Rural Window: Rent a movie, get a condom free
So here’s another story from one of my trainings in Mysore. This one was on Gender and Sexuality, conducted for the marginalised and working youth of the city.
Gender and Sexuality are one of our more ‘serious’ trainings – more talks, discussions and exercises and fewer games. The age groups of these trainings vary from city to city – and this time in Mysore the age group was mainly between 16 to 25.The training threw up discussions on a lot of issues – stereotyped gender roles, the public spaces for both men and women, safe sex methods, the use of contraceptives, etc.
I came back to Delhi and suddenly received a call from on of our partners in Mysore. He told me about this young boy named Mutthu, who was a participant in the training session in Mysore. He is all of 22 years and runs a porn DVD rental store. After attending our sessions on Gender and Sexuality – he had an ingenious brainwave. He began to give away a condom with every porn movie that he rented out. Initially ofcourse, this move was resented by most of his customers – some laughed embarrassedly at the sight of a condom, some just walked out, and some others even got irritated. But Mutthu persevered, because he knew this was the only way he could introduce topics such as safe sex and condoms to the men in his locality. Eventually though, his customers softened to the idea and became more responsive. And today, Mutthu successfully holds forth on issues in and around sexuality.
Ingenious isn’t it?
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