Author: Karma Dema
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no.GD-06-03
Year: 2006
Academic Program: Gender and Development Studies (GDS)
Type: Thesis (M.Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2006
Examination Committee: Barbara Earth (Chairperson); Bernadette P. Resurreccion, Edsel E. Sajor (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: The study analyzes the dynamics of contemporary adolescent’s sexual subculture in Bhutan from a comparative perspective with the past: how it is constantly being recreated, structured, internalized, reproduced and transformed overtime. Socio-economic structural changes may have weakened traditional sexual norms which are likely to expose adolescent girls to hosts of sexual and reproductive health problems. The study involved 120 respondents drawn from the higher secondary school in Thimphu, Bhutan and the respondent mother. The studies investigated the lives of adolescents in comparison with the older generations in a range of economic, cultural, and environmental conditions at a point in Bhutanese history when aspirations are rising, the health and other risks thus young people are facing considerable changes. The analysis was carried out were based on triangulation of data through Focus Group Discussions, key informants’ interviews and the attitude scale survey. It focuses on how Gender and Sexuality are being articulated and conceptualized under the multi-layered mechanisms, which construct gender identity and sexuality through the cultural constructions of gender meanings, representations and ideologies as expressed through the rubric of sexual subculture. The various discussions and findings indicate that in the wake of global media and rapid urbanization have resulted in placing greater strains on young people, which have transformed their behaviors and relationships aggravating some health problems Findings reveal that health problems have placed greater stress upon girls rather than boys, since the expected behavior patterns are more restricted for girls: unprotected sexual behavior or the pressures to possess a perfect media-ideal body. Moreover their RE is compounded by several factors such as limited access to information, unsafe sexual practices, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and increased exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. Young people’s access to res
Scholarship Donor(s): Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
Note: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science, School of Envirorunental Resources and Development
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