportunities by the minute, isn’t it also necessary to prepare the next generation of men to be gracefully ready for those changes?


• • Are we, as a society ready to welcome those changes by supporting women the way she should be in domestic and institutional spaces?
    
  • Instead of only glorifying women for being multi-taskers, how many of our men are taught to share the responsibilities and chores at home?
    
  • How many institutions are thinking of introducing the first day of period leaves?
    
  • How many men are comfortable buying sanitary napkins for the women in their lives?
    

Women’s empowerment is in one way a relief to most men and the pressures they face due to unrealistic expectations and toxic masculine stereotypes. Women being more literate or employed could be an added advantage that aids a family to come out of poverty- but some limiting mindsets prevent people from noticing that.
We all need to ask ourselves: “Is this the kind of world we would like to leave behind? Are we okay with our sons, daughters and future generations stepping into a world like that? Or, are we going to do something to actually break the chain of patriarchal beliefs right now?”
Our fight in PCT is to ensure that every boy who comes out of our sessions will start thinking as an enabler instead of an oppressor, and as a leader instead of a patriarch.
Contact us to organize our sessions at your school.


Scholarships for Students of Government Institutions by PCT India:


PCT gave out 5 Million Rupees in scholarships to the most needy students of our society and continues to do so. And have an experience of meeting thousands of government students over the past two decades.
But we realized that they needed more than scholarships and financial assistance to be the flag bearers of a positive change to their families and society.


Multi- Dimensional Inhibitors of Development in Students from Government Institutions:



• • SET: Due to stress from severe poverty, alcoholism within their families, lack of awareness about right parenting practices, social stigmas, lack of mentors that can impart life skills, the lives of students from economically downtrodden backgrounds are filled with turbulence and dejection.
    Through our SET sessions, we impart life skills like: empathy, self awareness, problem solving and interpersonal skills to make them into positive forces of change.

  • Career Guidance- Sethu: Most of them are first generation literates and hardly have anyone to seek career guidance or examples they can look up to. Through these sessions, we counsel them about different career choices, entrance procedures, scholarship availability based on their skill set, interest, income opportunities, economic conditions, and their personal time limitations.

  • Adolescent Gender Education for Boys and Girls- Swechha: Toxic gender stereotypes, social stigmas and taboos, patriarchal mindsets, and lack of channels that deal with adolescent health are still prevalent in our society. Swecha holistically educates students about the changes they undergo during adolescence.

Swecha sessions for girls are running for 7 years now. They create awareness about menstrual hygiene, right nutrition, best practices for health, child sexual abuse, child marriages, and menstrual health problems.

Join us in our movement! Let’s join our hands in the creation of a better world!
Remember, all change could be just one step away!