Stigma, gendered care work and sex education: Mothers’ experiences of raising autistic adolescents sons in socially conservative societies

Abstract

This research reports on mothers’ experiences of raising adolescent autistic sons and how they responded to their sexual and emotional behaviours against a background of social conservativeness. Seventeen mothers of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20 years’ old were interviewed in semi-structured interviews in Saudi Arabia (n = 10) and Bahrain (n = 7). Four primary content-related themes were identified: two themes related to behaviours are identified as already existing behaviours from childhood and adolescent emerging behaviours. Two themes related to mothers’ responses: mothers’ emotional responses and mothers’ behavioural responses. The findings reveal that the mothers must contend with sexual and emotional behaviours that often result in isolation, loneliness, anxiety and frustration, and fears about their sons’ futures. The research also demonstrates the importance of challenging the medical model of disability, the necessity of school sex education, as well as the vital importance of familial, social and educational support to mothers, on whom the burden of care for their children disproportionately falls.