Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Community Cafe: Exploring GV - Where Freedoms End



Why are we squeamish to talk honestly about sex? Why are we so apathetic to the violence that surrounds us? Where do we draw the line between personal freedoms and our duties and responsibilities - as individuals, citizens, professionals and members of a family unit? And why are these lines harder to blur for women that they are for men? 

These are some of the questions that were raised in our 2 hour conversation on the 7th of December with our GEM Jayanthi Karthikeyan and members of her Reiki Satsang. Even as the group debated existing realities, the focus was on prevention and response and what each of us can do, as individuals, to change the status quo. In this sense, it was a conversation that mirrored the larger purpose of the campaign itself.

An important point that was raised during the course of the conversation was about how we learn. When we are in school, while the content is the predominant focus, the real learning is the acquiring of schemes that help us process information a certain way and the cultural norms that influence this. Violence as a learned behaviour follows the same patterns and is influenced by the same norms: How can we change the way we raise and teach our children? And how can we treat girls and boys equally?

Thank you Jayanthi Karthikeyan, for being such a wonderful host!

No comments:

Post a Comment