Regulation and Resistance: Negotiation of Premarital Sexuality in the Context of Migrant and Refugee Women

Abstract

Constructions of normative sexuality shape the sexual scripts that women are permitted to adopt and the manner in which such sexuality can be expressed. We explored experiences and constructions of premarital sexuality among migrant and refugee women recently resettled in Sydney, Australia, and Vancouver, Canada. A total of 78 semistructured individual interviews and 15 focus groups composed of 82 participants were undertaken with women who had migrated from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and South America. We analyzed the data using thematic decomposition. Across all cultural groups, women’s premarital sexuality was regulated through cultural and religious discourse and material practice. Such regulation occurred across three main facets of women’s lives, shaping the themes presented in this article: (1) regulating premarital sex—the virginity imperative; (2) regulation of relationships with men; and (3) regulation of the sexual body. These themes capture women’s reproduction of dominant discourses of premarital sexuality, as well as women’s resistance and negotiation of such discourses, both prior to and following migration. Identifying migrant and refugee women’s experiences and constructions of premarital sexuality is essential for culturally safe sexual health practice, health promotion, and health education.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are offered to Christine Metusela for her early comments on the paper. We also thank our community interviewers involved with the project, and community organizations for assistance with recruitment.

Funding

This study was funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP130100087, in conjunction with Family Planning New South Wales (FPNSW), The Community Migrant Resource Centre (CMRC) and Centre for the Study of Gender, Social Inequities and Mental Health, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.

Notes

¹ The term “culturally and linguistically diverse” (CALD) is used in Australia to describe people who have a cultural heritage different from the dominant Anglo Australian culture (Australian Government Department of Health, 2006), replacing the previously used term of people from a “non-English-speaking background” (NESB). As this term is not used in Canada, where many of our participants reside, we are defining our sample as “migrant and refugee women.”

² The terminology used for this procedure is complex and has undergone various changes. We have chosen to use the terminology “female genital mutilation” (FGM) as opposed to “female genital cutting” (FGC) or “female circumcision,” as FGM is the current terminology used by the WHO and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which describes the practice from a human rights viewpoint (United Nations Population Fund, 2015).