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While the Supreme Court of India gears up to take a stand on the draconian Section 377 of The Indian Penal Code, the youth of our country still appears to be homophobic, and confused about same sex love.
Youtube channel Blush recently published a video bringing forth the voice of young Mumbai women on #GirlLove
The first question that came to my mind after watching the responses in this thought provoking video is: what is the very basis of our understanding of normal and abnormal social behavior?
Why do we feel the need to quickly emphasize on the fact of being ‘straight’ when asked a simple question about girls loving girls? Against what are we defending ourselves? Why do we need to specially clarify?
What are we so afraid of?
We are afraid of being counted among the ‘abnormals’, we are afraid of being ‘outcasted’, of being looked down upon, of being the ones who do not have any right to dignity and privacy in this country. The normal-abnormal conundrum continues to haunt the LGBTQ community and will continue to do so until the youth of India frees itself from the gendered chains of patriarchy and the socially constructed ‘normal’ attitudes and behavior. This conundrum impacts the lives of many others who are perceived to be different and hence subjugated when compared from the high standards of normalcy set by our society.
The use of terms such as ‘queer’, ‘differently-abled’, ‘the weaker sex’ etc., are evident of the obstinate process of comparison that is activated whenever we come across someone who is beyond our narrow understanding of life and its various forms. We all want to be that respected and highly prized human being who is the epitome of normalcy. This age-old conservative approach has become so ingrained in our minds that we refuse to take off our blinders and want to be at a hand’s distance from those ‘others’.
But one universal feeling unites us all. Love. We all experience love in different forms and at different points of our life; no one remains untouched from this beautiful feeling. Then why do we think that love has only one color? Are we so phallocentric that our minds cannot accept the fact that to love we simply need a heart and a soul. Why do we want to restrict this emotion to only one form? Why do we want to punish those who do not follow us? Isn’t it cruel?
What if in another world your being ‘straight’ was not so normal?
Love can be yellow, orange, purple, blue, I say love is Technicolor. Stop justifying yourself as being “straight”, free your mind and heart from the burdens of orthodox norms that have been dumped on you by this meek insecure society and THINK AFRESH.
Image source: same sex love by Shutterstock.
I am a law professor who aspires and dreams to make the world a safer and better place for women read more...
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