The Sexual World of 13-year-olds

Faster physical growth and greater sexual awareness are leading them to an unsafe place.

There is a sudden focus on 13-year-old girls in Mumbai following the alleged rape of minor schoolgirls by one Pritesh Doshi. His method is disturbing. Through common friends, he had gained access to information about the 13-year-old daughter of a former actor, chiefly about her relationship. He used it to coerce her into going to a rest house with him. A few days later, Doshi repeated the act with another minor. The modus operandi was the same. That a child can be blackmailed, and that she can go away with the blackmailer and be allowed to check into a rented room, are startling aspects of the case. The nature of the blackmail and the ease with which Doshi seemed to have access to the girls also sheds new light on the world of young teens today.

Chandni Parekh, a social psychologist and counsellor, conducts sessions on sexuality education in schools. In a 7th standard class, she has been asked questions like, “What if at a tender age, a girl and boy have a crush and they get into a sexual relationship? Is it stoppable?” The questions in 10th standard address the confusion more directly. “What are the side effects of having sex at 15?”, “If a 14-year old girl has sex with a 34-year-old man, what would you call it? Love or rape?”

S Singh, 13, studies at one of Mumbai’s most expensive schools. She and her friends have no earth-shattering problems with relationships. “There is heartbreak and all that, and we try and help by telling them it’s okay.” The average length of a relationship is about a week, maybe two. A month is a long-term affair. They usually hide it from parents, but parents have kept up. Singh’s mother says, “Thirteen is the age for that first so-called relationship. By 11 or 12, they already have a need to be admired. They’re getting their hair done, they love being photographed.”

13-year-oldseducationschoolgirlssexual awareness