“How did you feel when
you first came to know you are a boy?”
“What a question,
anybody would feel good being a boy so even I felt great that I am a boy”,
shares the participant.
The session on “knowing
your body” began with the “coin game” energizer followed by brief revision of
last session and introduction as to what will happen in next 2 hours. The
participants were divided into the groups of 5 where they were invited to
discuss over 3 given questions and then share the group’s insight with the
larger circle.
“I got admission in the
school, I asked my father, with whom I will be studying then he told me that I would
be studying along with our neighbor’s son because I am a boy”
“I came to know through
my parents and books”
“When I was 5 years
old, I was playing with girls, then my friends told me that I am a boy and I should
play with boys”
“My grandmother had
come from village, at that time we didn’t had phones so she didn’t know that I was
born. So while I was taking bath, she said I am a boy”
“When my dad for the
first time called me son, then when I went to school which had only boys, also
when my dad bought me car then I came to know that I am a boy”
“When I came to know
that I am a boy I was very happy because my parents always wanted a boy. Also
if I am boy I can grow up and do big things for my country. Considering the
discrimination that existed between, boys and girls, I am glad that I am a boy”
“When I was in3 or 4th
class, my height increased, voice started becoming heavy that’s when I realized
that I am a boy. Also in my family I have one sister. I have seen how mummy
asks her to always do household chores and they have no problem with me playing
throughout the day”
It was for the first
time since our first intervention at My Perch that in the very first activity of
Puberty, gender became so predominant, just the mention of the word “Boy” lead
to series of gender difference the participants see in their homes,
neighborhood and school.
In the next activity,
the participants were divided into 3 groups where they were asked to draw the
body map, answer 4 questions around growing up and then presenting their
discussion and body map in the larger circle. There was so much enthusiasm in
choosing one person from the group to drawing his body map, making perfect
lines, using right colors, drawing body parts and naming them. While the
participants were engrossed in drawing and discussing the questions among
themselves, there was so much hesitance and complete ignorance towards
mentioning the private part. After giving a hint, all the three group drew the
private parts, while 1st group actually hide it with a notebook. But
when the time of presentation came by, they were all confident in sharing the
body map and the answers.
“The bad part about
growing up is we end up thinking about all the wrong things, such as teasing
girls, making girlfriends, visiting websites that we are told not to see, using
phones, going to friends with drug habits etc”
“When I was young I used
to be very naughty nobody used to say anything but now if I do anything naughty
I am thrashed by my family”
“If we gain weight or
have grown more in height, all the people call us by names like lambhoo, motu
etc”
“When we are growing,
we have hairs all over the body, on chest, on armpits, on arms, legs and even
around private parts which is bad, there is itching, sweat and irritation”
Another interesting
part of the body maps was that out of 3, 2 of the groups have actually drawn 6
packs abs hinting the growing influence of body image. When I asked who has the
6 pack abs in the class, no one said yes but many hands rose when I asked who
all wants to have them!
This session turned out to be interesting and unique in
many ways- not only we talked about body changes that happen in girls and boys
bodies, their private parts but also paved the way for our upcoming session on
Gender, peer pressure and body image.
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