Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society
Little is known regarding the ways in which Malaysian women’s sexuality is constructed, and how their personal experiences, culture, religion and society influence their feeling, attitude and sexual behaviours. This study explored the sexual experiences of young adult women in the developing context...
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer
2018
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| _version_ | 1825721807151300608 |
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| author | Fazli Khalaf, Zahra Liow, Jun Wei Low, Wah Yun Ghorbani, Behzad Merghati-Khoei, Effat |
| author_facet | Fazli Khalaf, Zahra Liow, Jun Wei Low, Wah Yun Ghorbani, Behzad Merghati-Khoei, Effat |
| author_sort | Fazli Khalaf, Zahra |
| collection | UM |
| description | Little is known regarding the ways in which Malaysian women’s sexuality is constructed, and how their personal experiences, culture, religion and society influence their feeling, attitude and sexual behaviours. This study explored the sexual experiences of young adult women in the developing context of the country. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted. Purposive sampling was employed, and a total of 20 participants were recruited, comprised of the major ethnic groups in Malaysia. Four main themes emerged through the phenomenological analysis of the data, including: conditional pleasure; social honour and women’s purity; risk and responsibility; and transcendence of love and emotion. The findings of this study revealed that sexuality was experienced under the control of religion and society with the concern of conserving a woman’s purity and social honour; and imposing risks and responsibility on women. Despite the awareness of women’s right to experience sexual pleasure, it was commonly perceived that sexual activities beyond the social norms will result in social shaming and guilt. The authors recommend appropriate sexuality education regarding sexual assertiveness and communication, safe-sex practices, and improving sexual decision-making skills. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T05:55:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | um.eprints-22078 |
| institution | Universiti Malaya |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T05:55:58Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | um.eprints-220782019-08-26T06:55:32Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/22078/ Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society Fazli Khalaf, Zahra Liow, Jun Wei Low, Wah Yun Ghorbani, Behzad Merghati-Khoei, Effat R Medicine Little is known regarding the ways in which Malaysian women’s sexuality is constructed, and how their personal experiences, culture, religion and society influence their feeling, attitude and sexual behaviours. This study explored the sexual experiences of young adult women in the developing context of the country. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted. Purposive sampling was employed, and a total of 20 participants were recruited, comprised of the major ethnic groups in Malaysia. Four main themes emerged through the phenomenological analysis of the data, including: conditional pleasure; social honour and women’s purity; risk and responsibility; and transcendence of love and emotion. The findings of this study revealed that sexuality was experienced under the control of religion and society with the concern of conserving a woman’s purity and social honour; and imposing risks and responsibility on women. Despite the awareness of women’s right to experience sexual pleasure, it was commonly perceived that sexual activities beyond the social norms will result in social shaming and guilt. The authors recommend appropriate sexuality education regarding sexual assertiveness and communication, safe-sex practices, and improving sexual decision-making skills. Springer 2018 Article PeerReviewed Fazli Khalaf, Zahra and Liow, Jun Wei and Low, Wah Yun and Ghorbani, Behzad and Merghati-Khoei, Effat (2018) Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society. Sexuality & Culture, 22 (3). pp. 849-864. ISSN 1095-5143, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9496-4 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9496-4>. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9496-4 doi:10.1007/s12119-018-9496-4 |
| spellingShingle | R Medicine Fazli Khalaf, Zahra Liow, Jun Wei Low, Wah Yun Ghorbani, Behzad Merghati-Khoei, Effat Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society |
| title | Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society |
| title_full | Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society |
| title_fullStr | Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society |
| title_full_unstemmed | Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society |
| title_short | Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society |
| title_sort | young women s experience of sexuality a battle of pleasure and sexual purity in the context of malaysian society |
| topic | R Medicine |
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