|THE DEN|
Who even decides what is right and wrong ?
What is Dogma? “A fixed, especially religious, belief or set of beliefs that people are expected to accept without any doubts.” Paradoxically the definition itself is not doing justice with modernity. Everyone knows that Indian culture is vibrant and a loud celebration of life and color. However, the darker issues cannot be ignored. There are a lot of social dogmas that still exist in our society for all the three genders. Raising awareness of these dogmas is the first step toward making a society strong and healthy. Therefore here we got few of them talking;
#1 Girls going out at night
All we still get is, ‘Good girls shouldn’t venture out at night’ advice.
What does it take to ensure that a woman exercising the same freedom as men to go out at any time of day or of night will not raise eyebrows and tempers of Indian society? While we have reached Mars now, still in the 21st century the myth of the “good girl” working well since families encapsulating and restricting women to outdated rules and patterns of behaviours through this way.
Raising girls in the fear of being judged for expressing their individuality is a toxic trait that holds them back from achieving their true dreams. Well of course somewhere we understand the protectiveness of our loved ones but as long as we will not go out just for the sake of safety it will be judged as characterless by society for some who don't care of what people think. It’s high time to stop acting like a victim and make it a new norm by getting that night life fun you always dreamt of.
#2 Boys can’t get emotional
Because ‘Real Men don’t cry’ !
Since childhood males have been told that boys are not supposed to cry because women have monopoly over the tears, because emotions are just another cover up for weakness, because that’s not what society considers as real men. Alternatively they should be called as a man when they shed their tears since before everything else a man is a human.
This misconception needs to be changed that real men are unbreakable, real men don’t cry however, real men can get help and real men do cry. They should instead be taught that their strength is not in silence but in sharing what is hurting their hearts. This myth has taken the lives of thousands of males via suiciding. Let’s spread this message that when the going gets tough, get talking and cry out this burden of emotions you are carrying. Let’s liberate our souls from what it is he or she rather let’s play humanity this time.
#3 Pre-marital sex ‘Can Sita stop proving her integrity !’
Losing virginity before marriage is something that is deemed as a sin in India especially for women because there is even no such term for men. According to society, the best age to lose her hymen is the night of her Honeymoon – with a bloody bed- sheet to boot. Well, That’s bullshit! over and above just because a woman is sexually active in her 20s it does not mean she is a “loose” or an “easy” woman. These are all choices she is making since it’s her body and she will do as she please. Her virginity is not a tag to be carried around proudly for other people to know how pure she is.
But how will we be able to shatter notions and labels attached to sexually active women until we understand that sex is ordinary? We need sex education, and we need to normalise it. After all it is just the basic human need for all the genders equally. Part of the reason why virginity and sexual liberation is made such a big deal is precisely because of this flawed term too “losing Virginity”. Why is it regarded as a loss? What’s being lost - honor, youth, innocence - what? Rather, I think it’s a new experience gained. Actually virginity doesn’t matter to those who love her and It’s high time for every Sita to deny any test to prove her integrity.
#3 Homosexuality
‘Every way of being is a manifestation of the divine’ - Bhagavad Gita
Homosexuality remains a taboo for a large portion of Indian society, even among the youth. Less than half of India’s urban youth approve of same sex relationships and due to this many are even ashamed of accepting themselves. However, LGBTQ+ rights in India have been evolving rapidly in recent years. The country has repealed its colonial-era laws i.e, section 377 that directly discriminated against homosexual and transgender identities.
Also explicitly interpreted Article 15 of the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Although, same-sex marriage is yet to be recognized legally in India. Ironically, in ancient India it was all opposite; lines dividing male from female and hetrosexual from homosexual were blurred. It's high time that ‘love’ which doesn’t care about boundaries or perceptions should now be celebrated in every corner of the world.
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