Page 16 - NAMAH-Apr-2019

Namah Vol. 27, Issue 1, 24th April 2019

perversion should be analysed. If this means will get us — either as terrorists or carriers
a systemic change, it should be taken up. of viruses.
Perhaps men don’t have enough sports to
dissipate energy, maybe they are sitting So, in order to have a crime-free society, we
idle for too long, or they have a dead-end have to focus on child welfare. Sexual abuse
and mindless job; their job gives them no is the worst, but there are nine other kinds of
power, or they were themselves abused. If childhood wounding.Together they are called
all cases are reported, it makes these studies ACEs — Adverse Childhood Experiences.
meaningful and can lead to systemic change. It has been studied in detail by social and
medical professionals in the United States, and
What can victims do to survive their past? perhaps in other places too. They have found
One answer is in therapeutic theatre. A drama that people who suffered a poor childhood
that started in Bangalore in 2014, then in are affected by it their entire life. They have
many cities in India, and has now travelled a weaker immune system and thus are prone
to the United States, is Positively Shameless. to diseases. They live about twenty years
It has five women in its cast, who were all less than others. They have psychological
sexually abused as children. And because of problems; they cannot perform well in studies
that, in their professional lives, they have all or jobs. When they have children, they pass
become healers. But have they found healing on their sad upbringing to their children. And
themselves? In the play, they tell their own the cycle continues down the generations.
stories in a stylised form, asking difficult
questions, exploring their relationships and their Why do childhood experiences last a lifetime?
bodies. Therapeutic drama brings catharsis. Intuitively, we have known this fact for a
But a wound of this magnitude cannot just long time. Now brain science has matured
be cured by the victim outgrowing it. Their and magnetic imaging techniques give us
stories should help future victims escape this the answer decisively. An infant’s brain does
fate. Their stories should bring to justice the not have many neural networks, or nerve
abusers who, enslaved by their biology or pathways. A pathway can be thought of as
not, need to pay for their actions. Childhood a thinking pattern. A thinking pattern then
wounding is one of the main reasons for crime influences our behaviour. When a person
in the world. Criminals are the product of sees a tiger, the protective mechanism in the
social blind sight. The marginalised victims brain secretes a hormone — adrenaline —
who were voiceless children are now robbing which makes him take flight. Depending on the
people of their lives and dignities. Dr. Mark danger, we either fight back, or flee, or freeze.
Dybul, the CEO of The Global Fund, an Even freeze is a survival trick. Some animals
organisation that cures epidemics, says the give chase only when the prey moves. The
real epidemics are not due to germs; they are brain’s rational thinking centre is shut down
because large portions of the human population at this juncture because all the blood gets
are ignored and even hated. They are squeezed pumped to the leg muscles. We are born
into ghettos with poor hygiene and nutrition. with these survival instincts. If the tiger is
Unless we welcome, love and embrace them, at home, we are always under stress and we
our existence will remain precarious. They have nowhere to hide. The same stimulus,

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