Premarital Sexual Relations Research Articles

Hindigenization of Bangladeshi Culture through the Penetration of Satellite TV: Paradigm of Modernization vs. Dependency Theory

Globalization through free flow of information, free market economy, satellite channels, internet etc. has made the world global village on the other hand global pillage. Modernization thinkers argue People’s mind or thinking has been globalized through free flow of information; people’s taste, choice, habit, life style etc. have been globalized through satellite channels, newspapers, magazines, movies, serials etc. On the other hand dependency thinkers argue, globalization is a new form of exploitation like neoliberalization and neocolonization. In the colonial era, imperial countries directly accumulated from third world countries through colonization but globalization has brought neocolonialism causes developed western countries to be centre and rest of the world to be peripheries. According to Akande (2002), Globalization has resulted in the extinction of 22,000 indigenous cultures in the past decade and optimistic estimates suggests that as many as 90% of the world's languages will disappear in the next century. Satellite Television is the powerful media to reach at the public audience regardless of age, sex, income or education level across nations. In addition, it presents sight and sound. Due to availability of low price television and cable network, middle class and lower class peoples’ viewership have been rapidly increased in Bangladesh. Hindi serials are mostly popular among girls and women. They eagerly wait to see the serials. Young people are mostly accustomed to see Hindi movies and Kolkata, Panjabi, Tamil movies too. They are preferring Hindi movies, serials etc. to Bangla movie, drama, serials etc. Children are seeing Hindi cartoon too. These Hindi movies, serials, cartoons have large impact to the human behavior, culture and language. People are viewing other world and other way of life. They are silently encompassing other behavior, language and overall culture. Culture is the representation of the country’s identity. Satellite television undermines the national identity and overrides the local traditions. For Bangladesh, the significant cultural shift arises due to the impact of satellite TV. Indian channels like Zee TV, MTV, Star Plus, Sony TV serials are influencing the cultural sphere of Bangladesh. Through watching these channels, family ties and family values are getting threatened; specifically materials that favor divorce as a means to solve family problems or programming that includes obscenity, nudity, arousal of sexual instincts, or premarital sexual relations, extramarital affairs are completely destroying the cultural beliefs and values of Bangladesh. Hindi movies and serials have impacts on fashion, clothing and fast food consumption. Labib (2001) stated that there is no solid evidence yet to prove the influence of satellite television, but he does not deny the anecdotal evidence to suggest an influence on women and girls in fields such as fashion, clothing as well as fast food consumption. Kewwords: Hindi film, Hindi serial, Bangladeshi culture, Cultural aggression.

Too Many Men? Sex Ratios and Women's Partnering Behavior in China

The relative numbers of women and men are changing dramatically in China, but the consequences of these imbalanced sex ratios have received little attention. We merge data from the Chinese Health and Family Life Survey with community-level data from Chinese censuses to examine the relationship between cohort- and community-specific sex ratios and women's partnering behavior. Consistent with demographic-opportunity theory and sociocultural theory, we find that high sex ratios (indicating more men relative to women) are associated with an increased likelihood that women marry before age 25. However, high sex ratios are also associated with an increased likelihood that women engage in premarital and extramarital sexual relationships and have had more than one sexual partner, findings consistent with demographic-opportunity theory but inconsistent with sociocultural theory.

Youth-friendly services in two rural districts of West Bengal and Jharkhand, India: definite progress, a long way to go

It is a continuing challenge to reach rural youth in India with sexual and reproductive health services. Drawing on a large survey among 6,572 young people aged 15–24 and 264 rural health providers accessed by them in rural West Bengal and Jharkhand, we witnessed a long-awaited response to national efforts to promote birth spacing. That 31% of young, married women without children were using contraception to delay a first birth was evidence of cracks in the persistent tradition of demonstrating fertility soon after marriage. The coverage of public sector services for reproductive and sexual health is highly variable and the scope largely restricted to married women, with unmarried young women and men relying mainly on the informal private sector, and seriously underserved. Strong social norms proscribing pre-marital sexual relationships perpetuate barriers in meeting their needs. Access to contraception is affected by negative provider attitudes and reluctance to report having sex underestimates the real scale of unmet need. Yet, 30% of providers reported unmarried young women seeking abortion services. To address the needs of all rural youth, the public sector needs to expand its remit or engage with informal providers, train them to deliver youth-friendly services and give them a recognised role in abortion referral.

From Coherence to Fragments: '1968' and the Making of Youth Politicisation in Greece in the 1970s

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Promiscuous Girls, Good Wives, and Cheating Husbands: Gender Inequality, Transitions to Marriage, and Infidelity in Southeastern Nigeria

The transition from premarital sexual relationships and courtship to marriage and parenthood in southeastern Nigeria involves particularly dramatic adjustments for young women who have absorbed changing ideas about sexuality, marriage, and gender equality, and who have had active premarital sexual lives. In the eyes of society, these women must transform from being promiscuous girls to good wives. This paper examines these adjustments and, specifically, how young married women's lives are affected by the reality of male infidelity and a persistent gendered double standard regarding the acceptability of extramarital sex.

Pre-marital Sex and Healthy Sexual Relationship among the Students of University of Ado-ekiti, Nigeria

The study investigated premarital sex and healthy sexual relationship among students of University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. The sample consisted of 360 male and female students. Multistage and simple random sampling was used to select the sample from six faculties in the university. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentage scores and t-test inferential statistics. Three general questions were raised and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument for the study was titled: Premarital sex and healthy sexual relationship among students (PSAHSRAS). It had a reliability coefficient of 0.68 and its validity was found to be 0.71. The study revealed that students had premarital sex and that majority of them used contraceptives. It was thus recommended that those who use condom should be encouraged to continue so as to free themselves from life long problems.

Gender, Race and Religion in the Colonization of the Americas

This is an ambitious edited volume that attempts to discuss the interaction of gender, race, and religion across Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French colonial America. In her introduction, Nora Jaffary takes pains to discuss these three variables within the context of Atlantic World colonialism. Unfortunately there is no attempt to weigh the role of each variable within a theoretical framework. Furthermore, Jaffary is somewhat vague about the issue of resistance as it applied to gender and race. Jaffary sees the articles as adding to our “understanding [of ] how gender dynamics played a constitutive role in the establishment and maintenance of European colonial ventures” (p. 9). Although all the articles deal with gender, not all engage questions of race or religion.Under the rubric of “frontiers,” Alida Metcalf examines indigenous and white women in sixteenth-century Brazil and finds that, in general, Portuguese women did not function as cultural go-betweens, in part because of their limited numbers. While some indigenous women probably served as physical, transactional, or representational brokers, Metcalf finds sources to be scarce and indeed almost silent on their participation and roles. Bruce A. Erickson emphasizes that women were victims of sexual and other violence along the northern frontier of New Spain. His discussion is sometimes rather vague on the question of race; the reader is never sure if the victimized women were Spanish, mestizo, or Indian. Ben Marsh examines women in Georgia, the southern British-American frontier. He finds that at least some white and mixed-race women were powerful figures who played seminal roles in the survival of these colonies and the transmission of culture.At least three contributions to this volume address issues related to female religious. Some of these essays suffer from thin to nonexistent sources. Susan Broomhall examines the case of Antoinette de Saint-Estienne, an indigenous Mi’kmaq woman who entered a Benedictine convent in Tours. Unfortunately the extant sources are too thin to allow Broomhall to do more than make suppositions as to any lasting effect of Antoinette’s stay in the French convent. Joan C. Bristol, writing about Juana Esperanza de San Alberto, a black poblana (inhabitant of the city of Puebla) who entered the Carmelite convent as a servant and eventually became a nun, has a much richer source, a vida or spiritual autobiography. The vida enables her to examine closely the relationship between race and virtuous conduct. She concludes that Juana’s position was unique and ultimately reflected the Spanish view that black piety was impossible. Kathryn Burns’s essay examines several beaterios (houses of pious women) in Cuzco, concentrating on the goals of their founders and possible links to ideas of feminine indigenous honor.In a section on “Race Mixing,” Nora Jaffary analyzes mid-eighteenth-century dispensation requests for both affinal and consanguineous marriages. She suggests that the cases involving premarital sexual relations show the persistence of pre-Hispanic indigenous custom. Unfortunately she fails to mention that premarital sexual relations were common both in the Iberian Peninsula and in regions of the colonial world where few pre-Hispanic peoples survived. Yvonne Fabella’s piece on the mulâtresse in colonial Saint Domingue analyzes a depiction of the free woman of the French colony written by Michel René Hilliard, an eighteenth-century observer. Bethany Fleming’s article on Mackinaw Island, an important trading zone inhabited by French, British, and Americans as well as indigenous peoples and mixed-bloods, finds that a group of métis women were important fur traders who preserved their mixed-race culture while marrying prosperous Euro-American men.The section titled “Networks” begins with Nancy E. van Deusen’s article on the transmission of spiritual ideas among nuns, beatas, mystics, and other religious women in seventeenth-century Lima. Perhaps the most interesting article, and the only one that addresses gender, religion, and ethnicity, is Linda M. Rupert’s discussion of the physical movement of women of all races between Dutch Curaçao and mainland Venezuela. She finds a network of women owning ships, migrating between Dutch and Spanish colonial possessions, and escaping slavery. Lastly, in a brief “Afterword,” Patricia Seed points out some general differences between women in each colonial power within the Atlantic world.Taken as a totality, these articles eventually reject the dichotomous choice between arguing that colonialism either hindered or helped women, and instead show both how women of different races and religious backgrounds adapted to their colonial status in a variety of ways, and how colonialism shaped their lives.

Adolescent fertility and religion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year 2000: The role of Protestantism

Social transformations in Brazil in recent years have included a substantial increase in adolescent fertility, a dramatic rise in membership of Protestant religious denominations, and an accompanying decline in the number of Catholics. We used the 2000 Brazil Census to examine differentials in fertility and family formation among adolescents living in Rio de Janeiro by the following religious denominations: Catholic; Baptist; other mainline Protestant; Assembly of God Church; Universal Church of the Kingdom of God; other Pentecostal Protestant; and no religion. Results from logistic regression models show that the majority of the Protestants are at a lower risk of adolescent fertility than Catholics, and that among adolescents who have had a child, most Protestants are more likely than Catholics to be in a committed union. Our findings offer some support for the hypothesis that Protestant churches are more effective than the Catholic Church in discouraging premarital sexual relations and childbearing among adolescents.

Zambian male adolescents' perceptions about premarital sexual relationships

The role adolescent boys play in premarital sexual activities, gender power relations, and the reproductive health risks they are exposed to, has received little attention in research. This qualitative study has aimed to explore Zambian male adolescents' perceptions and expectations about premarital sexual relationships. Seven focus group discussions were conducted between November 2000 and May 2001, in George and Chimwemwe compounds, with 53 boys aged 15 to 19. The findings reveal that adolescent premarital sexual relationships are common and considered by many boys as a prerequisite to achieving an adult male's autonomy and status. The boys viewed themselves as the privileged gender, with greater freedom than girls, and were the major decision-makers on sexual matters in relationships. The results indicate that traditional values and stereotypical gender roles continue to influence Zambian boys' male identity. However, a sense of ambiguity among the boys on issues of gender imbalance in premarital relationships indicates a potential and preparedness to break with traditional trends — a true challenge for public health priorities and interventions.

Perspectives of midwives and doctors on adolescent sexuality and abortion care in Vietnam

Vietnam has one of the highest abortion rates in the world and adolescent abortions are thought to constitute at least one-third of all cases. Lack of balanced reproductive health information and services to adolescents and negative social attitudes towards adolescent sexuality are contributing factors to the high abortion rates. Health providers are important in guiding and counselling adolescents on how to protect their reproductive health. There is a lack of studies on health providers' perspectives on their work in adolescent reproductive health care. To explore the perspectives of midwives and doctors on adolescent sexuality and abortion, and what they considered to be quality abortion care for adolescents and the barriers to it, as well as to their own training needs. Observations of care in abortion clinics and focus-group discussions (FGD) were used to collect data. Doctors and midwives from three healthcare facilities in Quang Ninh province in Northern Vietnam participated in a total of eight FGDs. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. Major barriers identified for quality abortion care were of technical and managerial nature. Participants considered that counselling unmarried clients in connection with abortion should focus on warning against the risks and dangers of abortion and pre-marital sexual relations, which they strongly disapproved of. However, they also expressed a pragmatic and caring attitude towards the unmarried girls and couples coming for abortion. Adolescent sexuality and abortion are morally sensitive issues in the Vietnamese culture. The contradictions between cultural norms and the reality facing health providers while counselling unmarried adolescents need to be addressed in education and training programmes.

Sexual Desires and ‘Social Evils’: Young women in rural Vietnam

Vietnam's increased integration into the global market economy entails rapid and dynamic changes that foster new ways of acting, interacting and rendering the world meaningful. This article addresses the ways in which an ongoing process of transformation in contemporary Vietnam is epitomised by the ambivalence and ambiguity with which female sexuality is imbued. Female sexuality is ideally restricted to marriage and motherhood, meaning that females' premarital or extramarital sexual relations tend to be associated with the category of ‘social evils’ (te nan xa hoi). The category of ‘social evils’ is vague in definition and was introduced into Vietnamese society by virtue of what was seen as the country's increased involvement in a morally polluted world. By drawing on two periods of fieldwork (1994–1995 and 2000–2001) in a northern rural Vietnamese commune, this article highlights the ways in which female sexuality in a local field site is intertwined with anxieties about the forces of a global and ‘poisonous culture’ (van hoa doc hai) that may lead young women to transgress moral limits: for example, by having premarital sex. For many rural female adolescents sexuality thus means a need of self-imposed and/or governmentally imposed control in order to guarantee appropriate morality. For others, however, sexuality means the involvement in premarital sexual relations and, hence, a crossing of moral boundaries. Deseos Sexuales y ‘Males Sociales’: mujeres jóvenes en el campo de Vietnam La integración aumentado de Vietnam en la economía de mercado globalizada implica cambios rápidos y dinámicos que fomentan nuevas maneras de actuar, de relacionarse, y de hacer el mundo significativo. Este artículo trata las maneras en que un proceso continuo de trasformación en Vietnam contemporáneo se ejemplifica de la ambivalencia y ambigüedad de que se ésta empapada la sexualidad femenina. La sexualidad femenina se limita al matrimonio y la maternidad, lo cual significa que las relaciones sexuales prematrimonial o extramatrimonial tienden a estar relacionado con la categoría de «males sociales» («te nan xa hoi»). La categoría de «males sociales» tiene definición imprecisa y era introducida a la sociedad vietnamita en virtud de lo que se veía como la implicación creciente del país en un mundo moral contaminado. Haciendo uso de trabajo de campo que se realizó en dos períodos distintas (1994–1995 y 2000–2001) en una comuna rural en el norte de Vietnam, este artículo destaca las maneras en que la sexualidad femenina, en un sitio local del campo, se entrelaza con ansiedades de las fuerzas de una cultura global y «venenosa» («hai de van hoa doc»), lo que influya a las mujeres jóvenes a transgredir los límites morales, por ejemplo, tener sexo prematrimonial. Así que, para muchos de las adolescentes rurales la sexualidad significa la necesidad de tener control que se impone por ellas mismas y/o por el gobierno para garantizar moralidad adecuada. Sin embargo, para otras la sexualidad significa la participación en relaciones sexuales prematrimoniales y, por lo tanto, una travesía de los límites morales.

Ethics of justice and ethics of care: Values and attitudes among midwifery students on adolescent sexuality and abortion in Vietnam and their implications for midwifery education: A survey by questionnaire and interview

Adolescent's sexuality and related reproductive health and rights problems are sensitive issues in Vietnam. Globalisation has had an impact on the lifestyles of young people, and rising numbers of abortion and STI/HIV risks among youth are posing major health concerns in the country. These problems need to be addressed. Midwives belong to a key category of health personnel in Vietnam, whose task it is to promote adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and prevent reproductive ill health. It is important to understand future midwives’ perceptions and attitudes in order to improve their education and training programmes. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate Vietnamese midwifery students’ values and attitudes towards adolescent sexuality, abortion and contraception and their views on professional preparation. Methods A quantitative survey including 235 midwifery students from four different secondary medical colleges in northern Vietnam was carried out in 2003. A qualitative study addressing similar questions was performed and 18 midwifery students were individually interviewed. Findings Findings revealed a general disapproval of adolescent pre-marital sexual relations and abortion—‘an ethics of justice’—but also an empathic attitude and willingness to support young women, who bear the consequences of unwanted pregnancies and social condemnation—‘an ethics of care’. Gender-based imbalance in sexual relationships, limited knowledge about reproductive health issues among youth, and negative societal attitudes were concerns expressed by the students. The students saw their future tasks mainly related to childbearing and less to other reproductive health issues, such as abortion and prevention of STI/HIV. Conclusion Midwifery education in Vietnam should encourage value-reflective thinking around gender inequality and ethical dilemmas, in order to prepare midwives to address adolescents’ reproductive health needs.

Reproductive health education intervention trial

To measure the effectiveness of a reproductive health education package in improving the knowledge of adolescent girls aged 15-19 years in Chandigarh (India). A reproductive health education package, developed in consultation with parents, teachers and adolescents, was delivered to randomly sampled classes of two senior secondary schools and one school was selected as control. In one school, a nurse conducted 15 sessions for 94 students in three batches using conventional education approach. In another school she conducted sessions for a selected group of 20 adolescents who later disseminated the messages informally to their 84 classmates (peer education). Using a 70-item structured questionnaire the knowledge of 95 adolescents from conventional, 84 from peer, and 94 from control school were assessed before and one month after the last session. Change in the score in intervention and control groups was tested by ANOVA taking age and socio-economic status as covariates. Teachers, parents and students overwhelmingly (88%, 95.5% and 93% respectively) favoured reproductive health education program. Five percent of the respondents reported that someone in their class is having sexual relations, and 13% of the girls approved of pre-marital sexual relations. Reproductive health knowledge scores improved significantly after intervention in conventional education (27.28) and peer education group (20.77) in comparison to the controls (3.64). Post-test scores were not significantly different between peer education group and conventional education group (43.65 and 40.52 respectively) though the time consumed in delivering the peer education intervention was almost one third of the time taken to implement conventional education. Peer education and conventional education strategies were effective in improving the reproductive health knowledge of adolescent girls but peer strategy was less time consuming.

Rural Indian tribal communities: an emerging high-risk group for HIV/AIDS

BackgroundRural Indian tribes are anthropologically distinct with unique cultures, traditions and practices. Over the years, displacement and rapid acculturation of this population has led to dramatic changes in their socio-cultural and value systems. Due to a poor health infrastructure, high levels of poverty and ignorance, these communities are highly vulnerable to various health problems, especially, communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS. Our study sought to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding sexuality, and the risk factors associated with the spread of HIV/AIDS and STDs among these communities.MethodsA nested cross sectional study was undertaken as part of the on going Reproductive and Child Health Survey. A total of 5,690 participants age 18–44 were recruited for this study. Data were obtained through home interviews, and focused on socio-demographics, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding sexuality, HIV/AIDS and other STDs.ResultsThe study revealed that only 22% of adults had even heard of AIDS, and 18 % knew how it is transmitted. In addition, only 5% knew that STDs and AIDS were related to each other. AIDS awareness among women was lower compared to men (14% vs.30 %). Regarding sexual practices, 35% of the respondents reported having had extramarital sexual encounters, with more males than females reporting extramarital affairs.ConclusionLack of awareness, permissiveness of tribal societies for premarital or extra-marital sexual relationships, and sexual mixing patterns predispose these communities to HIV/AIDS and STD infections. There is a dire need for targeted interventions in order to curtail the increasing threat of HIV and other STDs among these vulnerable populations.

Perceptions of communication and education about sexuality among Muslim immigrant girls in the US

This research explored how Muslim immigrant girls' communication and education about sexuality was mediated through their mothers and school‐based sexuality education (SBSE) classes. Thirty mothers and their 38 daughters living in Illinois participated in focus group discussions and individual semi‐structured interviews that gauged girls' and mothers' perceptions regarding communication about sexuality and SBSE. Thematic analysis showed that little communication regarding sexuality happened between mothers and daughters, and that which did occur was confined primarily to the risks premarital sexual relationships posed to the social order. Furthermore, participants reported that although SBSE classes were informative, they perceived that these classes marginalized Muslim girls' experiences and decisions to abstain from premarital sex by primarily emphasizing prevention from sexually transmitted infections and diseases. Given these perceptions, some participants opted not to attend SBSE classes. This research contributes to enriching the knowledge base of sexuality educators and communities regarding the diverse challenges immigrant youths face in learning about their sexuality. Alternative ways to reach Muslim immigrant youths are discussed.

Religion, Religiosity, and Nonmarital Sexual Conduct: An Application of Reference Group Theory

The research reported within examines two hypotheses derived from reference group theory regarding the inverse effects of religiosity on the prevalence of premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations across faith groups. The first hypothesis asserts that the strength of these inverse religiosity effects varies systematically across faith groups, such that as religious proscriptiveness increases, the effect of religiosity increases. The second hypothesis predicts that there will also be systematic variation in these effects across these forms of nonmarital sexual relations such that faith group variation in the effects of personal religiosity will be most evident with regard to premarital sexual relations but relatively invariant with regard to extramarital and homosexual relations. Using logistic regression analyses with data available in the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) 1988–1996 General Social Surveys, we find a mixed pattern of results which provides limited support for these hypotheses.

Public affairs; Institutionalized nonmarital sex in an eastern Indonesian society

A recent revival of anthropological interest in kinship has evidently extended even as f ar as such long-standing questions as the universality of 'marriage'. More particularly, Cai Hua (2001) has argued that marriage is encountered in all societies except one: the matrilineal Na or Moso of southern China, who ensure biological and social reproduction by way of impermanent sexual liaisons called 'visits'. Continuing in a universalist vein, Cai (2001:426) further claims that marriage and the Na arrangements, whereby a man and a woman meet solely for the purposes of sex, are mutually exclusive; in other words, that an institution of marriage precludes all other forms of institutionalized sexuality. The present essay controverts Cai's thesis in an especially telling way: it explores an eastern Indonesian society in which an approved and institutionalized form of temporary sexual relationship exists (or until recently existed) not only in tandem with marriage, but also with affinal alliance, a system in which marriage and marital sexuality form an essential part of connections between structural groups, and which has usually been conceived as entailing a marriage prescription (Forth 1993:96-7). Insofar as it provides an alternative means of social as well as biological reproduction, the Indonesian institution also bears significantly on continuing theoretical debate in anthropology regarding such analytical categories as descent, filiation, and social kinship. Drawing on accounts of numerous informants I have known during a series of visits to Indonesia over a period of twenty years, in what follows I describe a form of premarital or extramarital sexual relationship among the Nage and Keo of the island of Flores. The relationship involves young unmarried women regularly and openly becoming temporarily attached to men - either married or unmarried - for the purposes of sex. Nage and Keo

Nurses' and midwives' views on approaches to hymen examination.

Premarital sexual relations are unacceptable for women within Turkish society's understanding and perception of honour. If there is any suspicion about virginity, young girls are forced to undergo hymen examination against their will, which frequently results in attemped suicide. The most frequent cause of suicide in young Turkish girls is hymen examination. Nurses and midwives are always involve in this procedure. The purpose of this study was to determine the views of and approaches to hymen examination by nurses and midwives. Of those who participated in this study, 80.2% had been present during a hymen examination, 40.4% indicated that virginity had a special significance in the society owing to social pressures, and 37.5% indicated that they agreed with the view that the idea of virginity puts restraints on a woman's sexual life, whereas sexual activity is a physiological need. They also indicated their opposition to hymen examination imposed without the individual's consent. They agreed that stopping this practice depended more on the social structural changes required than on legal measures.

Predicting the Intention of South African Female Students to Engage in Premarital Sexual Relations: An Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action

The Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) was used to investigate the factors influencing South African female students' decision on whether or not to engage in premarital sexual intercourse. The group of participants consisted of 100 female heterosexual university students who were selected from a larger sample on the basis of sexual inexperience. As anticipated by the theory, both attitudes and subjective norms were found to predict intentions, with attitudes emerging as the stronger predictor. Additional analyses revealed that the hypothesized relationship between attitudes and the cognitive bases, beliefs about the outcome of premarital sexual relations, and the evaluation of these outcomes was supported. However, contrary to the theory, subjective norms were not correlated with motivation to comply with the perceived views of salient referents. The results are discussed in the context of a society in which AIDS is epidemic.

Fenomena Kesehatan Reproduksi Remaja : Studi Kasus di Surabaya

This is the time for adolescence reproductive health to receive serious attention from various parties, such as the government, educators, religious leaders and the youth themselves. Studies from some parts of Indonesia indicated that the incidence of teenage pregnancies is increasing. The global information on sexual matters has been claimed for influencing the youth to perform a risky behavior which in turn affecting their reproductive health. Basically, this paper discusses the phenomenon of adolescence reproductive health based on the research that was conducted by PPK-LIPI in collaboration with IPPA in Surabaya. Some important issues that can be highlighted are closely related to youth sexual behavior. A number of youth has already been exposed to pornography materials and some of them have engaged in sex before marriage. Although the percentage is quite small, however, it indicated that pre-marital sexual relationship occurred among youth. This phenomenon likes the tip of the iceberg ; what is reflected might be smaller than the factual. Ironically, the majority of people still hold a sigma that reproductive health issues are associated with sexual matters. Consequently, spreading-out information on reproductive health issues to youth is not allowed because it might stimulate them to practice pre-marital sexual intercourse. Therefore, such adolescence-friendly approaches are needed to socialize and empower the youth to perform healthy reproductive life. Advocacy models such as peer educator and youth center actually can bring a lot of advantages and positive impacts to youth as well as their parents.