Gujarat campus takes a 'gay' turn
Radha Sharma Raheel Dhattiwala ,TNN
AHMEDABAD: Gone are the days when 'bird-watching' was the only
obsession on campus hostels. Who needs babes when the young get experimental
with people of their own sex?
Playing homosexual games, ragging along gay lines and even chance homosexual
encounters by otherwise straight boys and girls have become commonplace in
hostels as homosexuality is fast ceasing to be a dirty word. Ask boys in the
Gujarat University hostel and they tell you how one of the most popular party
games for guys is one where they compare and feel body parts.
A student of NHL Medical College narrates how he gets patted by senior students
all the time. I like pursuing girls but have to deal with guys hitting on me
all the time. A resident doctor once tried to get up close inside the operation
theatre. It's getting part of hostel life now, he says.
A recent study by BJ Medical College students titled 'Profiling sexual attitude
and practices of youth' conducted on 200 students in premier colleges like
National Institute of Design (NID), LD Engineering College, among others,
revealed that 7% conceded they were bisexuals.
Of the respondents, 38% boys and 44% girls said homosexuality was normal.
Around 50% conceded their behaviour would not change if they came to know a
person was homosexual. Significantly, 75% said homosexuality should be included
in formal sexual education.
For some, it gets serious. A student leader told TOI that recently a girl from
a reputed university in Ahmedabad consumed poison after she was forced to live
away from her same-sex partner in her hostel room.
Apparently, her parents had brought about the separation. Students in hostels
are more likely to accept a different sexual orientation these days even if
society doesn't.
Homosexuality has become more acceptable, agrees Vinay Tomar, Ahmedabad city
president, National Students' Union of India.
The youth are basically getting more experimental. Most of the homosexual
encounters in the young have roots in experiments and not in pathological
homosexuality, says psychiatrist Hansal Bhachech.
-
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total
Access, No Cost.
