Many people in India say that being gay is a “Western conspiracy”, an “imported disease” and “against Indian culture”, one of the major arguments against overturning Section 377, which would decriminalise homosexuality. But is it really? Listen on to find out. 

(Also, Happy Pride Month!)

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Vocabulary

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Sources

Periods. The myths behind them. The taboo. Period poverty. Environment. And Gender Queer periods. In this episode - I will be covering mostly everything to do with periods.

Periods has been a hush-hush topic for a long time, despite the fact that 50% of the world's population is, has or will experience periods. They are painful, they are stigmatised and they need to be talked about. When menstrual hygiene isn't taught, the consequence are rippling.

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Sources:

Rig Veda, Indra and Period Myth: www.jstor.org/stable/4401940

Menstrual myths in India, stats about girl drop out and unhygienic sanitation: https://doi.org/10.4103%2F2249-4863.154627

Period poverty solutions: https://doi.org/10.4103%2F2249-4863.154627, www.jstor.org/stable/43288983

Project Drawdown - girls education: https://rb.gy/8jby

Menstrual cup vs pad: https://rb.gy/ne6y

Plastic period waste - National Geographic: https://rb.gy/96kd

India period pad waste: https://rb.gy/8xov

Queer periods -- periods for trans and non binary people: https://rb.gy/33tb, https://rb.gy/guir, https://rb.gy/zqt0, https://rb.gy/gjkx,

Genetic modification is becoming more advanced by the day – with more GM crops and animals grown every year. The technology is promising – but things get complicated when GM technology turns to humans. What would happen if humans used this technology on themselves? What is its potential?  Is it ethical? And can it potentially bring back a new wave of eugenics – reminiscent of Nazi Germany?

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GMOs are a good thing: https://rb.gy/1z7epx

GMOs explained: https://rb.gy/yp5tqz

GMOs and GM babies: https://rb.gy/ycje0x

The ethical dilemma behind designer babies: https://rb.gy/ikekhq

Dr. He and a failed genetic enhancement: https://rb.gy/p3skg8

Dr. He’s big genetic mistake: https://rb.gy/uu9z6y

Dr. He (again): https://rb.gy/szwla6

Victoria Gray and genetic engineering after CRISPR baby scandal: https://rb.gy/2yiaog

Designer babies: https://rb.gy/sslgyc

Eugenics: https://rb.gy/jbgyk5

In 1881, the British noticed something strange in their first census of the Indian population. There were more men than women – despite the opposite being true globally. The cause for this was female infanticide. Less than a hundred years later, the same sex ratio skew was spotted, this time because of sex-selected abortion. What is happening now? What must be done to solve this issue? And is it impossible for India to truly let go of son preference?

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Sources:

The story of Lady Hao – From Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari

Communist China and one-child policy: https://rb.gy/6lzxiq

The history of female infanticide and sex-selected abortion in India: https://rb.gy/29mjma

British laws prohibiting infanticide: https://rb.gy/f38uyv

Uttarakhand - no girl born in 3 months in 132 villages: https://rb.gy/as24td

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao: https://rb.gy/gaxkm1

India’s missing daughters: https://rb.gy/ss6wmv

Men being unable to find wives: https://rb.gy/8w6uum

Literacy and sex-selected abortion:https://rb.gy/pz7iya

South Korea World Bank analysis: https://rb.gy/m4mhnf

UNFPA on missing females: https://rb.gy/ymzxqe

Are women natural caregivers because they can give birth and men natural logical thinkers, independent and aggressive, or were they conditioned to be these conditioned traits? Gender and sex is complicated, and it gets more complicated when we try to see if there is a difference between the brains of males and females, because adults have gone through their share of gender conditioning. So, how should we see gender? What can we do to break the correlation between gender and sex? And what do toys have to do with this? 

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Sources:

Lego's return to gender neutral toys: http://surl.li/eymvu

The study conducted by Lego: http://surl.li/eymwx

Benefits of gender neutral toys: http://surl.li/eymwm

The myth that male and female brains are different: http://surl.li/eymxn

"Neurosexism" holding gender equality back: http://surl.li/eymyb