Before coming to the camp, my understanding of menstruation was based on what my friends said. They said that menstruation was bad. After coming to the Boys 4 VOICE camp, our sir told us that menstruation was good, and is a natural process in every woman. After the camp, I will go to my friends, and tell them that they are wrong.
These are the words of Vijay, a class 8 student, who attended Fireflies, a camp organised by VOICE 4 Girls, an NGO that has been working with children in schools under the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) and Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS). The societies run residential educational institutions (class 5 to degree level) in the state under the Telangana Ministry of Scheduled Caste Development and the Telangana Ministry of Tribal Welfare respectively.
Recently, they have been doing something quite refreshing – with the help of VOICE 4 Girls, they are teaching boys in these schools about menstruation, mental health, consent and more. And the effect of the same is reflected in Vijay’s words.
It’s 2019, but in many schools, sexuality education, if it exists in the first place, is still limited to a one-off session where girls are talked to about menstruation. Though the boys are excluded from this discussion, menstruation becomes all but an open secret, often becoming a matter of shame for the girls. To address this, VOICE 4 Girls had organised ‘Fireflies’, a camp for boys to discuss issues like consent, reproductive health, mental health and so on.
Vijay’s video was shared on Twitter by RS Praveen Kumar, secretary of TSWREIS as well as TTWREIS, who stressed that empowerment of women could not be completed without educating men about gender and empathy too.
No empowerment of women is complete without educating men about gender and empathy. And this must start early. Thanks @voice4girls for helping us reach out to 36000 kids in the welfare schools of Telangana in the last 4 years. pic.twitter.com/p0FAQ5jNrm
— Dr. RS Praveen Kumar, IPS (@RSPraveenSwaero) May 18, 2019
What happens at the camps?
Fireflies, which is an eight-day camp held from May 6 to 13, engaged with 743 adolescent boys from Telangana Social Welfare Schools from around 94 locations. The camps were conducted simultaneously in 4 different locations across Telangana, in Husnabad, Tirumalayapalem, Miryalaguda and Boinapally.
VOICE 4 Girls designs its content based on primary research with students. Faiza Khan, who designed the curriculum for the boys’ camp, says that the material is rooted in the boys’ social context, and is repeatedly revised based on how students respond. Further, while it is primarily in English, Telugu versions of the books are also available. To de-jargonise concepts, phrases from the local language are used too.
The camp counsellors are typically young college students, who are rigorously trained in class management and using everyday life experiences when explaining difficult concepts. Female counsellors teach at the girls’ camps, and male counsellors at the boys’ camp.
Students are given the curated books, but learning is not limited to the page. The topics and ideas are taught creatively, using skits, games and activities.
For instance, to initiate a conversation around consent, counsellors facilitate an activity where students split into groups and come up with a skit about making and serving tea. The conversation around consent begins by facilitating a discussion about the discomfort of having someone impose a drink when they do not want it, and then moves on to things like giving hugs and establishing physical contact. Boys are encouraged to empathise with girls’ experiences in such scenarios.
Another activity they undertook to explain the idea of victim blaming to boys was one where they were asked to live a life in the day of a girl, Rani. “They really took a liking to this activity and got towels to dress up as Rani. Then they are made to play act instances from her life, where she faces violence and is blamed for it. The roleplay by the boys was amazing,” Faiza says.
While debriefing after the activity, Faiza says the boys felt really empathetic towards girls and experienced a breakthrough. “They said they had never realised girls went through these things,” she says.
A safe space
Laasya says that the learning curve with the Telangana Social Welfare Schools students has been high as they deal with topics that are not talked about or are taboo. So, students are curious to know more.
The camp also became a place for reflection and introspection for these young boys as well. For instance, there was a boy who came to camp with the firm belief that girls were wrong to wear short skirts. “The counsellor and other kids tried to reason with him but he wouldn't budge. However, his outlook changed by day 8. He came and told his counsellor that women have the right to wear what they want and must not be judged for it. The transition was quite heartening,” shares Faiza.
Then, there was a 12-year-old who talked about feeling depressed and suicidal. After the mental health chapter of the camp, he said he felt a sense of acceptance, Faiza says.
It also became a safe space for students to express sensitivity and tenderness which, in a patriarchal setup, are not seen as welcome traits in boys and men. For instance, when asked by a counsellor how he would communicate with a girl he liked, a boy said that he would walk up to the girl and tell her, “I see values in you that I want to have.” “Then he went on to say how he would love and respect her,” Faiza says.
While these results are heartening, Praveen Kumar says that it’s too early to talk about long-term impact. “We are hoping these boys will become more sensitive towards girls, about their experiences and biological processes going forward. We hope that the children will be sharing what they’ve learned with their friends and parents. We are planning to continue to conduct such awareness programs on a larger scale in the future.”
Why speak to boys?
VOICE 4 Girls conducts activity-based camps in government and affordable private schools for 12 to 15-year-olds, addressing themes like health, safety and future planning, while simultaneously building English speaking skills and critical thinking. It has mainly worked with adolescent girls from Telangana Social Welfare Schools for the past five years. However, while conducting co-ed workshops in the past, camp counsellors felt the need to speak to boys about girls’ experiences, says Anusha Bharadwaj, VOICE 4 Girls Executive Director.
“We wanted to sit down and talk to the boys; to tell them that, yes, adolescence is a tough time for you, but girls are also having these experiences that you need to understand,” she explains. “We wanted to inculcate in them empathy about gender, and also make them question established attitudes.”
“Fireflies was the first phase of the boys’ program. It introduced them to various topics such as mental health, reproductive health, violence, rights, role of media, etc. Building on this, the second phase, Supernova, will talk about deconstructing gender, recognising socially-constructed masculinity, and gender-based violence, among other topics. There is also a leadership component in Supernova, pushing them to be community leaders,” Laasya Reddy, a Content and Communications Officer at VOICE 4 Girls, tells TNM. “We hope to make them ambassadors who can take steps towards making a gender equal world.”
Praveen Kumar says that the workshops were a step to encourage young boys to become sensitive, empathetic and responsible men. “Boys often carry stereotypical notions around what girls and women can or cannot do. These boys are going to grow up to be men, husbands, co-workers. We want them to be better equipped to handle their relationships with women around them. It’s important that they are able to make way for diversity wherever they end up as adults,” he asserts.