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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

2

Healthy Sexuality

We use the term "healthy sexuality" to incorporate a sense of volition in sexual relations and control over one's body. Sexual autonomy is thus part of healthy sexuality, if choices are informed and responsible. Rational adults need to know the potential consequences of their actions, and one person's autonomous decisions cannot be called healthy if they are coercive to another person.

Healthy sexuality is related to reproductive health in three ways. First, it is a determinant of reproductive or sexual health, in physical terms, because its lack can result in higher risk of problems such as unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Second, healthy sexuality may be a determinant of future reproductive health, since it affects people's ability to make use of reproductive health services, and coercion and childhood sexual experience may affect adult sexual satisfaction and risky behaviors (Finkelhor, 1995). Third, healthy sexuality can be viewed as an intrinsic aspect of health, defined to include emotional and mental well-being.

Although we concentrate on healthy sexuality in women, many of the arguments made here can be extended to men. In addition, although there is variation in sexual expression, many of our arguments are valid across a range of kinds of sexual expression.1 Yet, there is significant

1  

At the same time, there is also a gradient of social acceptability of these other forms of sexuality, with the greatest agreement across cultures in disapproval of deviant forms of sexual behavior such as commercial sexual exploitation of children, and the least agreement about different kinds of sexual relationships between consenting adults.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

cultural variation in sexual norms and practices and in the social meaning of healthy sexuality. We identify three different aspects of sexuality over which individual control is possible and on which there would be varying levels of agreement with regard to autonomy:

  1. control in the sense of protection from sexually related violence or coercion, including rape and sexual exploitation of children. This aspect of sexuality is the one most likely to find consensus across cultures.

  2. control over sexual relations within a stable union, in particular the right to refuse sexual relations, whether physically safe or ''unsafe" (that is, likely to lead to infection or to an unwanted pregnancy). The right of women to refuse sexual relations is now more openly discussed and is also being officially acknowledged, at least in principle; the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 endorsed this right in its Platform of Action.

  3. control over access to sexual relations, that is, the right to seek sexual relationships. This aspect of sexuality has the least agreement across cultures, and we do not make policy recommendations in this area.

Not only do these three kinds of control vary across and, at times, within cultures, they can also vary during a person's life. Norms, behavior, and their implications for reproductive health can also change over time.

In this chapter we first examine sociocultural variations in these three aspects of healthy sexuality. We then look at two special problems in healthy sexuality, sexual violence and female genital mutilation. The role of public policy and interventions to promote reproductive health is discussed in the last section. We emphasize cross-cultural variations in norms and institutions and highlight the major changes in sexual behavior that are occurring.

CULTURAL CONTEXT OF SEXUALITY

Volition in sexual relations can have distinct meanings, defined as conditions under which women would have an acknowledged right to refuse sexual relations:

  • when there is the possibility of exposure to an unwanted pregnancy,

  • when there is the possibility of exposure to an infection, especially of the reproductive tract, and

  • when the sexual relationship in general or at any particular time is unwanted for other reasons (including physical tiredness).

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

The third condition is a topic of much disagreement. Though the concept of rape of a spouse has been defined under legal codes in some areas, husbands have been considered to have a right to sexual relationships with their wives in most cultures, though in virtually no culture is this right unconditional in principle, even if it is sometimes in practice. Even separation or divorce may not always limit men's right of sexual access. For example, some Latin American studies suggest that once a woman has been "possessed" by a man at one point, she loses her right to refuse sexual relationships with him (Pick, Givaudan, and Aldaz, 1996).

The formal and extreme form of refusal of sexual relationships with a socially sanctioned partner is the seeking of a separation or a divorce. The woman's real (as opposed to notional) access to this step is determined by a mixture of legal, social, and economic factors. Not least important is the emotional and physical support that the separated woman can expect from her natal family, friends, or others. All these factors differ widely across cultures and societies: for example, practices such as village exogamy often make it physically difficult for a girl's parents to be even aware of, let alone do anything about, their daughter's marital difficulties. Such practices are related to norms that forbid parental interference in a married daughter's life.

The first act of sexual intercourse can be particularly traumatic in many cultures because it is typically the time that a woman's right of refusal is the weakest, whether such sexual activity occurs in a casual relationship or a formal union. Ignorance, a weak bargaining position, and social pressure (as well as the desire to please) create a situation in which the loss of virginity takes place under conditions similar to those that would conventionally be considered rape (see, e.g., reports of researchers in India and Algeria, in Heise, Moore, and Toubia, 1995). In some cultures in the Middle East, a "deflowering" ceremony to demonstrate the virginity of a new bride is held on the wedding night, and relatives, friends, and neighbors are invited: guests wait outside while the hymen is ruptured by sexual intercourse (or, sometimes, by hand) and a woman relative attending brings out proof of virginity in the form of a handkerchief soaked with blood. This experience is typically traumatic for women (Khattab, 1996).

Norms about abstinence at specified times, such as postpartum abstinence (Caldwell and Caldwell, 1981), may not be gender neutral when sexual activity is allowed for men but denied to women. For example, between 42 and 49 percent of currently married men report a casual sexual relation in the past year in Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, and Côte d'Ivoire, while for women it is less than 20 percent in all the countries studied (Caraël, 1995); see Table 2-1. Nonregular sexual activity is generally greater among single than among currently married women, but formerly

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

TABLE 2-1 Men and Women Aged 15-49 Reporting One or More Nonregular Sexual Partners in Last 12 Months, by Current Marital Status: in percent

Country or City

Men

 

 

Women

 

 

 

Currently Married

Formerly Married

Never Married

Currently Married

Formerly Married

Never Married

Africa

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burundi

8

6

6

3

0

0

Central African

 

 

 

 

 

 

Republic

14

12

14

4

11

4

Côte d'Ivoire

49

61

54

10

38

29

Guinea Bissau

42

49

49

19

7

28

Kenya

21

75

44

3

35

32

Lesotho

46

55

36

19

21

14

Lusaka

35

46

35

10

15

8

Tanzania

21

64

49

7

43

28

Togo

21

8

17

2

0

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asia

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manila

8

20

23

1

5

1

Singapore

6

40

13

0

8

0

Sri Lanka

5

11

3

3

18

1

Thailand

17

59

45

1

14

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South America

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rio de Janeiro

31

91

69

5

34

17

 

SOURCE: Adapted from Caraël (1995).

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

married and even currently married men report higher rates than do single men. Many Africans consider it legitimate for a man to have sexual access to cowives, mistresses, or commercial sex workers during any particular wife's postpartum period. Indeed, the ease of availability of alternative sexual partners is cited by many women as an important reason for reducing the period of postpartum abstinence. In this sense, the right of a wife to refuse sexual relations may be a double-edged weapon. When submission to sexual advances, however unwanted, is the only route to other kinds of economic or domestic security, the right to refuse sex may mean very little in practice.2

One reason for refraining from sexual activity in many cultures has been the fear of an unwanted pregnancy in the absence of other fertility control methods. This issue can be separated into two parts. First, can a woman insist on the use of contraception in such cases, and then if her partner is noncompliant, can she refuse sexual intercourse? This question in turn hinges on a woman's ability to practice contraception herself, with or without her partner's consent. If fears of unwanted pregnancy legitimize a woman's refusal of sex, then freer access to contraception can in one sense worsen women's control over their bodies: while contraceptives may free women from the burden of unwanted pregnancies, they may at the same time remove one of the few excuses accepted by men to avoid unwanted intercourse (Folch-Lyon, Macorra, and Shearer, 1981).

The health implications of the lack of a right to refuse sexual intercourse are even more serious when one examines the right to refuse unsafe sex. The current evidence on this matter is scarce, but there is some evidence that in many parts of Africa, the fear of infection is slowly becoming a legitimate ground for refusing sexual relations, most likely due to the increasing prevalence and awareness of HIV infection. For example, Orubuloye, Caldwell, and Caldwell (1993) report that among the Yoruba in Nigeria, women now feel more free to refuse sex with infected partners. Similarly, Awusabo-Asare, Anarfi, and Agyeman (1993) found their female respondents in Ghana relatively free to refuse sexual relations with a partner infected with an STD. However, a refusal based purely on a partner's promiscuity, where an infection was not established, was not believed to be similarly valid.

Healthy sexuality in the more positive sense of access to sexual relations can be thought of under three separate aspects: control over when sexual activity starts, control over the choice of one's sexual partner, and

2  

Sexual relationships are as hierarchical as, and often mirror, other kinds of gender inequality and power structures. Increasing women's sexual autonomy may result from improvements to female status in areas that have no obvious connection with their sexuality.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

control over the frequency or intensity of sexual activity. But numbers reveal little about motives; one cannot infer women's levels of autonomy from high or low levels of premarital sexual activity.

Asian cultures, on the whole, are characterized by discouragement of premarital sexual behavior, and Middle Eastern cultures are generally even more insistent on premarital chastity. There has reportedly been no "sexual revolution," though political and feminist efforts have been made to encourage greater gender equality and female autonomy in spheres of life other than sexuality (Hathout, 1989). Premarital sexual control is not just an ideal in many societies: institutions and cultural practices support enforcement of this norm, although such institutions and practices are under increasing pressure to change. For example, one frequently stated reason for the traditionally early marriage of girls in South Asia and the Middle East has been the need to ensure their virginity at the time of marriage. The literature of South Asia is replete with real and fictional accounts of the methods used to confirm such virginity, as well as the opprobrium heaped on brides who fail to meet the requirement.

Female seclusion is also a common way of preventing unwanted male-female interactions. Seclusion has obvious implications for the ability of women to use clinical services of all types, particularly when it is their own health needs rather than those of their children for which they seek care. Seclusion of women as a way to control their sexuality operates not just through overt seclusion, but also through norms about matters such as the correct occupations for women (see, e.g., the constraints on working class women in Naples described by Goddard, 1987). Norms about seclusion and work can also operate to limit women's ability to serve as health care and family planning providers (see, e.g., the discussion of Bangladesh by Koenig and Simmons, 1992).

More often, adolescent sexual activity in traditional societies is restricted by less drastic means. For example, in South Asia, norms about female seclusion do not necessarily require young girls to be secluded from all males in the household or even in the village. Instead, premarital chastity is promoted by a cultural proscription on intrakin or intravillage marriage so that all men in a girl's village of birth are in principle her brothers and any relationship that develops is by definition incestuous. In many cultures the importance given to virginity may reflect not so much a concern about premarital sexual activity as about premarital pregnancy. Strategies to preserve the virginity of unmarried girls may therefore emphasize the latter. Whiting, Burbank, and Ratner (1986) record several such strategies, ranging from a ban on all sexual activity to relatively unlimited freedom to experiment with sexual activity that stops short of actual intercourse (see also Du-Toit, 1987).

Prohibitions against male sexual activity before marriage are universally

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

TABLE 2-2 Males and Females Who Had Not Had Intercourse at Time of First Marriage/Partnership, Among Ever-Married Men and Women, by Current Age: in percent

 

Age

 

 

25-29

 

30-34

 

35-39

 

40-49

 

Country or City

M

F

M

F

M

F

M

F

Africa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Côte d'Ivoire

35

52

24

56

23

58

29

68

Kenya

15

31

8

25

5

30

6

32

Tanzania

30

66

24

77

28

82

42

83

Lusaka

38

51

26

56

23

68

28

65

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manila

36

83

29

88

21

85

24

87

Singapore

57

92

71

95

56

95

68

94

Thailand

28

98

26

96

27

95

37

99

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South America

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rio de Janiero

17

71

14

69

9

75

13

81

 

SOURCE: Adapted from Caraël (1995).

weaker and less strictly enforced than prohibitions against female sexual activity before marriage. Condonement, and even encouragement, of sexual experience by young men affects the reproductive health of both men and women. Table 2-2 shows data from surveys, carried out by the Global Programme on AIDS, on sexual intercourse prior to marriage or partnership among ever-married men and women. Males and females in the Kenya survey and males in the Rio de Janeiro survey were most likely to report sexual activity prior to their first stable union. Thai, Singaporean, and Manila women reported the lowest rates of sexual activity prior to marriage or union.

Quite apart from the gender inequality implied by such differences in sexual norms, in an environment in which adolescent females are denied such activity, adolescent males seeking sexual activity turn to other partners—usually commercial sex workers, as the anthropological and survey evidence from Thailand describes (see, e.g., Thongkrajai et al., 1993) or to older married women, often within the larger extended family (see, e.g., Goparaju, 1994, on India). Because their husbands have often had such sexual contacts, young married women are put at risk of acquiring STDs at a stage in life when they are culturally least able to identify or seek medical or nonmedical help for socially embarrassing conditions such as

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

reproductive tract problems. Many popular magazine or newspaper columns on health-related matters include letters from readers that refer to female reproductive tract problems for which the letter writers are embarrassed to seek medical help (see, e.g., Basnayake, 1985). The anthropological literature also stresses the inability of young women to admit to and seek help for reproductive health problems because this kind of illness, especially if it is feared to result in infertility, can lead to legitimizing a husband's search for a new wife (see, e.g., Bourquia, 1990; Doniger, 1991); this is discussed further in Chapter 3.

Many religious or cultural traditions pay at least lip service to the idea of male fidelity or to the idea of carefully restrained male infidelity. The latter approach includes norms about polygyny and about male access to other women during periods of postpartum abstinence. These social and cultural traditions have implications for the reproductive health of women in two ways: directly, if it means that they lose their sexual access to their husbands when husbands have other alternatives;3 indirectly, because the wider sexual networks increase their risk of infections. The practices of polygyny, premarital commercial sex, extramarital sex during postpartum abstinence (and during periods that males travel to cities, usually for work) are all at least partly institutionalized in the belief that males need sexual release.

In contrast, very few cultures have similar beliefs or condoned practices for women who do not have access to regular sexual relations. Women who are unmarried, widowed, or separated from their husbands because of migration are usually expected to have a celibate life. The restrictions are particularly severe in Asia and the Middle East and particularly stringent in the case of widow remarriage. In South Asia in particular, universal marriage is generally prescribed, while widow marriage is generally proscribed, though a strong reform movement in India has led to a much greater tolerance of widow remarriage. Restraints on the sexual lives of women are not necessarily the cause of sexual dissatisfaction for most women in traditional cultures. Various norms and institutions serve to legitimize the restraints. Because of social conditioning, as well as women's lack of information about female sexuality, most women may be content with restricted sexual expression.

Beliefs about female sexuality are strongly connected to notions of shame and honor, which seek to determine how women may express their sexuality and how their activities need constant monitoring to prevent an undue expression of such sexuality. For example, folklore refers

3  

Polygyny may not always have this connotation, since wives may welcome cowives for a variety of reasons (Bledsoe and Cohen, 1993).

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

often to women's sexual greed or wantonness that makes them neglect home and family in the search for lovers and to the need to control this tendency (see, e.g., Constantinides, 1985). This image of women's insatiable sexuality can affect their sexual and reproductive health. In the early days of Mexico's family planning programs, men's fear that women who were not pregnant and exhausted from child care would become sexually promiscuous and cheat on their husbands was found to be a potential barrier to the success of the programs (Folch-Lyon, Macorra, and Shearer, 1981).

There are also cultures in which premarital sexual activity by young girls is condoned, even encouraged, and a resulting pregnancy is welcomed; this is a pattern in much of sub-Saharan Africa (see, e.g., Caldwell, Caldwell, and Quiggin, 1989; Meekers, 1990, 1992; van de Walle, 1990). One difficulty in interpreting the meaning of this practice lies in the fluid definition of marriage that prevails in much of Africa and the Caribbean, so that sexual activity is hard to classify as either pre- or postmarital (for a review, see Bledsoe and Cohen, 1993). Marriage is a process in which cohabitation, ceremonies, and childbirth can occur in varying sequence: the issue is not so much whether a birth occurs to parents who have had a marriage ceremony, but whether the birth is considered socially legitimate. That legitimacy involves, among other things, whether the newborn has an acknowledged father, whether the adolescent parents are in a stable union, whether the union has the approval of the larger kin group, and so on.

Even in cultures that have traditionally frowned on premarital female sexual activity, there have recently been strong signs of change. There are reports of increases in premarital sexual activity from all regions. Several surveys of young unmarried women report that they are now under strong social and peer group pressure to engage in premarital sex: in Thailand (see, e.g., Thongkrajai et al., 1993); Nigeria (Renne, 1993; Feyisetan and Pebley, 1989; Oyeneye and Kawonise, 1993); Senegal (Diawara, 1979); Ghana (Anarfi, 1993); Kenya (Ferguson, gitonga, and Kabira, 1988); Côte d'Ivoire (Meekers, 1990); Liberia (Taylor, 1984); North Africa (Mernissi, 1977); and India (Kapur, 1973; Savara and Sridhar, 1994).

Two major reasons for an apparent rise in premarital sexual activity have been proposed. The first is that ages at first marriage have risen, so that women now have more years "at risk" of premarital sexual activity. This reason has been proposed as the major cause of the rise in premarital adolescent sexual behavior in much of Africa (Bledsoe and Cohen, 1993). Premarital pregnancies can pose an increasing social problem if they disrupt young women's schooling, their chances for desirable marriage, and other preparation for adult roles, even when age-specific fertility rates are decreasing (Bledsoe and Cohen, 1993).

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

The second reason is the increasing "sexualization" of cultures worldwide (see, e.g., Udry, 1993; Burt, 1990). The hypothesis is that various features of modern life have greatly increased both the desire for sexual activity as well as the possibilities for such activity. Among the factors thought to be responsible for such sexualization are the mass media; increased migration and urbanization with resulting opportunities for social interaction; and increased materialism and relative or absolute impoverishment, which have led to sharp rises in commercial sex. Given the variety of factors, it is impossible to determine whether increased adolescent sexual activity is associated with increased female sexual autonomy.

The term "commercial sex" covers a very wide variety of practices (Gillies and Parker, 1994), and it is difficult to quantify the extent of the behaviors, to generalize about the motivations of those who provide the sexual services, or to estimate adequately the consequences for sexual and reproductive health (Cohen and Trussell, 1996). The United Nations Global Programme on AIDS sponsored a series of household surveys of sexual behavior in developing countries, which included questions on commercial sex, defined as contacts within the last 12 months, with a nonregular partner, for which gifts or money were exchanged. This is a broad definition, and it is likely that interpretations varied among countries, that commercial sex workers were underrepresented among respondents, and that the behaviors were underreported because of social stigma or illegality (Caraël, 1995). The proportions of men reporting such contacts ranged from 1 percent in Sri Lanka to nearly 25 percent in Tanzania: "In some populations, sex in exchange for money and gifts represents an important part of sexual behavior, while in others it plays only a marginal role." (Caraël, 1995:122).

Smaller, more intensive studies of commercial sex work have documented a wide variety of motivations and economic circumstances. Pickering and Wilkins (1993), in a careful study of women sex workers in the Gambia, found many from relatively well-off homes, in contact with their families, for whom commercial sex was an economic choice, an attempt to make a lot of money quickly and possibly become mistresses of rich men. Orubuloye, Caldwell, and Caldwell (1994) found that commercial sex workers in urban Nigeria tended to be better educated than the general population. Other studies have found more evidence that commercial sex is a result of families' economic hardship and very limited alternative opportunities for employment. For example, Ghanaian women migrants to the Cote d'Ivoire who engage in commercial sex are often single mothers from poor families with few alternative sources of income (Anarfi, 1993). Commercial sex workers in Thailand have little education, come from poor families, and send back a large proportion of their incomes as remittances (Archavanitkul and Guest, 1994). Sexual

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

"autonomy" can have little positive meaning for women (or men) who feel forced to sell sexual services. Even if selling sexual services is not invariably defined as the result of coercion, women and men who do so are at high risk of sexual violence (discussed in the next section), as well as high risk of sexually transmitted diseases (see Chapter 3).

SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Sexual violence, both within and outside a formal relationship, occurs in many women's lives (Heise, Pitanguy, and Germain, 1994; Heise, 1994). Data on it are limited, in part because violence has only recently been recognized as a public health issue and an important topic of research and in part because of methodological problems, such as unwillingness to discuss or report the problem and differences among existing studies in definitions, samples, and research methods. Enough is known, however, to justify inclusion of violence against women as a serious reproductive health problem. In population-based surveys in developing countries (using various reference periods), 30 percent of women report being beaten by spouses in two Caribbean islands; between 56 and 67 percent in stratified samples in Papua New Guinea; 20 percent in Colombia; and 60 percent in Santiago, Chile (summarized in Heise, Pitanguy, and Germain, 1994:Table 1). In a recent survey in Uttar Pradesh state, India, more than one-third of men reported that they beat their wives (Martin et al., 1997).

Violence against women resulting in death is seen across a range of economic and cultural conditions.4 The scope of the problem cannot be deduced from figures for homicide alone. Suicide, whether real or apparent, is often the outcome of predeath violence. The classic example is provided by the phenomenon of "dowry deaths" in parts of northern India, where young married women are often found to have died in accidents or committed suicide and where there is a very fuzzy dividing line between suicide or accidental injury and homicide. A cross-cultural survey drawn from research in Africa, Peru, Papua New Guinea, and other Melanesian islands found that marital violence was a defining feature in female suicide (Counts, 1987).5

4  

Several anthropological and ethnographic reviews have documented the existence of societies and cultures in which male violence against women is not endemic, showing that current high levels in other societies are hardly inevitable (see, e.g., Gilmore, 1990; Levinson, 1989; Sanday, 1981; Counts, Brown, and Campbell, 1992).

5  

Men are more likely to die from intentional injuries (homicide and suicide combined) than are women. Murray, Yang, and Qiao (1992) show death rates for males ranging from 2.5 to 10 times those for females in populations at different levels of adult mortality. Our focus here is on violence against women, though, because violence and the threat of violence against women are more directly connected to sexual coercion and other reproductive health problems than is the case for men.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

Gender-based violence has an obvious impact on women's control over their sexuality and therefore their sexual health. The negative consequences of violence that have a direct bearing on reproductive health include physical injuries, STDs, pelvic inflammatory disease, unwanted pregnancy, and unsafe abortion or miscarriage—as well the mental or psychological aspects of sexuality, such as depression, anxiety, and sexual dysfunction (Jenny et al., 1990; Koss, Heise, and Russo, 1994). The fear of domestic violence can make a woman unable to negotiate condom use or practice contraception, if, for example, she fears accusations of infidelity (Folch-Lyon, Macorra, and Shearer, 1981; Fort, 1989) Rape can change a woman's relationship with her partner and her family or have serious consequences for her social or economic status. The social and psychological consequences are particularly negative because most acts of violence against women, including rape, are committed not by strangers but by persons known to the woman, especially family members (Koss, Heise, and Russo, 1994). Studies in India (Paltiel, 1987), Egypt (Mashaly, Graicer, and Youssef, 1993), Kenya, Bangladesh, and Thailand (United Nations, 1989) report that females are more frequently murdered by family members, especially male partners, than by other aggressors.

Although most societies do not explicitly condone violence against women, they often explicitly or implicitly support the socialization of the male psyche as one based on domination and aggression. Such gendered socialization is related to the expression of domination and aggression through violence against those perceived as weak (Heise, 1994). Even if societies do not explicitly condone violence against women, they may do little to stop it through legal channels. The concept of rape does not exist in many penal codes. In many Latin American countries, rape, even by strangers, is considered a ''crime against morality" rather than a crime against the person, like homicide. As a consequence, if the judicial system does not consider rape victims to have impeccable morals, the crime may not be prosecuted (Barricklow, 1993). Domestic violence is also neglected by the police and by the courts in many countries. For example, in Bolivia, aggressors who injure family members can only be punished by the legal system if the injuries incapacitate the victim for at least 30 days (Ford Foundation, 1992). In some Islamic countries, there are stringent requirements for corroboration from eyewitnesses to prove sexual violence against women, and women who fail to prove their complaints leave themselves open to accusations of adultery or fornication. Such laws and practices reflect social norms that condone violence against women, both within the home and outside it. A culture of violence, as well as the individual experience of violence, can breed an atmosphere of fear and tension among women that is detrimental to their sexual health, as well as their full participation in many activities of daily life.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

One particular kind of sexual coercion deserves separate mention, the sexual exploitation of young children. The consequences of this form of coercion are likely to be even more traumatic and long-lasting than those of violence against adult women. Child abuse is even more likely than abuse against women to be perpetrated by persons known to the young person. Evidence from the United States indicates that a history of childhood sexual abuse is associated with unhealthy sexual behavior as an adolescent or adult and greater incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (Laumann et al., 1995:Table 9.15; Browne and Finkelhor, 1986). Children in difficult circumstances—street children, orphans, refugees—are especially vulnerable to abuse (Rajani and Kudrati, 1996; Shamim and Chowdhury, 1993).6

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Several authors have argued that maintaining virginity until marriage is a main purpose of the practice of female genital mutilation (El-Saadawi, 1982; Dualeh and Fara-Warsame, 1982; van der Kwaak, 1992). Female genital mutilation is the term now used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to cover a spectrum of procedures for which the older term "female circumcision" has often been used.7 The practice has been reported in more than 30 countries on the African continent, 7 in the Middle East, and 4 in Asia and in other areas to which certain ethnic groups from these countries have migrated, including Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States (World Health Organization, 1994). It is estimated by the Institute of Medicine that there are currently 114 million women and girls who have been "circumcised," with 2 million new procedures performed each year (Howson et al., 1996).

There are three primary kinds of procedures, with wide variation among and even within groups. The most widely practiced, often called "Sunna" circumcision, from an Arabic word meaning "tradition," consists of the removal of the prepuce or the tip of the clitoris or both. The clitoris is not completely ablated. Clitoridectomy, or excision, consists of

6  

In 1996 representatives of 119 governments, and of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, met in Stockholm, Sweden, for a World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. They unanimously adopted an Agenda for Action, which called for a broad range of actions, including criminalization of commercial sexual exploitation of children, education and social mobilization to inform both children and their guardians of children's rights, and programs and counseling for victims.

7  

WHO defines "female genital mutilation" to encompass clitoridectomy, infibulation, and other related practices, which vary in their severity. In 1993 the 46th World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA46.18 using the term FGM.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

the removal of the entire clitoris, both prepuce and glans, and may include the removal of the adjacent labia, either minora, majora, or both. Sunna circumcision and excision affect 85 percent of the women who have undergone genital mutilation (World Health Organization, 1994). The most extreme procedure, infibulation, also referred to as pharaonic circumcision, involves the removal of the clitoris, the adjacent labia (minora and majora), and the joining of the sides of the vulva across the vagina, securing them with thorns or with silk or catgut thread. A small opening is left to allow the passage of urine and menstrual blood. The infibulated vagina is forced or cut open to accommodate sexual penetration and childbirth (World Health Organization, 1994).

The immediate health consequences of female genital mutilation can include infection, including tetanus and HIV, septicemia, hemorrhage, injuries to adjacent tissues, urinary retention, shock, and death (World Health Organization, 1994; Howson et al., 1996). Antiseptic techniques and anesthesia are generally not used. The sequelae of infibulation are the most serious (Howson et al., 1996). The sequelae of all procedures may be exacerbated by unsanitary conditions in which women live and give birth and lack of access to routine health care, safe surgery, and antibiotics.

In some countries, nationally representative samples of women have been asked about their experience of female genital mutilation. Circumcision is nearly universal among Egyptian women (El-Zanaty et al., 1996). In the Sudan, "pharaonic circumcision" is the most prevalent type of female genital mutilation, experienced by three-quarters of all women (Department of Statistics, Sudan, 1991). In the Central African Republic, 43 percent of women aged 15-49 reported that they had been circumcised (Nguelebe, 1995).

The long-term effects include loss of sexual sensitivity and sexual frigidity caused by painful intercourse, delayed menarche and cryptomenorrhea or dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic complications, dysuria, recurrent urinary retention and kidney infection, vaginal stenosis, keloid formation, neuroma, retention cysts, and disfigurement of the external genitalia (Howson et al., 1996). Forcible sexual penetration of an infibulated woman can cause lacerations of the perineum, rectum, and urethra. Obstetric consequences range from sterility due to infection of the uterus and fallopian tubes to exposure of a fetus to infectious diseases, risk of damage to the baby's skull as it passes through the damaged birth canal, and fetal asphyxia or brain damage due to prolonged labor. An infibulated woman must be "opened" to ensure safe delivery of her child, a procedure that poses further risks to the mother and baby (Howson et al., 1996; World Health Organization, 1994).

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

POLICY AND PROGRAM IMPLICATIONS

Policies and programs to promote healthy sexuality on the dimensions of freedom from violence, the right to refuse unwanted sexual relations, and the ability to seek to express and to enjoy one's sexuality can be divided into three broad types: policies and programs that increase the information and knowledge base needed to promote reproductive health, including the need to collect more information, as well as the need to disseminate such information to those who need and can use it; policies and programs that provide individuals the means to achieve such healthy sexuality; and policies and programs that provide the social, legal, and community support needed to prevent sexual violence as well as to protect and treat the victims of such violence.

Culturally appropriate interventions are needed at a variety of levels: social and political structures, norms, communities, families, couples, and individuals. For example, a woman's ability to refuse sexual relations with her husband may depend on the possibility of support from several of these levels. If her refusal occasions violence, she will require support from social and political structures in order to defend herself, or from her community to make clear that violence is not acceptable and that her refusal is valid. She and her husband as a couple need support in understanding her needs and the basis for her refusal. A woman's initial impulse to refuse and state her needs comes from individual characteristics such as sufficient information, self-esteem, and communication skills.

The extent to which each of these levels is involved in protecting healthy sexuality is culturally and situation specific. The term "community" may not have real meaning for some people in urban areas. It may be all-important in other situations, in which neighbors and extended families are the guardians of the norms that govern sexuality. Gender also determines the relative importance of intervening at different levels. Men, with more power, have more decision-making capacity. Therefore, interventions concentrating on individual behavior change may be more effective for men than for women, whose behavior is curtailed by family, community, and societal factors.

There is some experience in developing countries with programs of each type. Their effects on reproductive health and costs have rarely been evaluated, however, and the evaluations that do exist typically deal with programs in high-income countries. But each of these program and policy types warrants wider implementation and research.

Research and Dissemination

A high priority for research should be documenting the extent of the problems discussed in this chapter, including violence and sexual coercion,

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

the sexual exploitation of children, and female genital mutilation, and the forms they take in particular societies. Research is also needed on the meaning of female genital mutilation for women and its consequences for health in the communities in which it is practiced.

Since open discussion of sexuality is limited in most societies, information does not circulate about beliefs or behaviors. As a result, people may believe that they are the only ones who feel or behave a certain way. They may not discuss their sexual beliefs and behaviors, even with close friends or family, out of the fear that they are not "normal." Comprehensive dissemination of research to the communities where it was carried out is a powerful tool that allows people to publicly acknowledge their true beliefs and behaviors.

This is the case in much of Latin America with regard to certain beliefs about sexuality. For example, in Mexico, it was assumed that sexuality education in the schools was a radical idea that would disturb the Catholic majority's sensibilities. As a result, the government was hesitant to implement a comprehensive program of sexuality education. The Mexican Institute for Research on Family and Population (IMIFAP), a nongovernmental organization, commissioned a nationwide survey that demonstrated a consensus among Mexicans that their children's formal education needed to include extensive preparation in personal development, including basic aspects of sexuality. Even more surprisingly, the survey showed that parents wanted this education to begin in elementary school (IMIFAP and Gallup Corporation, 1993). IMIFAP gave these study findings extensive dissemination through press conferences, television and radio interviews, and communication with education authorities. In addition, a film that contained the poll results was shown on national television. In meetings with parents' groups at which the film was shown and the poll results discussed, IMIFAP representatives discovered that parents felt liberated by the fact that it was considered "normal" to want assistance in giving their children information about sexuality.

This example illustrates how focused research on opinions and behaviors can, if adequately disseminated, open discussion on previously taboo topics. Research findings can be used effectively to test community assumptions about sexuality and, through accurate information, open discussion that can lead to policy changes.

Sexuality Education Programs

In many regions sexuality education is already an accepted part of the response to high adolescent pregnancy rates and the threat of HIV infection. Approximately one-half of Latin American adolescents receive some type of sexuality education in school, much of it designed and provided

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

by nongovernmental organizations (International Planned Parenthood Federation, 1995). In addition, governments and nongovernmental organizations in several countries have attempted various strategies to reach young people who are outside the formal educational system.

Most programs provide information about reproduction, contraception, and diseases. They may also include psychosocial components related to self-esteem, gender roles, or decision making. Programs that want to address a wider range of issues in healthy sexuality might include components on gender roles, sexual and domestic violence, and rights and obligations within couples, families, and society. Concepts of gender equality would need to be introduced into other areas of education since sexuality education courses will always constitute a very small part of young people's educations. (Evidence on the effect of course duration is equivocal; Kirby, 1994.)

There is also a need to reexamine the selection of target populations for sexuality education. Young people are easier to reach than adults because of their participation in the educational system. However, adults are also misinformed and require orientation on issues related to sexuality. Programs can consider reaching adults through their place of employment, their children's schools, or organizations like unions and community kitchens. A Mexican program to train parents to inform their children about sexuality found that participants had many doubts about their own sexuality that they wanted addressed (Pick et al., 1992). The Women and AIDS Program of the International Center for Research on Women is identifying innovative ways to reach adults through STD and AIDS education, including training for traditional women's groups in Africa and holding group informational sessions at STD treatment clinics. Education programs can also have an impact at the family and community levels by training parents to provide sexuality education directly to their children and by involving community leaders in establishing goals for family life and sexuality education programs.

Published evaluations of sexuality education pertain mostly to the United States (Kirby, 1994; Kirby et al., 1994; Mauldon and Luker, 1996). A recent review concluded that HIV and sexuality education programs did not promote earlier initiation of sexual relations nor lead to more partners or more frequent sex among young people (Kirby, 1994). Some curricula were associated with delayed initiation of sexual intercourse. Results of evaluations of the effects of HIV and sexuality education programs on the use of condoms and other contraceptives are equivocal. The programs that have consistently appeared successful in meeting their goals have a number of common characteristics, including: a theoretical grounding in social influence or social learning theories, focus on specific behaviors, instruction on social influences and pressures, and activities to

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

practice specific skills and to increase young people's confidence in their skills. We have not found evaluations dealing specifically with the influences of sexuality education on attitudes and behavior related to violence and sexual coercion.

Health Services

The concepts behind healthy sexuality need to be integrated into reproductive health service provision. Service providers have access to clients' attention and trust and should receive training that allows them to move beyond providing contraceptive services to explore the factors that might influence clients' misuse of contraceptives or exposure to STDs. In male family planning clinics in Brazil and Colombia, the staff found that men will participate if clinics offer a wide range of services not directly related to family planning, such as sexuality counseling, sexual dysfunction treatment, and infertility treatment (Rogow, 1990). Two Brazilian experiments in incorporating women's concerns about sexuality into reproductive health care demonstrated that this type of model attracts clients and removes obstacles to effective contraceptive use (Bruce, 1990). A more comprehensive approach that integrates concerns about sexuality with reproductive health needs could help women achieve healthy sexuality and improve reproductive health markers, such as consistent contraceptive use (Dixon-Mueller, 1993). (See the description of an information and counseling program at a family planning clinic in Brazil, in Diaz, 1996.)

Access to and enjoyment of sexuality in both men and women is conditioned by their physical reproductive health. Reproductive tract infections, impotence, and the strain of repeated childbearing greatly limit the expression of sexuality. Health and family planning services need to take account of the concerns of their clients on these issues, but they must do so in a culturally sensitive way. Only then will women be able to shed the "culture of silence" (Khattab, 1992) in which they treat reproductive tract problems as part of a normal existence or else are too embarrassed to seek help for such problems even if they are perceived to be abnormal.

Health services need to play a stronger role in detecting domestic violence and sexual abuse of children, counseling and treating victims, and interventions. The health system may be the only public service with which victims come into contact (Belsey, 1996).

Information and Communication

In many different parts of the world, media campaigns have been successfully used to spread information about AIDS, as well as to increase

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

awareness of family planning, which may lead to positive behavior changes. Television and radio are widely accessible and influential, particularly among young people. The commercial media already manipulate sexual images in many ways. It is therefore critical to analyze the media's role in formulating norms and attitudes related to sexuality and to use mass media to promote images of healthy sexuality. Extensive research would be necessary to determine how the mass media could best promote healthy sexuality. Campaigns could focus on such previously neglected issues as domestic violence and, where relevant, female genital mutilation. Collaboration with entertainers who are interested in promoting healthy messages about sexuality should be an important part of interventions directed at young people.

All interventions have to be designed with respect for religious beliefs and local culture. This is particularly important in designing reproductive health strategies in places where female genital mutilation is common; work should include research on its meaning to local women and measures to educate the public and formal and informal health care providers about its harmful effects on women's health. Some countries have implemented education programs and media campaigns to discourage female genital mutilation. These programs may be directed at the general population, specifically at mothers of young daughters, or to medical practitioners, including midwives who traditionally perform the procedure (Kiragu, 1995).

Increased Educational, Economic, and Organizational Opportunities for Women

A principal barrier to women's control over their sexuality is their dependence on men (or on their children) for economic survival. If women have no alternative, they will enter into unions in which they exchange sexual availability for support on their partners' terms. They will have few options for escaping such unions if their partner is abusive or unfaithful. Therefore, one key to women's achieving control over their sexuality is more economic participation and control in their households and in the larger community. In addition, it has to be socially acceptable both for women to delay marriage and to leave abusive unions. A comprehensive reproductive health strategy should include development efforts that assist women in gaining access to education and finding employment. This type of intervention will need to work through social and political structures and societal norms that restrict or facilitate women's economic autonomy.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×

Legal and Policy Changes

Legal and policy changes to promote healthy sexuality can include reform of laws related to sexual and domestic violence, policies that include sexuality education in public schools, reform of family laws to increase the rights of women to property and inheritance, and enforcement of laws against cultural practices harmful to reproductive health (such as female genital mutilation). Legal changes promoting healthy sexuality can help foster changes in public attitudes, and changing attitudes in turn make enforcement of the laws more likely and more effective.

Governments around the world have already taken some important steps toward policies favorable to healthy sexuality. For example, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile passed laws in 1994 making sexuality education obligatory. In India, a recent law stipulates that if a woman dies within 7 years of marriage from "unnatural" causes (including accidents and suicide), the police are obliged to investigate the possibility of a dowry- or marriage-related death. The police departments in many parts of the country also have special units to deal with complaints about domestic violence, although there has been much criticism about how they really operate. In Brazil, there are now 200 police stations staffed entirely by women to deal with domestic violence (Ford Foundation, 1992).

Female genital mutilation is now outlawed in some African countries (Kenya, Senegal, and the Central African Republic). However, even where it is outlawed, the practice may continue in secrecy, with those suffering complications inhibited from seeking help (World Health Organization, 1994). In 1994 the United Nations 47th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to encourage all countries to "establish national policies and programs that will effectively, and with legal instruments, abolish female genital mutilation. … and other harmful practices affecting the health of women and children."

Nongovernmental organizations have contributed in vital ways to improve health services and health policies and laws in most parts of the world. In Africa, a network of organizations is working to change public attitudes about female genital mutilation and to encourage government leaders to speak out against the practice and to enforce laws against it where they exist. Other organizations have focused on the issue of violence against women, providing counseling and support and practical help to victims and working to change public attitudes and law enforcement. In Zimbabwe, for example, a group called Musasa has conducted training sessions for the police and other government agencies (Stewart, 1996). There is a need for improved communication both among nongovernmental organizations and with governments on issues affecting women's health and sexuality. Such dialogue will enable them to be more effective agents for policy change.

Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
Page 34
Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
Page 35
Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
Page 36
Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2: HEALTHY SEXUALITY." National Research Council. 1997. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5500.
×
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Sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies, infertility, and other reproductive problems are a growing concern around the world, especially in developing countries. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries describes the magnitude of these problems and what is known about the effectiveness of interventions in the following areas:

  • Infection-free sex. Immediate priorities for combating sexually transmitted and reproductive tract diseases are identified.
  • Intended pregnancies and births. The panel reports on the state of family planning and ways to provide services.
  • Healthy pregnancy and delivery. The book explores the myths and substantive socio-economic problems that underlie maternal deaths.
  • Healthy sexuality. Such issues as sexual violence and the practice of female genital mutilation are discussed in terms of the cultural contexts in which they occur.

Addressing the design and delivery of reproductive health services, this volume presents lessons learned from past programs and offers principles for deciding how to spend limited available funds.

Reproductive Health in Developing Countries will be of special interest to policymakers, health care professionals, and researchers working on reproductive issues in the developing world.

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