Abstract
As has been amply demonstrated by international research findings, youth sexuality education (SexEd) could help resolve issues like teen pregnancy, early marriage, sexual and domestic violence, the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and many others. Yet, SexEd is still a sensitive topic in many if not most countries, and youth face obstacles in accessing verified, scientific information about puberty, contraception, and sex. In conservative societies, sexual literacy is often seen as shameful and in conflict with “traditional” or “family values,” and Kazakhstan is no exception. This chapter focuses not on lack of access to external sources of quality information, but on self-imposed barriers that prevent youth, especially Kazakh-speaking young people, from seeking such information. One of the key factors behind these self-imposed barriers is Kazakhstan’s culture of uyat, which in simple terms can be described as both feeling ashamed and being shamed by others.
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Kabatova, K. (2022). Purity vs. Safety: How Uyat Undermines Youth’s Sexual Literacy in Kazakhstan. In: Thibault, H., Caron, JF. (eds) Uyat and the Culture of Shame in Central Asia. The Steppe and Beyond: Studies on Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4328-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4328-7_3
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