Understanding of Sexual Consent Among Youths in Bangladesh

Abstract

Sexual consent is a topic that impacts nearly everyone on a regular basis, while simultaneously not having enough open discussions. Questions of what exactly constitutes as consent differ from person to person, and from study to study. In Bangladesh, sexual morality is usually simplified to abstinence before marriage, and all sexual activity after that is condoned. This makes marriage the dividing line between right and wrong. However, reality differs from moral expectations as most late teens and young adults do have romantic and sexual interactions, without any proper conversation or education on the exercise of consent. A huge obstacle to such conversation comes from the normalization of being quiet about sexual topics. Sex education is mostly unheard of in the region, and schools go as far as to exclude or simply skim over the reproduction topics in biology books. Even when sex is mentioned, they are talked about in terms of visible health issues such as sexually transmitted diseases, or pregnancies, rather than the emotional understanding of other complications that come with sex, one of which is the exercise of consent. Building on this gap, this study aims to look at a small sample of university students to discuss how they perceive consent in difficult sexual situations. Their responses touch over issues of legality, morality, and culture, all of which are very specific to the background and demographics of the sample. All of these social aspects further added to the necessity for sexual education in Bangladesh itself.