Do They Match Report Bangladesh - World Population Foundation

August, 2010 Do they match?
On the other hand the older boys mentioned their endless curiosity about the female
body. The younger boys were also curious to see the different body parts of the girls.
They were especially curious about the girls' breasts and the vagina. As one boy said, “I
wish I could see what’s in between two legs!” The older boys were more curious about
sexual intercourse. Among the older boys those who had not had sex were curious to
know how sex takes place. While older boys were curious about the size and shape of the
penis and duration of intercourse, younger boys were curious about masturbation and
wet dreams. Some of them also mentioned that they wanted to watch other people
having sex. Some slum and rural boys admitted that they had seen other people having
sex. Those who were curious had seek information from various sources, most of which
were not providing accurate information (more will be discussed later), so they
developed many misconceptions regarding sexuality. It can be said that the underlying
cause of all this curiosity about sex is not only puberty but also sex being such a taboo in
Bangladeshi society and the fact that there is so little information available to the young
people about sex and sexuality which plays a big role. We found that very little is covered
in the school curriculum on sexuality issues. While going through the high school text
books we found that partial, and to an extent misleading information is given on HIV and
AIDS. In the text book of class six and seven all HIV/AIDS transmission routes were
described except sexual intercourse. In order to be culturally sensitive they avoided any
indication regarding sex. In the textbook for class eight, they added that HIV could also
spread through unethical and unsafe physical relation. It did not mention the word
‘sexual relations’ neither does it explain the word ‘unethical’. It also did not explain about
possibility of getting HIV in married relations or partner’s extra marital sexual relations.
This kind of incomplete and misleading information actually makes the young people
more curios which could lead to higher risks related to misconceptions.
3.2 Desires and pleasure
Keeping the curiosity in the background, we also wanted to know what sort of sexual
desires the boys and girls had. The older boys had mentioned to the YRs that they had
an overwhelming desire to have sexual intercourse. This desire was found across the
groups from slums to orphans, from rural illiterates to college going boys. Most of them
mentioned that they felt a sexual urge whenever they see girls in real life or in cinemas.
We found that the slum boys groups admitted their sexual activities more than any other
groups. Slum girls were more curious about sexually transmitted diseases, its’ treatment
and prevention. It was also revealed that Tarar Mela has limited services for the slum
areas. Because of their lower level of education and lack of service provision young
people from slum areas run the risk of being affected by various sexually transmitted
diseases including HIV/AIDS .
One boy from the religious institute ‘Madrasa’, who had experienced sex, said: ”I forget
about religion when I get a chance to have sex.” In contrary to the common belief that
Islamic religion in Bangladesh would prevent young people from pre-marital sexual
activities, this example rather shows that young people do get engaged in sexual acts. A
boy who had sex once said: ”I am longing so much but God knows when will I ever get
another chance to have sex!” Some of the slum and the rural boys mentioned that they
had seen married couples (relatives) having sex and they got sexually excited. A few
older boys said that they even wanted to get married early mainly to experience sex,
because there are no obstacles to having sex for married couples.
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