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Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society

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Abstract

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.

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Funding

This study was funded by the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Grant Number RG 248/10 HTM), and International Medical University (Grant Number BPS I-1/13 (13)2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, International Medical University (IMU), Jalan Jalil Perkasa, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Zahra Fazli Khalaf

  2. Department of Psychology, School of Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Jun Wei Liow

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Wah Yun Low

  4. Reproductive Biotechnology Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

    Behzad Ghorbani

  5. Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Effat Merghati-Khoei

Authors
  1. Zahra Fazli Khalaf
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  2. Jun Wei Liow
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  3. Wah Yun Low
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  4. Behzad Ghorbani
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  5. Effat Merghati-Khoei
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Correspondence to Zahra Fazli Khalaf.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Fazli Khalaf, Z., Liow, J.W., Low, W.Y. et al. Young Women’s Experience of Sexuality: A Battle of Pleasure and Sexual Purity in the Context of Malaysian Society. Sexuality & Culture 22, 849–864 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9496-4

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