{"id":9298,"date":"2016-07-01T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T05:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=9298"},"modified":"2018-08-28T15:44:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T10:14:06","slug":"voices-braille-fighter-pilots-sexuality-informed-approach-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/voices-braille-fighter-pilots-sexuality-informed-approach-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Braille, Fighter Pilots and a Sexuality-Informed Approach to Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Braille<\/a>. On the website of The Naked Scientists<\/a> (thrilled with this name, goes with this theme), the science behind Braille has received focus:<\/p>\n

When we move our fingertip over objects such as Braille characters, receptors under the skin produce electrical impulses that race at about 50 meters per second through the nervous system and up towards the brain. This pattern of electrical impulses, a sort of neural Morse code, activates a part of the brain’s parietal lobe \u2013 roughly halfway between the forehead and the back of the head. This tactile area of the parietal lobe helps to decode the neural impulses, in order to infer the shapes of the objects that touched the skin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s cool. That\u2019s scientific. Hold that thought for a bit.<\/p>\n

What if this month’s theme was art and sexuality? The nude human body leaps to mind, in painting, in stone, in moving image. Somehow the first image that comes to my mind with the word sexuality is still body-based. This is despite the many years of tutoring that I have been exposed to, by friends, by strangers, by the Internet and by my brain as it analyses everyday inputs such as advertising. Sexual beings, sexual expression, who we are, how we identify, and our attitude to sex.<\/p>\n

However, this month’s theme is science and sexuality. Science is mind-boggling because the word covers the universe. It\u2019s everything from refraction, through meteors millions of years old, to how and why I think the way I do. Instead of boggling, I have sought inspiration from news involving three sparkling young women<\/a>, and a workshop I facilitated recently on self and identity<\/a> with five young people who are visually challenged.<\/p>\n

So I return to Braille. But I will take the sexuality approach. This can take me to education. I read on the website of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a> that,<\/p>\n

Sighted children learn a great deal about sexuality through casual observation. Children with visual impairments cannot see the differences between boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 bodies, various body shapes and sizes, and pregnancy changes. They cannot observe these and other developmental changes over the life cycle. They may have limited knowledge of gender roles and fashions, male-female attractiveness factors, toileting practices, and appropriate displays of affection.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Therefore, in short, you need to have materials for sexuality education that are in Braille.<\/p>\n

I Googled the subject of sexuality education for persons with visual impairments in India and found that Voice Vision<\/a>, an NGO, had held a workshop on the subject of sexuality and intimacy<\/a> in 2012. This was for adults, not children, and it was conducted in a hospital setting. I do not know if there were materials in Braille for participants. The website of Voice Vision has a matrimonial section so the workshop on sexuality and intimacy seems supportive and appropriate.<\/p>\n

The National Association for the Blind provides \u201cPre-marital counseling workshops for visually challenged women and men of marriageable age<\/a>\u201d. There is a need for material resources that take advantage of the science behind Braille to approach sexuality. (TARSHI<\/a> did Braille versions of their sexuality education publication for children, The Red Book<\/em>, for NAB, many years ago. TARSHI has some sexuality education materials including The Red Book<\/em> and The Blue Book\u00a0<\/em>in DAISY audio format and an audio book on sexuality and relationships called TARSHI Talks\u00a0<\/em>for those with print and visual disabilities.)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, in the book Tactile Mind<\/em><\/a>, artist Lisa J. Murphy has \u201csculpted, thermo formed and self-published a handmade book of nude photographs for the blind. Pictures and grade-one (American) English Braille accompany the images, so blind, vision impaired and sighted individuals can enjoy this work\u201d. Then there\u2019s also Pornhub, in the news recently<\/a>, for creating a section on its website, the \u201cdescribed video\u201d category, that makes films accessible for service users with visual impairments.<\/p>\n

Now, in about 500 words, we have Braille, sexuality education, accessibility, art, pleasure, pornography and diverse practical uses of many different fields of science popping out of the lab and textbook. If we want to see these cross-connections we will; if not, we won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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Image taken from sexualityanddisability.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Science can help the visually challenged find sexual expression and pleasure in a porn film experience. This brings their ability to choose these experiences on par with one who is sighted. Science can help you <\/span>transform the body you are born in<\/a>\u00a0to the body that you feel is you. Science can help tip the balance in favour of justice and human rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

India has crossed a milestone as I write this, as Bhawana, Avani and Mohana<\/a> become the very first women fighter pilots to be inducted by the Indian Air Force. To most people, this indicates some form of breaking gender barriers, of changing social perceptions.<\/p>\n

As I think and write this, I am made keenly aware by voices external and internal, that war and combat are miserably negative experiences in human history. Too much of the world, the greater part of it, is in grief, and suffering the consequences of violence, crimes against humanity, conflict and battle. Amidst these thoughts and voices, I hear Bhawana\u2019s young voice in an interview saying, \u201cAlways, always dream big, there is always a way, never give up.<\/a>\u201d I connect with the spirit underlying the words. At this point in history, the world, including Etawah, Bulandshahr, Kanpur, and Kohlapur in India, and the Republic of Macedonia in the Balkan peninsula, amongst many other locations, is exactly what it is. There is violence, crime, corruption and the misuse of office, power and uniform, by those who will do so. In this same world, there are some women who have sought the option of service through office and uniform in what has traditionally been a man\u2019s world. Manzil Saini<\/a>, for example, a fiery policewoman in the town of Etawah, B. Chandrakala, District Magistrate<\/a> in Bulandshahr\u00a0taking on crime<\/a>, as does District Magistrate Dr.Roshan Jacob, conducting raids, challenging the corrupt<\/a>.\u00a0 Have you ever wished to see the sight of men who sexually harass women running in the other direction as the law catches up<\/a> with them? Watch Kolhapur ASP Jyotipriya and DSP Vaishali Mane<\/a>, attempt to create a safe city. In the Republic of Macedonia, Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, along with colleagues Lence Ristovska, and Fatime Fetai are taking on crime and corrupt politicians and government officials. According to the BBC news report<\/a> I read, they are inspiring hope and renewed faith amongst ordinary citizens. “They’re the first real glimmer of hope that justice can happen in this country,” says Damian. “Their message is that the law is the law and nobody can go above it and beyond it.”There is a strong connection here between the administrative sciences and sexuality. Perhaps to be explored at another time.<\/p>\n

In so many different ways, there are women dreaming big, believing there is a way, and refusing to give up. They choose methods that are in line with their sensibilities and their understanding of life. They must have equal access to the available array of options.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to think about though. In one of the news stories I read<\/a>\u00a0about Bhawana, Avani and Mohana, there is a sentence that says,\u201cThe IAF had advised the women in March to refrain from motherhood for the next four years.\u201d There are complex intersecting issues here, for today and tomorrow. In Israel, the Air Force\u00a0allows pregnant pilots and navigators<\/a>\u00a0to fly. In the US, an Air National Guard Commander, Stephanie Kelsen, aka \u2018Vapor\u2019, got pregnant in her 30s and became one of a rare breed, the pregnant female fighter pilot. Shlomit Levy Bard, a portrait photographer, did a series of photographs with the pregnant Kelsen and used the opportunity to ask her many questions. Levy says, \u201cLooking at the photos of her round belly popping out of a flight suit reminds me that it\u2019s ok to embrace who we are at any given moment \u2013 even if pieces of our identity seem as contradictory as a pregnant fighter pilot. Most important is accepting ourselves fully, and that we be present in whatever we are doing.\u201d This story was published in The New York Times<\/em><\/a>, less than a decade ago in 2009, the same year that India\u2019s Vice Chief Air Marshall PKBarbora had spoken against inducting women as fighter pilots<\/a>, \u201cTo give that much of training and not be able to operationally utilise, at this moment in time, I am not talking of tomorrow, may not be prudent.\u201d Well, \u201ctomorrow\u201d is here.<\/p>\n