Experiencing double silence: sexuality education of south Asian minority youth in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Awareness of culturally diverse young people’s rights and needs to sexuality education has been raised internationally. However, existing literature has generally focused more on how culturally diverse young people navigate western mainstream societies, leaving the Asian context underexamined. This paper explores the experiences and views of South Asian minority youth of sexuality education at home and in school in Hong Kong, informed by rights-based and cultural competence perspectives of sexuality education, and using a qualitative descriptive methodology. The findings identified four themes: (1) the double silence experienced at home and school; (2) marriage within the same religion and caste; (3) gender role expectations to be caring women and protective men, and (4) the need for culturally targeted sexuality education. This paper contributes to scholarship on sexuality education by advancing the knowledge base by means of a case study conducted in Hong Kong, an Asian multicultural context that differs from western multicultural societies. It elucidates the meaning of cultural sensitivity and cultural competence by stressing the negotiability of cultural norms and taboos and identifying the practical implications for conducting sexuality education in a multicultural city like Hong Kong.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural diversity
• cultural competence
• sex education
• ethnic minority students
• Hong Kong schools

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the research participants for their trust and openness during the sharing of their perspectives. Thanks also go to the South Asian community group members for providing debriefing guidance and outreach support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).