India: no homosexuals here
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7507.57 (Published 30 June 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:57All rapid responses
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It is shocking to note the denial of homosexuality in India and
further disturbing to find this perception among medical educators. In
fact, such denial about many other stigmatized behavior and diseases are
common in our country. However, if medical educators make value judgment
on such matters, there is every need to provide them with training to
exclude personal morals from the provision of medical training. It is
already been realized that the medical education has many more moralistic
stances in India which makes doctors view things not purely in clinical
terms but subject their prescription to the prevailing social reality. A
good example for it is the lack of gender sensitivity in medical education
in India. This instance of perceiving homosexuality as a deviant behavior
and not a choice of one’s own sexuality may make a doctor condemning
homosexuality rather than treating homosexuals as ordinary individuals.
This is another awakening call for the need to orient medical personnel to
not to apply their individual value judgment on a patients individual
characteristics.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
The report that homosexuality is not taught in the Indian medical
colleges is not correct. Sexual deviations are discussed at least in the
forensic classes. A case of homosexuality quoted by my forensic professor
in my medical training days in Kerala still looms in my mind. A servant
in a household became pregnant apparently without any male contact. The
child’s father turned out to be her employer and both the parties firmly
denied sexual relation. It was later discovered that the wife of the
employer was having lesbian relationship with the servant. After having
sexual relation with the husband, wife used to sleep with the servant
and the semen from the husband got transferred to the vagina of the
servant from the wife during lesbian sexual activity. This may be an
extremely rare case but illustrative of Indian homosexuality.
It is a misunderstanding that homosexuality is a problem of the west.
The reality is that a culture that favours homosexuality brings out more
cases of homosexuality. Indian society does not approve practice of
homosexuality and so homosexuality is concealed. In a culture where
arranged marriage system is the norm, homosexuals also get easily married
and live a “socially normal life”. In fact, young people with pseudo-
homosexuality gets a breathing space to get their sexual identity
confusion clarified in the Indian cultural set up and pseudo homosexuals
do not get socially trapped as in communities where homosexuality is
legalised.
Spirituality has been a great protective mask of Indian way of life.
Many social deviations have been disguised in the name of spirituality and
spiritual sublimation has been the healthiest coping mechanism of Indian
society. Historically many an Indian of homosexual orientation chose a non
-practising sexual way of life and contributed to the advancement of the
community. Some of them opted for a hermitic way of life and remained
celibate. This is not to say that all the hermits were non- practising
homosexuals. One could wittingly note that the legendary hermit
Viswamitra was not of homosexual orientation as he gave in to the
temptation of Menaka, the human born Goddess who was assigned to tempt the
high ranking hermit and distract him from intense meditation as the gods
themselves thought that the hermit was becoming a threat to them through
spiritual advancement! Sex with love is also celibacy in the Vedic
philosophy .
Have contraceptive pills unmasked homosexuality in affluent
societies? With the introduction of contraceptive pills women have
become sexually free and homosexuals can no longer pretend to be
straight. Men reach the peak of sexuality in their teens where as women
become sexually most active in their early thirties. So boys become aware
of their sexual preferences earlier than girls. By thirties most women
have become mothers and the maternal instincts overtake their sexual
orientation ; nature providing an opportunity to conceal their sexual
preferences.
Nobody knows the cause of true homosexuality. The best way of
removing the stigma attached to homosexuality is by understanding more
about its cause. The causes of homosexuality are a matter of debate. They
have been regarded as hormonal, genetic, or psychoanalytic. Dr Ian
Stevenson has proposed cross-sex reincarnation to explain
homosexuality.2 The idea of reincarnation does not replace genetic and
environmental influences, but serves as a third contributing factor in the
formation of human personality.
Reference:
1.Ravichandran Balaji. India: no homosexuals here. B M J 2005: 331:57
2.Ian Stevenson. Reincarnation and Biology, Praeger, Westport,1997.
Dr James Paul Pandarakalam,
Consultant Psychiatrist,
St Helens North Community Mental Health Team,Peasley Cross Resource
Centre,St Helens, Merseyside WA 9 3DA. U.K.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
India has indeed been one of the fastest developing nations in the
world.But the economical expansion has not matched the narrowness of the
mind of an average Indian man who is so much involved in gathering the
basic necessities of life like food and water, that he forgets to look
from someone else's perspective.Homosexuality has always been present in
our society behind closed doors.The door to these issues shall never open
because we are indifferent to the ground realities.Even if someone tries
to portray these issues in the form of a film, our acceptibility would be
influenced by the media because it's a burning issue.But the fact exists
that the number of homosexuals in the Indian subcontinent is much more
than what is depicted.It is rampant in places like military,prisoners and
even in remote villages where men having sex with men is just a mischief.
But Same Sex Love is not just an issue in India.It is still condemned by
the Catholic Church.It is still a taboo in more than three forth of the
worlds countries.But any taboo must be derooted from the grass root
level.AIDS has become a part of school syllabus in many places in
India.Issues like homosexuality which need to be discussed at the school
level before young minds are shocked by such issues and are confused
between the hardliners and the over-excited media.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
One of the problems of discussing anything related to sex in India is
that you meet 10 people, and they would give you 10 different opinions!
Though, that can happen in any country, but problem in India is compounded
by ignorance, prejudice and lack of knowledge.
In present article, author has discussed several issues1, including
377. The law is surely archaic as it says homosexuality is punishable
offense let alone their rights and all. He has suggested the remedy as
medical teaching. That’s not enough and is unlikely to be so.
At least part of the reason is: Doctors come from our own society.
Many a times, if not most, unfortunately though; they too share same
illogical prejudices and beliefs. So is merely preaching a doctor
sufficient? The answer seems to be a clear no!
An important tool we have to educate doctors is to include sex
education in schools. I agree with Bala on one count that Indian medical
students and doctors do not feel too comfortable discussing sex2,3.
Homosexuals are among the worse treated people and are greeted with
contempt, humiliated and seen with disgust.
While teaching medical students and doctors, I have felt several
times the unease when the words like impotence, vagina and penis come
during discussion. Very few students show interest while others try to
evade the teacher’s eyes. Girl students are clearly embarrassed discussing
disorders like paraphilias. Many a times, I have noted quite a bit of
unease when I teach rectal route of drug delivery!
Why does it happen? Doctors know anatomy (both male and female) more
than general public. But still why are they shy? An important reason is
cultural psychology producing barriers. Sex is viewed as being lewd and
lusty. An attempt is done to prevent interaction between members of
opposite sex. A common example of such cultural comedy is that when mother
or father introduces the neighbor’s or friend’s daughters to their sons,
they begin by saying” “meet your sister!” this of course embarrasses the
young and this forcible attempt of separation leads to inquisitiveness.
It is apparent that merely putting more burdens on minds of students
reading already very thick medical books does not solve this problem. If
doctors feel insecure talking about sex just educating them is likely to
bring least improvement.
“Catch them young” can be an effective solution. The children in
schools can be given sex education and the adults including medical
students and doctors offered reinforcement. The emphasis should be on
general sex education and media has vital role to play.
References:
1. Bala Ji R. Strght outa India studentBMJ 2005;13:221-264.
2. Dhikav V. More on treating homosexuality as a sickness: homosexuality
is punishable in India. : BMJ. 2004 May 22;328(7450):1261.
3. Dhikav V. Sexual deviations—the paraphilias—hidden aspects of sex in
India. In: Male homosexuality. New Delhi: AITBS, 2003: 5-11. (Chapter 2.)
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
a lot has been said about un -awareness of existence of homosexuality
in india. stragely even in this unawareness homosexuality is largely
accepted in indian society , much more then many western societies. true
about a legislation article 377 which is actually a victorian law and
barres " sodomy " in any form heterosexual or homosexual .. but the fact
is in all these 50 years of indepencence not even a single case has been
registered under this act anywhere in the country. it has been used a few
times against child molestors .
i have worked very closely with the homesexual community in gujrat and
north india and among normal people not being accepted is not an issue .
the cry and hoopla created in media for oen particular movie is for
political motivation and can`t be regarded as an act against homosexual in
general.
The main concern among homosexual community the world over is spread of
AIDS and its just that such kind of legislations hamper the healthcare
workers to openely apread awareness about hiv spread .
some old generation professors may be living in an era of denial but new
generation health care professionals not only are aware of homosexuality
but are generally forthcoming with advice.
Few would say what a 22 year old in the bpo industry
said:
"My sexuality is accepted even in my workplace and co-workers and friends
are very supportive, i even took a male date to an office party and no
body battered an eyelid." A 33 year old surgeon who is gay himself said: "My gay friends keep asking me about safe sex; I'm worried about the spread
of hiv cbeause hardly few guys practice safe sex in here , we should have
main stream advertisements."
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
i am not an indian, however i live in a 'third world' country where
51% of the population are descendants of indian immigrant indentured
servants from the 19th century. as such our culture is saturated with all
things 'indian' from the filmi music to the national celebration of hindu
religious events. if one was to look at all the programs shown here about
india and indian culture (which admittedly is mostly bollywood movies)
then one would indeed think that homosexuals are a nonexistent group in
india. though commonsense told me that could not be, indeed i had no proof
that i was right -until Deepa Mehta's 'Fire' i.e and a book 'Facing the
mirror: Lesbian writings from india' by Ashwini Sukhtankar. Who knew india
had so many lesbians?! the point is, whilst here in guyana homosexual
invisibility is not a problem (though homophobia is)health care workers,
especially doctors, are looked at with great respect and an ill-informed
and homophobic doctor (as sadly most are here,) not only is totally ill
equipped to deal with their gay/msm/wsm patients (which are more than they
know) but does a great disservice to human rights by further propagating
misinformation and negative attitudes about homosexuality.
earlier on in my medical education i too have noted the inappropiately
immature attitudes my classmates have about human sexuality, as well as
their obsession with the hymen.
i do agree india has its fair share of medical problems though i don't
think homosexuality should be the last on its list of priorities -
regardless of disease, gender, socioeconomic status, caste, race, age - a
patient can still be homosexual - it's a parameter/consideration that cuts
across all borders and can significantly affect patient care. Remember
that whilst dealing with bigotry, hatred and prejudice is bad enough, most
would argue that being totally invisible is even worse.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Balaji Ravichandran , India: no homosexuals here
BMJ 2005; 331: 57
One musn't be surprised at the ignorance or bias of medical students
or even doctors in India regarding sexuality.
Social taboos make them believe that even actions like masturbation are
unhealthy and leads to loss of virility. One can thus imagine the reaction
they reserve towards homosexuality. The more telling influence of lack of
sex-education and more importantly - respect to human rights, culminates
in assaults on the fairer sex. The print and the electronic media in India
is very immature and amateurish to spread such conciousness.
Sex education is something that needs to be understood in school level
when the adolescent mind starts getting curious about the ongoing changes
in mind and body. Bereft of such knowledge the condition of a doctor is no
better than the lay public. I donot think just ‘frank and impartial
medical teaching’ can be an answer to that. One needs to address human
rights issues here and not just homosexuality.
A third world country like India has major health care problems like
battling infectious diseases and malnutrition. Access to primary care and
sanitation is deplorable .So the medical community has never felt the need
to sweat over the issue of homosexuality, they just donot have the time
to. Infact I myself haven't ever been taught anything on homosexuality but
I know that being human, it demands that I must be tolerant and respect
the views of all individuals irrespective of gender, race, colour, sexual
inclinations etc.
One may find it ironic that the view that homosexuality is a ‘US
invention’ holds true in one way - persecution of homosexuals is not a
serious social problem in India. It will be more fruitful if somebody
highlights eradicating social stigma associated with widespead problems
eg. ostracisation of Leprosy patients, a rather common affliction, still
believed by a large section of the Indian society to be a result of a
curse for wrongdoings in previous life. Oppression and persecution in the
name of gender, caste and socio-economic class is so prevalent in India
that intolerance on basis of homosexuality is comparatively negligible.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Homosexuality - a perfect crime in India
Bashing up gays is easy,it pays well and u can go scot-free.To see
why its attractive,consider attacking gay man from criminal's point of
view.There are 3 imp issues-
1.Access- Getting to the victim and crime scene has to be easy.some
gay men will take extraordinary risks in their quest for sex and even just
company.so its not unusual for man to install multiple alarm systems at
home to invite someone he has known for half an hour into his bedroom.
2.Reward- Nefarious activity is best when it generates maximum bang
for the buck,a gay men`s house offers plenty of it bcoz as marketers,in
west have known for years,guy men at a given income level tend to be more
flush than their straight counterparts.They can be themselves a lot of
goodies on what their straight mates lay out on children and spuses.One
investment broker woke up after a steamy night in mumbai with a taxi
driver to find he had been releived of an expensive watch.
3.Retribution- As in any conservative society,indian guys are fairly
closeted and don`t enjoy an understanding societal and legal
environment.In all of criminal actovity there may no other avenue where
the victim is less inclined to complain in public.For ex- it is imp to
find a cop who will not state for the record that homosexual behaviour is
an illegeal pervasion bcoz he would essentially then be questioning the
infamous Article 377 of the IPC.
"In our thoughts and culture,it is not normal or acceptable to be
gay" agrees senior police officer.
The law clearly has its limitations and in any case several scams
involve blackmail with the threat of disclosure to family and collegues
and even planting evidence on victim.small wonder that the likelihood of
reporting a crime drops to somewhere near ZERO.
Policemen have been systematically tracking down gay peoplein.why are
they asking us how we have sex,how on earth is that relevant to this
crime?asked a naaz Foundation volunteer.
Of course,as with any section of humanity,some gay men will continue
to take risks with their lifestyle.its as much a part of their as its
fort some drivers to play deathwish games on indian roads.In
fact,throughout history,for entire section of upper class gay,the "rough
trade" on having sex with the most undesirable boys possible has been
irresistible.The thrill lies in risk taking which eventually lead to
considerable trouble for people ,HIV-AIDS.
The prognosis is not good.But society and laws should learn to
appreciate the difference between alternative sexual identity and
pervasion.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests