The voices of unmarried pregnant girls and the girlhood discourse in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the discourse of girlhood in Indonesia in the narratives of unmarried pregnant girls, based on ethnographic research in Yogyakarta. Given cultural taboos regarding these girls such instances are kept hidden. I seek to explain problems regarding teenage pregnancy here, with a focus on the experiences of pregnant girls to reveal how gender norms operate against them with respect to romantic relationships, dropping out of school, early marriage, and sexual violence. Further, this paper sees the paradox of gender and sexuality in post-reformation Indonesia. Although the discussion on teenage pregnancy and girlhood has become part of public discourse, there is a need for an alternative gender sensitive approach.

ABSTRACT IN BAHASA

Artikel ini mendiskusikan wacana keperempuanan masa remaja di Indonesia melalui narasi perempuan remaja yang hamil sebelum menikah, berbasis pendekatan etnografi yang dilakukan di Yogyakarta. Oleh karena adanya budaya tabu terkait dengan perempuan remaja yang hamil sebelum menikah, kasus tersebut cenderung disembunyikan, sementara saya berupaya untuk menjelaskan masalah terkait dengan kehamilan remaja. Yang menjadi fokus di sini adalah pengalaman perempuan remaja yang hamil dalam membongkar bagaimana norma gender diberlakukan terhadap mereka dalam kaitannya dengan isu relasi berpacaran, putus sekolah, pernikahan dini, dan kekerasan seksual. Lebih jauh, artikel ini melihat paradoks isu gender dan seksualitas di masa setelah reformasi di Indonesia. Meskipun diskusi kehamilan remaja dan isu keperempuanan masa remaja telah menjadi bagian dari wacana publik, terdapat kebutuhan tentang alternatif pendekatan yang sensitif gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender norms
• sexuality
• teenage pregnancy
• girls’ experiences

KEYWORDS:

• Norma gender
• seksualitas
• kehamilan remaja
• pengalaman perempuan remaja

Notes

1 The reformation era began with the fall of the New Order government in 1998. The reformation movements mainly criticized the authoritarian leadership of President Soeharto, who had led Indonesia for 32 years (1968–1998) and provided significant changes in social and economic development.

2 Article 45A of the Law of Child Protection states that “Everyone is prohibited from performing an abortion against children who are still in the womb, except with reasons and procedures justified according to the provisions of the legislation.”

3 For reasons of confidentiality, I only use initials of the safe house.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Desintha Dwi Asriani

Desintha Dwi ASRIANI, is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia. Her PhD thesis focused on the issue of teenage pregnancy in Indonesia. In particular, her main interests include reproductive and sexuality health issues, gender politics, body politics, and women’s agency. She teaches gender and sexuality, gender and social roles, and masculinities. She is involved in relationship building with team projects and organizations and has performed enthusiastically in delivering research results and reports as journal articles, books, and policy briefs. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]