Magic Power: changing gender dynamics and sex-enhancement practices among youths in Makassar, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper examines changing sexualities and gender relations as they are reflected in the use of sexual enhancement products by young women and men in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar. To examine the relationships between the use of these products and socially sanctioned gender roles, their ‘gender scripts’ were studied – the assumptions embedded in the products’ design and advertising. What kinds of femininity and masculinity are expressed through their use? It was found that the most popular products – ‘magic tissues’ that promise to prolong erections and a ‘neotraditional’ vaginal wash that promises to cleanse, perfume, and tighten vaginas – espouse the dual purpose of promoting sexual pleasure and hygiene. While it was found that the images in advertising to reflect changing gender relations in the field site, this research also points to enduring gender scripts in Indonesian culture: men should be virile, women should be clean and attractive.

Keywords:

• gender
• sexuality
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to their interlocutors for talking about sensitive issues. The authors further wish to thank Amelia Damayanti Ihsan who assisted in the fieldwork, the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions, and Takeo David Hymans for his incisive editing of the manuscript. This research was funded by an Advanced Grant awarded by the European Research Council [Grantnumber 323646, 2012] to the first author for her ChemicalYouth project. Ethics approval was received from the ethics committee of the University of Amsterdam's Faculty for Social and Behavioural Sciences. To ensure anonymity, all identifying information from the transcripts was deleted. There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

This paper was presented at the Fifth Life Cycle of Pharmaceuticals Conference, Panel: Drugs’ Stories and Itineraries on the Making of Asian Industrial Medicines, Driebergen, June 2013.

Notes

1. See http://www.tripleclicks.com/detail.php?item = 128187 (accessed 21 August 2014).

2. http://whitelilyshop.ecrater.com/p/16463739/magic-power-tissue-for-control-premature# (accessed 21 August 2014).

3. http://forum.kompas.com/lapak-campur-sari/248408-tissue-super-magic-man-mengatasi-ejakulasi-dini-ada-izin-edar-depkes-i-pkd-20501800-a.html (accessed 8 August 2013).

4. A variant of the product targets married women and contains manjakani, an extract of oak galls, which according to the packaging creates harmony between intimate partners (untuk keharmonisan rumah tangga).

5. Cf. Louie (2005) for China and Japan; Mumford (1996) for India.

6. Past studies of sexual hygiene in the wake of the HIV/AIDs epidemic found similar practices among sex workers (see Hilber et al. 2010). Vaginal washes were used to both please clients and to protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (Reed, Kathleen, and Wirawan 2001).