The Third Paradigm: Youth Bisexuality in India

When she was 19, Apphia Kumar had a sexual epiphany. She realised that birds and bees were not part of her libidinal zoology and her erotic appetite trespassed on both genders. Kumar realised she was bisexual. When she was 21 years old, she confessed to her elder sister about her amorous duality; the sibling was supportive but her mother refused to discuss it, though now she is slowly accepting her daughter's predilection.

Kumar is categorical that her sexuality is not up for debate, vote or discussion in her family. When she turned 24, she decided to "come out". "Knowing that a mass community of people like me exists is encouraging," she says, "coming out was a liberating process." But it was not easy, as she had to constantly remind people that being bisexual does not mean "pervert". "I'm not promiscuous but nor am I a coward," she says. "And no, it isn't the same thing as being gay."

Indian sexuality, liberal and sophisticated before the British imposed Victorian values on India in the late 19th century is experiencing a flamboyant revolution. Mumbai-based sexual historian Mario D'Penha offers a perspective that goes back two centuries. "Then sexual desire was far more fluid," he says. "Indian sexual identity was far less binary, gender-centric and defined by social status."

The Kama Sutra, the ancient Indian libidinal tour de force, mentions bisexuals-a category labelled "kaamis"-like Chudala. In Vedic times, bisexuality was perceived as a sexual variation for men and women whose natures had experimental streaks. Kaamis are those who are concurrently drawn to both sexes. Of the five gender categories the Kama Sutra mentions-the svairinis, the ilibas, the shandhas, napumsakas and the kaamis-10 to 15 per cent are bisexual. Multiple sexuality implies the power of choice, which does not apply to either heterosexuals or homosexuals. The Kama Shastra, the precursor to the Kama Sutra, categorises bisexuals as men who patronise transvestites and prostitutes, men who like lesbians, the eunuchs of royal harems and zenana-mates who turn lesbian while their kings are away; as well as male servants who start as homosexuals and later prefer women.

Three Factors that Define Sexual Conduct

Bisexuality has a looped logic of its own

BEHAVIOUR: What they do

ATTRACTION: Who they are attracted to

IDENTITY: What they think of themselves

Source: Brinda Bose's upcoming book on the politics of sexuality in contemporary India.

But in the 21st century India, bisexuality carries a singular stigma. "Mostly any form of non-peno-vaginal-sex was seen as a waste of the procreativity processes," explains Ashok Row Kavi, the prominent LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender) rights activist. "Excess is taboo outside the framework of marriage and inheritance."

Thirty-four-year-old anthropologist and theatre actor Akshay Khanna has curly hair and intense eyes; he prefers the word "queer" to describe himself. "I don't feel the need for a sexual identity," he scoffs. He has disdain for his gay friends calling him a coward and his heterosexual ones accusing him of wanting to be bisexual because "it is cool".

What is cool for the Indian bisexual is the World Wide Web. Dedicated sites-planetromeo.com, manjam.com, gaydia.com, shybi.com, weirdtown.com, bicupid.com-abound, frequented by married men who advertise their explicit pictures. Namit, 25, a sales executive and Ankush, 32, met on gaydia.com, leading to regular assignations in hotel rooms. The sexual preferences of bisexuals on the web are clearly specified: like red lips, thin waists, curly hair or feminine; Delhi-based businessman, Bhatia Sahib, 40, owns an export unit at Naraina and describes himself as "dusky, honest, fun loving and friendly". He likes boys and girls with "effeminate mannerisms that turn me on". Bhatia also lists that he has three girlfriends-two are married-and seven boyfriends. Though he is apprehensive of his teenage daughter discovering his profile, it doesn't deter him from posting his photographs on the web.

On an average, seven out of 10 members describe their sexual orientation as bisexual and one in three is married. Middle age is celebrated with a sense of bravado; L.L. Gupta at 62 claims to be young at heart; his profile picture reveals a frail figure with a potbelly. The Internet is a cathartic confessional; marital status, profession, place of residence, choices and fantasies-shut in a room with Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia in Bobby; their amative encounters: alfresco group sex with both boyfriend and girlfriend on the apartment roof-are all displayed unselfconsciously.

"Coming out was liberating. I'm not a pervert, but nor am I a coward."APPHIA KUMAR

At 19, she realised that she was bisexual and later, confided in her sister. Kumar prohibits her sexuality from being a subject for debate in her family.

Major Ajay is one such chatroom regular. "I'm matured, honest, chocolate colour, hot man of 40 years (age)/31 (inches of waist)/63 kg (weight)/ 165 cm (height), reside in Mumbai," reads his profile. "People play sports or watch movies in their free time. I like doing men," he confides. He is into vanilla sex, anal sex, body contact, exhibitionism, kissing, masturbation, one-on-one oral sex, underwear voyeurism. Fetishes? "Cut denim, feet, nipples, rubber/PVC, smoking and uniforms." Meeting places? "The place is not a problem but my house is out of bounds," Ajay says. "I think my wife suspects but I guess she does not want to confront the truth. But we are a happy couple. She is the love of my life."

From his confessions, it is clear that the major is attracted to both sexes and coupling with women is not a compensation for not having sex with men. Among upwardly mobile young men and women in Delhi and Mumbai, exclusive bisexual parties are getting popular. Ram Prasad, a South Delhi pimp who supplies both girls and gigolos for these parties which are held in private residences and suburban farmhouses, says that many married couples ask for boys and girls simultaneously. A business couple from Green Park, Delhi, married for 12 years with two children, say they are comfortable about their bisexuality; "We hire both males and females and all have sex together."

Kavi's opinion is that sexual repression is rampant mostly among the middle classes and there are tightly monitored small caste groups like the Jat Khaps. "The poor cannot afford morality and the rich don't need it," he says.

"Indian sexual identity was fluid, far less binary, gender-centric and defined by social status."MARIO D'PENHA, Sexual historian

"Many MSMs (men having sex with men) are also married to women and are a 'bridge' to infect them with HIV in monogamous marriages."ASHOK ROW KAVI, Transgender activist

A 27-year-old bisexual Delhi cop, P. Chaudhury, originally from Rajasthan who got married last year, says, "As a kid, I would have sex with my classmates in the village while fantasising about girls." His first affair with a girl happened only when he turned 19. Chaudhury refers to his bisexuality as "time pass". "I never get back home before 11 p.m.," he says. "It is very tough with the family being away and I need recreation, too." The policeman finds sexual partners randomly on streets. "I am in an active relationship with two women and four men," he confesses; he met one of them while sorting out a minor car crash, another who he had stopped for drunken driving who has now become one of his regular "time passes" and two had offered him a cigarette and invited him home. But it doesn't work emotionally so smoothly for all bisexuals. Life is complicated for the 26-year-old graphic designer Shefali (name changed on request). She has multiple male sexual partners who are unaware that she has a lesbian girlfriend who is jealous of her regular boyfriend; she threatens to expose Shefali to all. "I tell my girlfriend I need them both," says a distressed Shefali. "But she insists I choose one."

"My gay friends tell me that I am not brave and the heterosexual ones say I want to be bisexual because it is cool."Akshay Khanna

The anthropologist and theatre actor prefers to describe himself as "queer".

For many bisexuals, homosexuality is not dominantly an emotional act. Vishal, 33, a Mumbai resident who works with a multinational company, is married for three years and has a two-year-old son. His was a love marriage but his wife is unaware that he has been sexually active with men before and also after marriage. "My bisexuality is a closet activity and I keep it hidden from my wife," says Vishal. "She will never understand." He confesses that his desire for men is an activity that boosts his performance with his wife: "I need both." He is a man of clearly defined preferences: sex with straight men with no penetration, loves oral sex; pansy, effeminate men turn him off.

A highly paid software professional and bisexual based in Chennai, Vankat, 35, is also happily married with two children; he echoes Vishal's dismissal of the emotional quotient in bisexual relationships. "I do it because it is easy to get men," he says. So, is bisexuality the antithesis of monogamy? Kumar disagrees. "People who use 'bisexuality' as an excuse for their promiscuity are simply looking to blame someone for their own actions," she says. Chennai-based Dr L. Ramakrishnan, an authoritative voice for bisexuals who heads Programs and Research, Solidarity and Action Against HIV Infection in India (SAATHI), is indignant about moral crusaders. "Sexual orientation is not a predictor of monogamy, polyamory (the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of all involved), infidelity, commitment, promiscuity or celibacy," he protests.

Noted sociologist Ashish Nandy's views in his elaborate study on masculine sexuality in India is that though tension exists between gays and bisexuals in specific homo-friendly spaces in India, gay men feel that bisexuals have the cake and eat it too while the mainstream society perceives gays as deviants who "choose" to reject marriage to women or connect with a heterosexual society. Heterosexuals consider bisexuals transitional gays according to Nandy; both gays and straight men describe bisexuals as opportunists, promiscuous individuals who are indiscriminate about satisfying their carnality. "They say you enjoy the best of two worlds, but in practice it is the worst of the two; you are like a dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka na ghat ka," says Ajay.

Sexual preferences are clearly defined on the Net. Red lips, thin hips, curly hair, or effeminates irrespective of gender.

Almost all bisexuals interviewed confessed that they have to deal with biphobia-hostility from heterosexual and homosexuals alike. A study, carried out by the Mumbai-based Hamsafar Trust on 274 MSMs (Men who have Sex with Men) in Mumbai, revealed that 40 per cent have sex with women, half of them on a regular basis. "MSMs have a 20 per cent probability of being infected with HIV," explains a worried Kavi. "The major issue is that many in this group are also married to women and form an HIV infection 'bridge' in monogamous marriages."

Bisexuality in India isn't geo-sexual or class dominated. A study by Dr Ravi Verma and Martine Collumbien of 2004, published in the journal AIDS Volume 18, is based on a quantitative cross-section of 2,910 rural men in India, where identity or orientation was not the focus. Men with male partners had more female partners compared to men who had only female partners. Extramarital sex with women by bisexual men was 52.8 per cent versus 11.6 per cent with other married men. In addition, 41.5 per cent of single men with male partners reported female partners, compared with 24.5 per cent of those not homosexually active (defined as those who have had no intimate contact with men for last one year.

Almost all bisexuals interviewed confessed they deal with severe biphobia from heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.

Professor of clinical psychology at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences in New Delhi, Tej Bahadur Singh, calls it a result of certain kind of psycho-sexual development when some have sex with other men in their formative years either for pleasure or to experiment and some may have suffered abuse in childhood. But, "recent research has also brought a genetic dimension to it," Singh adds.

Indian eroticism is experiencing the bisexuals' day out. Two is a good crowd; three is certainly good company.

Reproduced From India Today

Changing taste of Indian Teens for books

Indian teens are slowly coming out of the traditional shackles and are taking keen interest in adult literatures which wasnt considered as good some 10 years ago.And in this category comes ‘Young Adult Fictions’ . Few years back,teens depended on the west for modern adult stories of their interest which lacked an Indian touch.India’s Desi young stories were a poor attempt in this direction. Youngsters ,especially girls finds it uninteresting-just a clumpsy attempt between juvenile chick-lit and over-mature kiddie books.They were devoid of teen sentiments n urges.

Its true that Indian youngsterd have been swayed towards west in terms of dressings,affairs n all that.But now,they are liking Indian touches in their western likings. It has suddenly become ‘cool’ to be Indian and embrace everything Indian – be it watching Bollywood movies, wearing Indian clothes, reading Indian authors .They are a smart generation with great vision who settle for nothing but the best.And the best is not a pure adult fiction of west.They feel an urge to enjoy teen adult fiction modern-yet in Indian context.

In India, the demand for young adult fiction is on the rise and publishers are commissioning new writers catering to this age group.publishers are trying their best to bring out high quality well-written and original new fiction in this segement.

Already,Indian publishers such as CBT and NBT are catering to fiction targeted at adolescents. Now, apart from small independent publishers, a few mainstream publishers like now Rupa, Puffin and Popular Prakashan among others are turning to this genre.

The young adult reader who is “getting things previous generation never dreamt of.But the teens need more n that too,Indian.There is a need for mature Indian writers to adapt to this changing scenario.They have to manage to connect with the young teen section of India n serve them Quality teen adult fictions in the coming years…

Global Youth Unemployment Reaches Record Levels

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has issued a report documenting the severe impact of the global economic crisis on employment prospects for the world’s youth. The report, “Global Employment Trends for Youth”, presents detailed statistics on the growing number of 15-to-24-year-olds who find themselves out of work.

The most striking findings are those showing the rapid rise of youth unemployment from the eruption of the financial crisis in 2008 onwards. At the end of 2009, according to the report’s introduction, global youth unemployment stood at 81 million. This was an increase of 7.8 million, or nearly 10 percent, from the end of 2007.

In percentage terms, global youth unemployment rose from 11.9 percent to 13 percent during this period, an increase described as “sharper than ever before”.

In 2009 alone, the number of young people out of work globally rose by a staggering 6.6 million. As the report noted, “To put this in perspective, over the course of the ten-year period prior to the current crisis (1996-1997 to 2006-2007), the number of unemployed youth increased, on average, by 192,000 per year”.

The report projected that this rate of increase would slow, but that by the end of 2010 global youth unemployment would stand at 13.1 percent. Most significantly, it stated that although the unemployment rate would drop slightly from 2011, there would be no return to the lower jobless levels of the pre-crisis period.

The report warns of the danger of young people becoming alienated from the labour market and today’s youth becoming a “lost generation”. It states, “Numerous studies show how entering labour markets during recession can leave permanent scars on the generation of youth affected, and recently fears have been expressed regarding a possible crisis legacy of a ‘lost generation’ made up of young people who detach themselves from the labour market altogether”.

The report hints at the issue that should concern the ruling elite in such a scenario: “Finding and motivating young people who have given up hope for a productive future is an expensive venture. Nonetheless, the alternative of doing nothing is even more expensive when the social, economic and possibly even political costs are added together”.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia spoke along similar lines, saying, “Young people are the drivers of economic development. Foregoing this potential is an economic waste and can undermine social stability”.

It should be noted that the ILO report deals only with the beginning of the economic downturn, when stimulus measures were adopted by governments internationally. Now, with the focus shifting to austerity as the bourgeoisie seeks to claw back from the working class the money used to bail out the banks, unemployment is projected to increase in every country.

As the report makes clear, the youth are the most vulnerable section of the working class and will bear the brunt of this rise in joblessness. In 2008, young people were 2.8 times more likely to be out of work than adults, with the youth unemployment rate standing at 12.1 percent whilst joblessness amongst the adult population was 4.3 percent. Even during the last period of economic growth prior to the crisis, the percentage of young people active in the labour market dropped from 54.7 to 50.8 percent between 1998 and 2008.

Having outlined the global trends, the study details how young people across different regions of the world have been impacted. Some of the poorest areas have been hit worst of all.

In South Asia, one million young people are expected to seek employment every year between now and 2015, while the figure for sub-Saharan Africa is 2.2 million. In the Middle East and North Africa, 20 percent of the youth population was unable to find work in 2008.

Even those with a job in these regions saw their living standards decline. The report calculated that roughly 28 percent of all young workers were part of the working poor, seeking to maintain themselves on less than $1.25 per day.

In a press release published to coincide with the issuing of the report, Director-General Somavia commented, “In developing countries, crisis pervades the daily life of the poor. The effects of the economic and financial crisis threaten to exacerbate the pre-existing decent work deficits among youth. The result is that the number of young people stuck in working poverty grows, and the cycle of working poverty persists through at least another generation”.

Developed economies have also suffered. The report shows a 4.6 percent rise in youth unemployment in the Developed Economies and European Union region, while in Central and Eastern Europe (non-European Union) and the Commonwealth of Independent States the rate of increase was 3.5 percent. These are the largest yearly increases ever recorded.

The overall youth unemployment rate in the Developed Economies and European Union of 17.7 percent in 2009 is the highest level since records began in 1991.

While only 10 percent of global youth live in the “developed economies”, 45 percent of the increase in unemployment came from these states. In the United States, for example, youth unemployment was up 8 percent, reaching 18 percent in 2009. In Britain, the Daily Telegraph recently reported a 42 percent increase in long-term unemployment amongst young people.

Indian youth would prefer mobile ads to those on TV

Mobile phones have become an integral part of the lives of young Asians. Youngsters nowadays just cannot do without their phones.
A survey of young Asians by global market research firm Synovate shows that the lives of Asia's youth revolve around their mobile phones.
Overall personal ownership of mobiles has increased from 60 per cent in 2008 to 64 per cent in 2010. According to the survey, young Indians top the race for mobile phone ownership compared to the rest of Asia.
Personal ownership of mobile phones among young Indians has increased from 28 per cent in 2008 to 37 per cent in 2010, while the average in Asia is only 18 per cent.
Steve Garton, executive director of media research for Synovate said, "This year, we see that the mobile phone is simply inseparable from its owner. More youth across a number of Asian markets now own a mobile compared to 2008. With one in five (18 per cent) young Asians planning to use their mobile even more often, these findings show the great potential of this medium.”
The survey also showed that young Indians are fatigued with TV adverts. Fifty five per cent of young Indians between 15 and 24 years would pay a higher TV subscription rate to avoid adverts (this percentage is the highest in Asia).
However, interestingly, they are of an entirely different opinion when it comes to mobile phone advertising, as 37 per cent say they won't mind receiving ads on their mobiles, or responding to such adverts as long as they are incentivised.
This percentage is the highest in the region after Vietnam (44 per cent). The Asian average is 29 per cent.
Listening to music, playing games and taking photos are just some of the activities that youth turn to their mobile phone for.
Among Asian youth who own a mobile phone, about half of those surveyed perform the above activities on their mobile. One in five (21 per cent) also uses this device to record video.
In India, the most popular mobile phone activities over the past seven days were listening to music (59 per cent young users listened to music on their mobiles), SMS (58 per cent), taking pictures (51 per cent), and playing games (46 per cent).
This fifth Synovate Young Asians study provides an in depth look at the lifestyles, habits, product ownership and media consumption of youth across Asia.
Respondents ranged from eight to 24 years across 11 markets in Asia, covering China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
A total sample of 12,302 youth was surveyed by face to face interviews and through online methods during the second quarter of 2010. The survey by Synovate was supported by Friendster, Microsoft Advertising and Yahoo!
Garton said, "This shows the opportunities here and now for mobile marketing. Youth in Asia are looking to receive the latest information to wow their peers, so reaching them through mobile is the most immediate way to gain their attention."
He added, "The spontaneity and active lifestyles of youth means that mobiles are always helping them to live life to the fullest.

What Youth Want: sex, violence - not mush

Show them a boy-meets-girl story and chances are today’s Indian youth will switch off their TV sets. What they are looking for is some serious ‘love, sex aur dhokha’ on the small screen that is closer to the reality of their own lives.Shows like “Emotional Atyachaar”, “Dadagiri”, “Axe Ur Ex”, “Splitsvilla”, “Dare 2 Date”, “Love Net” - about double timing your partner, backbiting and making a mockery of relationships - have become a craze among college-going students these days.
Shimanti Sengupta, 19, a sociology student, feels people her age get sadistic pleasure in watching break-ups and deceit on TV.
“For one, most of us feel these shows are not real and all pre-planned. It’s the same with fiction shows. When both kinds of shows have no reality, I feel it is more exciting for us to watch shows that are closer to our experiences and are slightly bitchy!” she said.
Some youngsters are hooked to these shows because their own lives are reflected in it and they even find solutions to their own problems.
“It’s all good entertainment. At times it makes us come out of our own make-belief perfect relationships and gives good ideas for checking on our partner!” said Karan Malhotra, 20.
“Due to my past experiences, I have stopped trusting girls.. So I love it when girls are caught flirting and cheating, especially in shows like ‘Emotional Atyachaar’.”
Though parents are worried about the kind of content, especially targeted at youth, channel officials say there are no takers for soft content.
“We tried showing the softer stuff to youths, but it didn’t work. Take the example of ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ - when we cut out all the dark parts, the numbers started going down,” Nikhil Gandhi, business head of youth entertainment channel UTV Bindass, told IANS.
“Emotional Atyachaar” conducts a secret fidelity test on one’s partner and captures the emotions that ensue. Unfortunately in most cases, the person in question turns out to be cheating on his or her partner.
“When we had telecast cases where there was no infidelity, no sleaze, no sex, a limited amount of violence and aggression, the audience just didn’t like it. We had three clean episodes. Youths want aggression and they want the dark side of everything, that’s what the new craze is,” he said.
Gandhi says when they choose the content for new shows, it is not a result of baseless presumption.
“The shows are outcomes of our research. When we went to colleges, we asked them : ‘which is your biggest fear in life?’ They said they fear that their partner may be cheating on them or might leave them. We took that as a hook and developed ‘Emotional Atyachaar’,” he explained.
But this changing trend in content is not confined to just the small screen, insists Aditya Swamy, senior vice president, sales and marketing, MTV India.
“Look at the films that youth are watching - ‘Love, Sex Aur Dhokha’, ‘I Hate Luv Storys’, ‘Aisha’…these are off-beat films but all about youth, their lives and things they connect to. So it isn’t as if the small screen is doing negative things for them,” said Swamy.
Such a trend on small screen especially emerged after music channels like MTV and Channel V decided to go beyond music and entered a space more adventurous, wild and engaging for the young Indian audience with shows like “Roadies”, “Splitsville” and “Dare 2 Date”.
It’s just that the shows are getting meaner and wilder!

Youth Activism: Digital Natives with A Cause

by Maesy Angelina in Digital Natives — Jul 30, 2010 01:40 PM

Digital natives with a cause: the future of activism or slacktivism? Maesy Angelina argues that the debate is premature given the obscured understanding on youth digital activism and contends that an effort to understand this from the contextualized perspectives of the digital natives themselves is a crucial first step to make. This is the first out of a series of posts on her journey to explore new insights to understand youth digital activism through a research with The Blank Noise Project under the Hivos-CIS Digital Natives Knowledge Programme.

The last decade has witnessed an escalating interest among academics, policy makers, and other practitioners on the intersection between youth, activism, and the new media technologies, which resulted in two narratives: one of doubt and the other of hope. The ‘hope’ narrative hinges on the new plethora of avenues for activism at the young people’s disposal and the bulge of the population, stating that the contemporary forms of youth activism represent new ways of conceiving and doing activism in the present and the future (see, for example, UN DESA, 2005). The ‘doubt’ narrative, on the other hand, questions to what extent the digital activism can contribute to broader social change (Collin, 2008) and some proponents of this view even call it ‘slacktivism’, stating that online activism is only effective if accompanied with real life activism (Morozov, 2009).

Before assessing the potentials of youth’s digital activism to contribute to social change, it is imperative to first gain a comprehensive understanding about this emerging form of activism. A brief review of existing literatures on the topic found that most of the analyses are centred on three perspectives, each with its own approach, strengths, and weaknesses: the technology centered, the new social movements centered, and the youth centered perspectives.

The technology centered perspective places a great emphasis on the instrumental role of the internet and new media (see, for instance, Kassimir, 2005; Shirkey, 2007; Brooks and Hodkinson, 2008). It discusses how internet savvy young people are able to exercise their activism differently, because the technology can remove obstacles to organizing, provide a new platform for visibility and make transnational networking easier. In this perspective, internet and new media technology is seen as an enabling tool and the web is viewed as a new space to promote activism. However, this perspective mainly stipulates that there is already a formulaic form of activism that can be transferred from the actual, physical sphere to the virtual arena; it does not consider that the changes caused by the way the youth are using technologies in their daily lives may also create new meanings and forms of activism. This perspective is the most dominant in literatures on the topic, being the lens used by the pioneering studies on youth, internet, and activism.

The new social movements centered perspective goes beyond that and looks at how new meanings and forms of politics and activism are created as the result of the way people are using new media technologies and the internet. This perspective is leading the recently emerging literature on the topic and emphasizes on the trend of being concerned on issues related to everyday democracy and the favour towards self organized, autonomous, horizontal networks (for examples, see Bennett, 2003; Martin, 2004; Collin, 2008). However, this perspective treats young people merely as ‘vessels’ of the new activism and neglect to examine how their lives have been shaped by the use of new media technologies and the internet.

The youth centered perspective, represented for example by Juris and Pleyers (2009), acknowledges that ICTs have always been part of young people’s lives and that it intersects with other factors in shaping how they conceive politics and activism. Most of the studies in this perspective were done with youth activists in existing transnational social justice movements, such as the global anti-capitalism or environmental movements. Nevertheless, this perspective mainly views youth activists as ‘becomings’ by defining them as the younger layer of actors in a multi-generational group that will be future leaders of the movement. There are very few researches on autonomous youth movements that are created and consist of young people themselves and look at the youth as political actors in its own right. In addition, the majority of studies also focused on the youth as individuals but not as a collective force.

In addition to the shortcomings of each perspective, there are also common gaps in the current broader body of knowledge on the intersection of youth, new media technologies, and activism.

Firstly, existing researches tend to define activism as concrete actions, such as protests and campaigns, and the values represented by such actions. It neglects other elements that constitute activism together with the actions and values, such as the issue taken up by the action, the ideologies underlying the formulation of action, and the actors behind the activism (Sherrod, 2005; Kassimir, 2005). Divorcing these elements from the analysis gave only a partial view of what youth digital activism is.

Secondly, the majority of studies zoomed into the novelty of new media technologies and how they are being used as a point of departure to investigate the topic. This arguably stems from an adult-centric, pre-digital point of view, which overlooks the fact that internet and new media has always been ‘technology’ for most young people just as how the radio and television have always been ‘technology’ for the previous generation (Shah and Abraham, 2009). This way of thinking divorces the ‘digital’ from the ‘activism’ in digital activism; consequently, it ignores all the other factors that are causing and shaping youth activism and fails to capture how youth actors themselves are viewing or giving meaning to this digital activism.

Finally, researches on the issue skew excessively on developed countries. It must be acknowledged that the ‘digital divide’, or the unequal access to and familiarity with technology based on gender, class, caste, education, economic status or geographical location, in developing countries is deeper and that the digitally active youth are a privileged minority. Yet, a neglect to understand their activism also means a failure to understand why and how the elite who are often perceived to be politically apathetic are engaging with their community to create social change.

The weaknesses identified above demonstrate that our understanding on this particular form of contemporary youth activism is currently obscured. Hence, the two narratives of ‘hope’ and ‘doubt’ lose their relevance given that the subject of assessment, the digital youth activism, is not even clearly understood.

Based on the above overview of the limitations, it is imperative to find a new way to approach to understand the phenomenon of digital youth activism. I will explore the possibilities of such an approach with the following arguments as the starting point.
Firstly, I argue that the key limitation lies on the adult-centric perspective in viewing youth’s engagement with new media technologies, thus what is essential is to go beyond the ‘digital’ and focus on the ‘activism’ part of youth digital activism. Secondly, I argue that exploration of the issue from the standpoint of the youth political actors themselves is crucial to counter the adult-centric perspective dominating the literatures on this topic. Thirdly, since so many researches divorce the youth from the context of their activism, it is crucial to focus on a particular case study to a tease out the nuances of youth digital activism.
I have the opportunity to explore the approach through a study with The Blank Noise Project, an initiative to address the problem of street sexual harassment in public spaces that originated in 2003 in Bangalore. It has since expanded into nine cities in India with over 2,000 volunteers, all young people between 17-30 years of age. Known for their unique public art street interventions as well as their savvy online presence, The Blank Noise Project was also chosen because its growth and sustainability over the past seven years are a testament to its legitimacy and relevance for youth in India.  
The research does not aim to assess the contribution of The Blank Noise Project to social change nor does it claim to represent all forms of youth digital activism in India. Rather, it aims to offer insights on one of the forms of digital natives joining forces for a cause. The research is interested in the following questions: how do young people involved in the Blank Noise articulate their politics? Who are their audience? What are their strategies? What is their conception of the public sphere? How do they organize themselves? How do they represent themselves to others? How do they see and give meaning to their involvement with the Blank Noise? How can we make sense of their initiative? While ‘activism’ is the popular term that is also used in this research, is their initiative a form of activism or is it something else altogether? More importantly, how do these young people define it by themselves? For the next few months, I will share stories, questions, and reflections that emerge along my journey of exploring those questions with The Blank Noise Project on the CIS blog.  

India at 63: Indian Youth

Youth Perspectives: Local Students Dance for Charity

What started off as a simple suggestion has inspired two girls to establish a Summer Dance Camp for charity. Led by upcoming senior Anika Nayyar and upcoming sophomore Kiren Singh from Foothill High School, the girls are providing Bhangra dance classes free of charge.

The two does accept donations from their students to go towards two charity foundations: Amar Jyoti School and Asha Kiran School, which both aid handicapped and underprivileged children in India.

Both Nayyer and Singh are established competitive and professional dancers.

Nayyar was inspired to create the camp when a parent of one of her previous students requested her to continue teaching Bhangra over the summer. She had dedicated her time in spring to train a local Bhangra team named Virsa Punjab in which the students were 7 to 11 years old.

Bhangra is a traditional Punjabi dance from northern India, and has recently grown very popular among high school students. An estimated 80 students were involved in Bhangra teams this past school year, around 60 at Foothill and 20 at Amador.

"I want to spread more awareness of my culture and of Bhangra," Nayyar said. "Most people just get to watch it or hear the music, but not a lot of people get the opportunity to learn it. I just want others to experience the same joy that I feel when I dance."

Although Nayyar had initially planned to teach children, her method of social media marketing attracted more teenage students. For now, they have five persistent students who show up to each practice.

Nayyar was also motivated to teach after volunteering at the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust in India last winter. There, she found the opportunity to provide a dance instruction to some of the handicapped students.

"I was amazed at what they can do," she states, "interacting with those kids definitely changed me."

She decided to incorporate the charity into the summer dance camp idea. After informing her good friend, Singh, about the program, the two joined forces and Singh asked that Asha Kiran School be included to the cause.

The Asha Kiran School guides mentally challenged and hearing impaired children to live independently.

"I've worked with mentally challenged children through Special Olympics in the US too," Singh said. "So it made sense to support Asha Kiran because volunteering there made me really happy and I felt good that I was helping these children, who were so welcoming and warm."

Along with the satisfaction of knowing that they're participating for a good cause, students such as Nehal Tenany and Alina Nazar were attracted to join the camp so that they can "expand their dance horizon," as Tenany explains it.

Practices are usually one hour long, but they may run over by 15 to 20 minutes over. Everyone has to learn the routine. They begin by learning the footwork, followed by the hand movements. After putting it all together with the beat, the students practice a few times with the music, and the rest is repetition.

Along with Bhangra, Nayyar and Singh will also teach Giddah, Bollywood, Hip-hop, and Jazz, teaching a new dance style each week. The camp lasts seven weeks and began in July 11.

Practices are every Saturdays at noon at 310 Brianne Court and students of all ages are welcomed.

For more information, contact anikanayyar@gmail.com or kirensingh@gmail.com