2020 hum sab ke liye ek bahut hi mushkil year raha hai. COVID 19 pandemic ne humein har tarah se challenge kiya hai, leaving us isolated from family and friends, and forcing us to adjust to a “new normal”, jo humne kabhi socha bhi nahi tha.
Emergency pills (EP), also known as morning-after pills or e-pills are here to save you. These pills are for emergencies and you can take them up to 72 hours after having unprotected sex to avoid getting pregnant. They are over-the-counter drugs which means you can buy them from a pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription.
In the simplest of terms, birth control through contraceptive methods aims to prevent pregnancy. All forms of birth control (when used correctly that is!) prevent the sperm from reaching and fertilizing an egg, thus preventing pregnancy. Contraception helps you and your partner decide when you want to have kids. It is a decision that should be thought through properly as it impacts your educational ambitions, your finances, your freedom and many other elements of your life.
India is all set to become the most populated country in the world in a few years and we all know how that has come to be, sex. Yet, the taboos related to sexual health, intimacy and relationships still prevail in the society. As a society, we Indians actively avoid discussing these issues openly with their friends, families or even partners. From the looks of it, India definitely needs to start talking.
Whenever these words are spoken out loud, all we do is hush hush. While young Indians are open and forward in their outlook, there is still hesitation to talk about these issues. Have you ever thought why? Think now, what makes you not say out loud the things you feel? Why, despite having an open mind, are you unable to voice your opinions?
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis that affects our lungs. The symptoms of getting TB are prolonged coughing, weight loss, night sweats and fever. TB is a potentially serious infectious disease and can easily spread through air when a person coughs, talks, sneezes or sings. While TB is generally associated with people from a lower economic background, the truth is ANYONE can get TB.
‘Pulling Out’ or the ‘Withdrawal Method’ is when the man withdraws his penis right before he is about to ejaculate in order to prevent pregnancy. It’s been around long before it had a name but it was just as unreliable and unsafe then, as it is now.
Talking about sex is something that almost every Indian avoids. It makes us deeply uncomfortable because talking about an intimate and private act can be awkward. However, with the rise in STDs, unwanted pregnancies and dating culture, it has become important for us to talk about it openly. In an age where there is a smog around consent, it is important that we don’t shy away from these discussions. So, what are the things about sex that make us super-awkward?
Then you grow up too afraid to even look at the opposite sex, let alone touch them – fuelled with misinformation, you end up making some pretty dreadful sexual decisions. All these untruths make it hard to know what points are purely ludicrous and which ones are actually hard-facts.
when hear it.
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its report that India accounted for 27 per cent of the total number of Tuberculosis cases in the world! Tuberculosis, which is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a growing epidemic and yet, we don’t hear people talking about this lethal disease.
The question remains: Why not so serious? And an even more important question needs to be asked: What do we do to fight it?
Tuberculosis is a serious epidemic in India, but very few of us understand the importance of spreading awareness and initiating conversations around it. Consider this situation: What if one of your friends is suffering from TB? Yes, being around a person infected with TB can be risky, but is cutting off that person from your life the solution? No, Definitely Not! This is the time your friend needs you the most.
Pleasure- It’s something that we all seek and yet, we are bogged down by the shame surrounding the pursuit of it. When it comes to sexual pleasure, especially masturbation, shame increases manifold because of the cultural norms and perceptions. However, thanks to the major shifts in attitudes, we are moving towards the acceptance of sexual desires and moving away from the idea that sex is primarily reserved for reproduction purposes. Slowly but surely, there has been a green signal to the conversations around masturbation too. So, how do you derive more joy from masturbation and mutual pleasure from sex?
When you find out that you are pregnant (and you don’t want to be!), it is understandable if you get into a panic mode as the pregnancy is not something you planned for or even wanted in the first place! Even though you cannot change this fact, there’s always something that you can do!
You’ve probably heard the mantra- “Hum do Hamaare Do”. But not much is said about the middle years between the births of “hamaare do”. “Going with the flow” on this is not very wise!
Somewhere down the line, we also know that family planning involves a lot of thinking underneath the going with the flow. Important financial, emotional and relationship-related decisions and priorities are involved. Child spacing should be one of them. If you are planning for more than a single child, having a healthy interval between the birth of your two children is the best thing that you can do for both your children, you and your partner. But what are the things you need to keep in mind here?
Many couples feel that the order and births of their children are best left to fate or to God. For some other couples, it’s the male or the male’s family that decides such questions. While these factors shouldn’t be totally dismissed, you’re better off not making them the centre of your decisions.
If you’ve ever read a sex advice column you may remember those annoying questions about how to know if one’s wife is a virgin or not. We all know some curious uncles and aunties whose radar gets activated the moment they see an unmarried woman hanging out with a guy frequently. This just shows how obsessed we are as a culture about the girl’s premarital sex or pre-marriage virginity. The whole society, be it men and sadly, even the women themselves judge and question an unmarried girl about her virginity status when she is seen with a guy.
We all saw how our favourite MTV Nishedh school girl, Guddhi was just not coping with life, always feeling tired, breathless, having dizzy spells, struggling to concentrate, and not really understanding why. And then she went to the doctor and we found out why – she had anaemia, a condition which can be caused by nutrition deficiency- not eating the right foods.
Remember those fights between Rahul and Anjali about who’s better? Patriarchy is just a grander version of this fight with a predetermined result: The Boys are harder, faster, better, stronger!
Patriarchy is like the software to our society’s hardware. It can’t be easily seen, even though it runs our lives in a major way. We’ve all met patriarchy in some form or the other. Let’s figure out some ways to be ready to face it better in the future…
We’ve all been there! We’ve all had to talk about some really uncomfortable things with our family members at some or the other point. From our relationships to our sex life, very often we skip the conversation altogether to avoid the discomfort.
The taboo around the “A-word” (Abortion) means that women aren’t able to get the help they need to take control of their own lives, and that’s not cool!
Annoying, right? Now, imagine, someone is watching you and reading along with you. How do you feel? Frustrated, right?
As human beings, although we are social animals, we also want our space and privacy to be respected. In fact, we don’t just want it; we need it. But whenever someone talks about privacy, it is assumed that he/she/they are talking about engaging in some sexual encounter. Yes, we do need privacy to be intimate with our partners but it is not limited to physical intimacy.
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