We are coming to the end of the Gay Pride month in the city. On Saturday, the Pride Parade was the apogee of a breakththrough month in terms of new spaces and new audiences and allies, as the gay community found supporters they never knew they had
We are coming to the end of the Gay Pride month in the city. On Saturday, the Pride Parade was the apogee of a breakththrough month in terms of new spaces and new audiences and allies, as the gay community found supporters they never knew they had.
In a first, medical students marched in the parade. Yet, such heartening debuts are negated when we still have medical textbooks painting lesbians as 'degenerates' and 'nymphomaniacs'. A mid-day front-page report had exposed how a seminal textbook for second year MBBS students, 'The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology', has clubbed lesbianism in a chapter on sexual offences.
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Excerpts from the paragraph reinforced disturbing stereotypes about lesbians, claiming the practice is usually indulged in by women who are mental degenerates or those who suffer from nymphomania. It also stated that such acts lead to 'interference with young girls'. It added that lesbians — who are 'morbidly jealous of one another' — might commit homicide when rejected.
This is blatantly false and perpetuates a horribly warped image of lesbians. It is troublesome that future doctors are learning this. This may surely colour their perception and treatment of patients in the future.
Textbooks have to be vetted and upgraded to be in tune with the times. The committee that forms the syllabus has obviously not done its homework in this instance. Older medical professionals are blasé about these paragraphs, saying they have always existed in medical textbooks.
This is a huge step backwards. It is time to relook at these books that belong in the dark ages. Irresponsible and downright false, such prejudice and lies have no space in a classroom, and certainly not one that has medical students in it.
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