| dc.description.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. | en_US |
