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By Faizal Haque, Communications and Training Manager, Centre for Operations Research and Training, Vadodara, India; Dr. M.E. Khan, Regional Associate Director, Asia and Near East, FRONTIERS Program, Population Council, New Delhi, India; and Dr. John Townsend, Director, FRONTIERS Program, Population Council, Washington, DC
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One Boy's Experience: Ashamed and Afraid By Dr. Surinder Jaswal, Associate Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
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Nonconsensual sex is an abuse of power commonly rooted in gender norms — societal assumptions and expectations about what it means to be male or female. In many cultures, gender norms for females include submissiveness, deference to male authority, dependence, virginity until marriage, and faithfulness during marriage. Norms for men, in contrast, are built around power and control, independence, not showing emotions, risktaking, using violence to resolve conflict, beginning sexual activity early in life, and having multiple sexual partners.
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Young and old, females and males are at risk Often and by a variety of means, children, adolescents, and adults — men and women alike — are pressured to have sexual relations that they do not want. Too commonly, the behavior of perpetrators, thoroughly interwoven into long-standing traditions and customs, is condoned. Meanwhile, the stigma that many victims face plunges them into a resigned silence that hinders them from getting help and masks the scope of the problem
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This issue of Network describes the variety of means by which children, adolescents, and adults — men and women alike — are pressured to have sexual relations that they do not want
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