Abstract
This qualitative study seeks to examine the sexuality-related values and norms that Muslim youth are taught and socialised into at non-formal Islamic education settings, compares these with values and norms conveyed at secondary schools, and then identifies the ways in which Muslim youth navigate these distinct messages and competing pressures around this subject. The data are based on 62 semi-structured in-depth interviews with young adults and secondary school students from four Muslim communities in the Netherlands (Turkish, Moroccan, Pakistani and Egyptian). The study reveals that explicit messaging as well as institutional practices in mosques convey a specific narrative about proper conduct between the sexes that prohibits sexual conduct before marriage, and in some cases, even any form of touching or socialising. This collides with the institutional practices and educational content in mainstream secondary schools, which are co-educational and provide sexuality education. Three strands of attitudinal choices young Muslims make are identified: opting for chastity, re-negotiating the norm, and embracing romantic entanglements, all having different ramifications for the wellbeing and relationships of these young people.
Highlights
Public debates about religion in the Netherlands have increasingly focused on questions of sexuality and sexual emancipation
The discussions on non-formal Islamic education (NFIE) experiences in this paper focus on mosques, because mosque education was the dominant form of NFIE among the participants
This study describes how NFIE influences young Muslims’ values about romance and sexuality, compares this with their experiences in school contexts, and identifies three strands of attitudinal choices they make
Summary
Public debates about religion in the Netherlands have increasingly focused on questions of sexuality and sexual emancipation. Such debates contrast a liberal-progressive stance towards sexuality within Dutch society with a restrictive-conservative. Restrictive religious morals are viewed as incompatible with Dutch progressive, open and liberal sexual norms. Muslim communities’ deviancy from such norms has ended up becoming a ground for questioning their integration within and belonging to the moral nation (Mepschen et al, 2010). From the perspectives of Muslim communities living in the West, adolescent sexualities are a major concern, due to anxieties that they are becoming premaritally sexual at younger age and are exposed to a rather sexualised, permissive, and “allegedly less moral” secular culture The fact that young Muslims marry and form families at later ages in comparison to previous periods in history compels many religious organisations to monitor and socialize their youth over this protracted period of adolescence and youth (Williams et al, 2017)
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