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A 2004 Reproductive Health Matters.

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Youth, Sexuality and Sex Education Messages in

Indonesia: Issues of Desire and Control
Brigitte M Holzner,a Dede Oetomob
a Senior Lecturer, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands. E-mail: Holzner@iss.nl
b Special Reader in Social Sciences, Postgraduate Programme, University of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

Abstract: Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the need for
sexuality education for youth has been articulated, and numerous activities in Indonesia, especially
Java, have been directed at young people. However, many parents, teachers and religious leaders
have considered it essential that such education should suppress youth sexuality. This article reflects
upon current discourses on youth sexuality in Java as against the actual sexual behaviour of young
people. Using examples from popular magazines and educational publications, and focus group
discussions with young men and women in Surabaya, East Java, we argue that the dominant
prohibitive discourse in Java denounces youth sexuality as unhealthy, reinforced through
intimidation about the dangers of sex. In contrast, a discourse of competence and citizenship would
more adequately reflect the actual sexual behaviour of youth, and raises new challenges for
sexuality education. Information should be available to youth concerning different sexualities,
respecting the spectrum of diversity. Popular youth media have an especially important role to
play in this. The means to stay healthy and be responsible contraceptives and condoms should
be available at sites where youth feel comfortable about accessing them. Meanwhile, young
Indonesians are engaging in different forms of sexual relationships and finding their own
sources of information, independent of government, religion and international organisations.
A 2004 Reproductive Health Matters. All rights reserved.
Keywords: young people, sexual relationships, sexuality education, sexual health services,
media, Indonesia

FTER the 1994 International Conference

on Population and Development, the need
for sexuality education for youth was articulated, and numerous activities in Java, where
half the population of Indonesia live, were directed at adolescents. Since the fall of the
Suharto regime in 1997, there have been shifts
in policy to address reproductive health and
rights, and sexuality and sexual health.1 At the
same time, Indonesian civil society organisations, especially health activists and feminist
groups, have succeeded in bringing human
rights in relation to sexuality and reproduction

40

and the needs of adolescents to the fore. Prominent here are AIDS service organisations, academic research groups, progressive media and
some lesbiangaytransgender organisations.2,3
Foucault identified efforts to make sexuality
in the young a theme of education because of its
perceived dangers, especially masturbation.4
Such educational efforts rely upon moral and
medical principles that describe child and youth
sexuality as unhealthy and morally devastating.5
Regulatory mechanisms of society, represented
by parents, teachers and religious leaders, are
seen as essential to suppress juvenile sexuality.

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

This article reflects upon current discourses on

youth sexuality in Java as against the actual
sexual behaviour of adolescents. We argue that
the dominant prohibitive discourse in Java denies
and denounces youth sexuality as abnormal,
unhealthy, illegal or criminal, reinforced through
intimidation about the dangers of sex. In contrast, a discourse of competence and citizenship6
would more adequately reflect the actual sexual
behaviour of youth, and raises new challenges to
sexuality education different from a framework
of prohibition.
Our data sources include a youth magazine
that explicitly deals with reproductive health;
the four most popular youth magazines in
200103, which illustrate the imagery of youth
sexuality; information from focus group discussions with young men and women in the
East Javanese city of Surabaya; publications
on reproductive health for youth from the
past decade by international, governmental,
and non-governmental organisations; and data
on sexual activity among young Indonesians.
We do not provide a comprehensive overview
of publications and debates about youth sexuality in Java, but use a selection to illustrate
our argument.

Sexuality discourses
The regulation of youth sexuality occurs
through legalmoral mechanisms that allow
sexuality in marriage but deny sexual activity
in non-married youth, as it poses a threat to the
norms which the state and religion feel responsible for. The minimum age at marriage in
Indonesia is 19 for men and 16 for women.7
The median age at first marriage has been rising
since 1994 (currently 20 in urban areas and 18
years rurally), and the age-specific fertility rate
has declined (from 76 in 1991 to 62 in 1997 in
1517 year olds) but is still relatively high.8
It is a contradiction that a 16-year-old girl
can have sexual relations and pleasure within
the confines of marriage, which gives her adult
status and allows her access to family planning
and reproductive health services. Whereas, if she
is unmarried it is considered sinful, pathological
or abuse and she has to face sanctions for
violating societal prohibitions.
A different discourse about youth sexuality
engages notions of citizenship and human

rights.9,10 Central to this discourse is the idea of

competence of adolescents: to be able to make
decisions about sex in a mature way. The notion
of competent citizenship includes participation,
access, equal and just treatment.6 The Convention of the Rights of the Child as well as the Cairo
declaration about reproductive and sexual rights
ascribe to youth of both sexes such competence
when fully informed and having had education
in these matters.
Differently from the prohibitive, regulatory
framework, this discourse is permissive and
builds on the enlightenment principle of rationality, in contrast to the idea of an irrational
sexual drive in search of satisfaction. A citizenship discourse supports a belief in self-control
through rational choice, not requiring outside
controls. Nonetheless, there is also ambivalence
in this discourse: adolescent sexuality is tolerated, even accepted, yet framed with concepts of
rights and responsibility. Thus, youth can be
sexually active but have to show care for their
own and their partners health, consent and
pleasure, a position supported by progressive
Indonesian civil society groups.

Discourses of prohibition and intimidation

To illustrate the discourse of prohibition and
intimidation, we use two examples from a youth
magazine published by the NGO Yayasan Pelita
Ilmu (<http://www.pelita-ilmu.or.id/>) a health
NGO set up in the early 1990s to work on HIV/
AIDS, including for young people, who later
developed work on sexuality issues more generally. The foundation operates several health clinics in Jakarta, a buddy programme for AIDS
patients, a drug abuse prevention and care
programme and training on reproductive health
issues. It publishes a monthly magazine Warta
Propas, with a circulation of 2,500, which is
distributed to school-going youth and sold
at kiosks.
Scene 1
The back page of the January 2002 issue of
Warta Propas contains a drawing from a caricature drawing competition, run as part of the
Student Creativity Festival among adolescent
pupils in October 2001. On a bench, outdoors,
a girl is sitting in obvious despair. Her schoolbag lies besides her (Figure 1). The sign for OSIS
41

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

(Internal School Student Organization) identifies her as a schoolgirl. She is thinking about
study and marriage, posed as alternatives. The
use of the words in English might indicate
that she has followed Western ways by having
sex. The ghost with a skull for a face draws
immediate attention, along with the black (or
bloody?) Indonesian word aborsi (abortion) on
its chest, holding a knife from which drops of
blood are falling.
The alternatives of study or marriage are not
pictured as horrendous. Though study may be
more desirable than marriage, the only really
frightening idea is abortion for this, we assume,
pregnant schoolgirl. Questions arising from the
drawing might be: Is abortion the worst thing
that can happen to a pregnant girl? Abortion,
would it kill, with a knife? Or does the knife
suggest the embryo would be killed? Would she
be able to continue her studies? Would she be
able to marry after having aborted? Would she,
a pregnant teenager, have to marry if she did
not have an abortion? Why would an abortion not be seen as relief? Why is it a bloody
Figure 1.

42

horrible ghost? Is abortion the ultimate sin? Is it

so frightening?
Was the artist a girl, showing her own
problem? Or did the artist want to warn others?
Was it a he? Is the drawing an cry of despair or
protest against the lack of accessible, affordable and safe abortion services? Is the drawing
an accusation against the dangerous, painful
and illegal abortions to which young Indonesian girls have recourse? Is the drawing, and
this is what we suspect, a warning against
sexual relationships during school years sex
that forces you to give up your studies, your
hopes for a good marriage, sex threatening
your life? Is the message of this drawing an
appeal for abstinence, virginity, repression of
sexual desires? And isnt the threat of an
unsafe abortion the most drastic warning possible against sexual relations for a young
adolescent student?
There is no young man in this drawing. Didnt
she love him, have pleasure with him, desire
him? Is her pregnancy the result of rape, violence, date rape, incest, all of which girls are

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

made afraid of ? Is she a victim of her own or an

older or young mans desires? In this scene of
fear, he is absent. What does the drawing tell us
about this timid, lonely girl? Grrl power? Not
in this scene. Gender relations, sexual relations
are missing; we are confronted only with pregnancy as consequence and as nightmare. Sexuality and horror. Sexuality as horror.
Scene 2
In the same issue of the Warta Propas magazine
there is a long article entitled Chatting.
Berguna atau malah berbahaya? (Chatting:
useful or dangerous?)11 This time, it is boys
who are in danger. The article reports the story
of a 17-year-old boy with homosexual interests
who was invited after a cyber chat to a Gay and
Lesbian Room, where he met a 25-year-old man
who said he would introduce him to the gay
world. He was taken to an apartment where he
was raped by two men, who tied his feet and
covered his mouth with tape. The boy suffocated
and died. The perpetrators cut up his body, put
the parts in a suitcase and left it in front of a
post office. The police found the murderers, who
insisted that the boys death was an accident.
The message is to watch out for cyber sex;
you start with chatting and you end up being
raped and murdered. Dont trust men in the
cyber world, they can find you, your phone
number and address, and kill you. Look for
safety, have positive aims which also can bring
fun, look for healthy entertainment, distance
yourself from those who intend to harm you
that is the advice at the end of the story. Again
there is a link between sex and danger, sex and
death, and boys are not safer than girls. Homosexual encounters can be as dangerous as heterosexual ones. Be careful, awas! Gaul itu perlu,
tapi jangan kebablasan! You need to be cool, but
dont go too far!
This destructive image of sex as the terminator of life, status, chances and hopes is channelled into education discourses, illustrated in
the publications of the three most influential
family planning organisations in Indonesia:
PKBI (Indonesian family planning association),
UNFPA (UN Population Fund), and BKKBN
(National Family Planning Coordination Board).
A PKBI poster, for example, uses a similar,
though less dramatic message than the Warta
Propas article Bergaul boleh, sex - no way

(Have fun, but no sex). PKBI has explained that

such a strong no to adolescent sex is promoted
due to the absence of contraceptives for youth
and unmarried persons and a law that forbids
abortion. Sexual permissiveness, they say, would
have catastrophic consequences unwanted
pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, giving up ambitions, exposure to crime and destruction of ones life. PKBI uses pragmatic reasons of
harm prevention for its campaign, not ideological ones. Yet, this pragmatism coincides with
religious beliefs (no sex before marriage) and
state policy (family planning and reproductive
health services only for married couples), supporting the same principle.12
The website of PKBI of West Java also provides a long list of reasons why sex before marriage should be prevented. The main reason is
that the risks are too high (unwanted pregnancy,
guilt feelings, STDs, HIV/AIDS). Furthermore,
religious prohibition is cited sex is sacred
and meant for procreation, therefore sexual
relationships should only be realised in sanctioned forms of commitment and responsibility.
Consequently, abstinence is the best form of
pregnancy prevention, requiring commitment,
motivation and self-control. Sex should not be
the expression of love either, the site says.
Rather, sex would prevent the couple getting
to know each other, because of the sexual satisfaction one achieves. So what should the adolescent do? Repress your sexual desires! Dont
touch erotic body zones, because the nerves
there would increase your sexual drive, which
would weaken your self-control! Do things together with your boy/girl friend that are nonsexual... Adolescents have sexual relationships
for proof of love, separation fear, curiosity, the
belief that sex is common, pleasure, no fear of
STDs or pregnancy, money, trivialisation of sex,
lack of self-control and demonstration of sexual
prowess. What would prevent an adolescent
from having sex? Fear of the consequences,
obedience to parents, fear of violence, friendship, consciousness of sinfulness, immaturity
and fear of loss of virginity... To prevent sex,
decide your boundaries, dont drink alcohol,
dont take drugs, be firm in your resistance,
dont get dependent on someone else, be open
about your refusal, mistrust, dont go to isolated
places, dont meet your friend, and pray. If you
follow this advice, you will be a healthy couple
43

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

(Pacaran Sehat), physically, mentally and socially healthy.13

In this discourse of self-regulation, a new
moral principle of responsibility is asserted
responsible abstinence.13 This assemblage of
warnings, advice and promises culminates in
the slogan Bergaul boleh, sex no way. Thus,
youth should vanquish their sexuality through
self-restraint.
Nowadays, the period of adolescence has been
extended through further education and training. The abstinence discourse is supported by an
older family planning discourse of the desirability of greater education for girls because of
the correlation between female education and
later marriage, which eventually leads to lower
fertility.14,15
However, all these good reasons for abstinence in adolescence, appealing to rational
decision-making on issues of morality, seem to
need to be complemented by not-so-rational
horror stories and fear-mongering. These vast
efforts to inculcate behavioural change and
prevent unacceptable sexual activity raise the
question of what adolescent behaviour in sexual
matters actually is.

Data on adolescent sexual behaviour

in Indonesia
The BKKBN website reports that in the 1990s,
2030% of youth living in the Javanese cities of
Bandung, Bogor, Sukabumi and Yogyakarta engaged in premarital sex. The biggest survey to
date, conducted in 1998 among 4,106 men and
3,978 women aged 1524 in West, Central and
East Java and Lampung in southern Sumatra,
found that although most respondents disapproved of sexual activity before or outside
marriage, 12% approved premarital sex if the
couple were planning to marry.16
A much smaller study among 210 students
(aged 1524) who were sexually active and unmarried found that more than half had had sex
after a year of acquaintance with a partner. In
addition, some youths had regular commercial
sex encounters and others homosexual encounters, and a few attended orgies. This author
also pleads for control of sexual urges (disiplin
hasrat).17
A study in Java by PKBI in 1994 found that of
2,558 abortions, 58% were in young women aged
44

1524, of whom 62% were not married. Nine

cases were in girls under the age of 15.18 A
qualitative study in 2002 of premarital pregnancy
in 44 adolescents in Yogyakarta, found that 11 of
18 pregnant girls (aged 1520) had had an abortion and 17 others had given birth. More young
women with higher education chose abortion,
whereas those with less education gave birth.
The reasons given for unprotected intercourse
were lack of knowledge about the consequences
of sexual acts and impulsiveness.19
In many cases, marriage is forced on young
people who may not be economically or socially
prepared for it, often resulting in early divorce.
In the survey already mentioned, 13.1% of
young men and 23.1% of young women who
had married said they were forced to marry by
their parents (reasons not stated), and two-thirds
of them felt that they had married too young.16
Hypocritically, the detrimental effects of forced
marriage are rarely acknowledged.
All these studies indicate that a substantial
minority of adolescents are sexually active,
though active is not defined. A study in 1994
of sexual behaviour in urban, Jakartan, middleclass youth by Utomo provides details on this
question. Of 344 high school students aged
1519, 7% of boys and 2% of girls had had
intercourse. Other sexual expressions like kissing
on the lips (23%) and breast (18%) and genital
fondling (11%) were reported by more boys than
girls. 80% of adolescent girls felt that premarital
sex would never be right, but others were positive about premarital sex if contraceptives were
used (16%), there was mutual agreement (5%), in
the case of love (20%), if the parents-in-law had
already proposed (13%), if already engaged
(21%) or if a male prostitute was involved (4%).
The attitudes of the boys were quite similar to
those of the girls, but 10% felt premarital sex was
all right with mutual agreement and 14% if it
was with a prostitute. In general, Muslim youth
had less sexual experience than non-Muslims
and significantly more conservative beliefs than
non-Muslims.20

Open discussions with young people

In order to gather qualitative information on
sexual activity among university students,
Oetomo conducted focus group discussions with
five young women and four young men who

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

were already analysing issues of gender and

sexuality with him. They were aged 19 to 25
and from both rural and urban backgrounds.
There were three sessions. Four of the five participants in the first session took part in the third
one as well, as did one of the four in the second
discussion. The first and second sessions were
based on scanning one issue each of three popular youth magazines, chosen randomly. The keywords gender and sexuality were used to
provoke discussion. The third discussion was
based on a series of questions about the participants sexual practices and those of their friends,
and the meaning of these practices. Oetomo and a
facilitator led the discussions.
For these young people, partner choice was
very important. Most of them said that ideally
their partner would resemble a young singer or
film star, with a light skin colour, baby face,
straight hair, tall body and muscular. Others
added criteria such as same religion, economic
security, competence and responsibility. Some
girls wanted their boyfriends to look like their
father. Boys wanted a girlfriend who looked
fresh, voluptuous or thoughtful. Most were conscious that those characteristics were not easily found.
In this group, seven had engaged in sexual
activities, with a partner or alone. On a rating set
by the group from one to ten, with one for
manual stimulation and ten for intercourse,
two-thirds of the group rated their behaviour
between five and ten with boys from seven to
ten and girls five to seven, which meant sexual
stimulation without undressing. Girls said that
they engaged sexually because of feelings of
love, desire for pleasure and curiosity to try
something they had heard or read about. Most
girls only stopped sexual activities from concern
about the risks of pregnancy, abortion, punishment by parents or social exclusion. Only a few
thought they should maintain their virginity
until marriage. Only one refrained from sex for
religious reasons. The boys said their sexual
activities were motivated by affection, physical
desire, curiosity and the search for creativity in
trying out something new. Religion did not play
a role for them. Boys said that they reduced the
risks of pregnancy by coitus interruptus, anal
sex or use of contraceptives.
Their sources of information on sexual activity and contraception were friends, youth jour-

nals, blue movies and mimeographed erotic

magazines, and also parents and the sex education package at school. Interestingly, none of
them had read a publication about sexuality or
contraception from official government sources
or NGOs, nor was the Internet mentioned. In
educational sessions at school, they had learned
about the reproductive organs, menstruation,
hygiene and the dangers of intercourse, and also
about the contraceptive pill and condoms. One
participant said that warnings had not affected
him; on the contrary, he wanted to have sex, but
safe sex.
The youth in our sample did not seem to be
impressed by proscriptions by state and religious
sources; they relied on their own will and found
the information they needed. They were not
activists for sexual rights, but young citizens
living a right that officially is denied to them.

Content of popular youth magazines

Exposure to the media, especially to Western
music on television and radio, radio news and
popular science reports, and science and health
programmes on television are strong predictors
of the behaviour and attitudes of young people
according to Utomo and McDonald.21 In a small
survey of four popular youth magazines,* we did
not find preachy remarks of the prohibitive kind
nor permissive remarks from nanny-like parentfigures who treat youth as objects incapable of
taking care of themselves. Those magazines
are about celebrities from film, music, sports,
fashion and recreation, and invite readers to
write in about their lives, events in school,
problems with family and friends, and ask
questions regarding (heterosexual) relationships.
A number of letters to the editor were from
young people asking explicit questions about
sexuality, e.g. same-sex practices and anal sex.
Our sense was that the magazines, being
commercial, had appraised the demands of
their readers and responded to them (Interview
by Oetomo with editors of Hai, March 2001).
*Aneka Yess! (No. 20, 25 Sept 8 Oct 2003), Gadis (Vol.
30, No. 26, 26 Sept 6 Oct 2003), Kawanku (Vol. 27, No.
37, 1521 Sept 2003), and two issues of Hai, one for
young women (Vol. 27 No. 37, 1521 Sept 2003) and one
for young men (Vol. 27 No. 38, 2228 Sept 2003).

45

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

Discourses of citizenship, competence

and rights
When youth are recognised and respected as a
social group, the issue of citizenship comes to
the fore. Citizenship means first and foremost
rights and entitlements as well as responsibility.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
ascribes to children the right to freedom of
expression and information (Article 13), while
the ICPD Programme of Action 1994 says that
adolescents have a right to reproductive health
education, information and care, and calls on
countries to establish appropriate programmes
to respond to these needs and to strive to reduce
STDs and pregnancy among adolescents (Paras.
7.46 and 7.47).
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Youth Manifesto, developed by young
people from all six IPPF world regions in 1998,
states three goals:

! Young people must have information and

education on sexuality and the best possible
sexual and reproductive health services (including contraceptives).
! Young people must be able to be active
citizens in their society.
! Young people must be able to have pleasure
and confidence in relationships and all
aspects of sexuality.22
On the basis of these rights, young people
could claim, for example, the right to contraceptive services, irrespective of their marital
status. This position is taken by Utamadi, a
reproductive health activist with PKBI in Yogyakarta, in an article in Kompas, the biggest national newspaper. He points out the failure of
the Indonesian state to protect children from
hazardous work and trafficking, and the fact
that pregnant teenage girls are forced to marry
and leave school. He contends that adolescents
must know their rights in order to be able to
lobby for them.23
A non-prohibitive sexuality discourse for
youth builds on a belief in their ability to
balance needs with rights. Yet, ascribing sexual
and reproductive rights to adolescents cannot be
separated from ensuring they have the competence to live out those rights. In our view,
competence regarding sexuality has several
dimensions: factual knowledge about the physi46

cal processes of ones own body and the body of

a partner, fertility and contraception and the
existence of and protection against sexually
transmitted diseases. Interactive knowledge
would mean respectful communication and empathy with a partner. Such knowledge cannot be
generated only by often under-informed peers
or commercial youth magazines. It requires education that includes discussion and reflection
and services that provide access to condoms,
contraceptives and safe abortion.
The Indonesian Consumer Association has
published on these matters for the NGO community in Indonesia,24 and elaboration of reproductive and sexual rights was the subject of
exposure tours for 22 representatives of Indonesian NGOs to the Netherlands in 2002.12 The
Lentera initiative of PKBI has the potential to
provide services for adolescents in a nonrepressive manner. The volunteers who started
Lentera reached out to marginalised groups such
as street children, female sex workers and gayidentified and transvestite men in a nonpatronising way and worked with them to advocate sexual rights.25,26 Interestingly, a large
number of progressive NGO activists have begun standing for election to local, provincial
and national legislatures, and this will eventually
affect policy, as they engage with more conservative sectors.
In September 2003, a spokesman for the
Indonesian Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights announced on behalf of the Minister
that a new draft Criminal Code would be
tabled in Parliament:
The planned sexual behaviour laws...include
prohibitions against adultery and cohabitation
between adults, and oral sex and homosexual
acts between youths under the age of 18.
Punishment for these sexual crimes would be
up to 12 years in jail.27
The reaction to this by all but a few ultraconservative Islamic media was refreshingly strong.
Human rights activists criticised the Ministers
attempt to bring sharia rules into national Indonesian law. Journalists and their interviewees
were outraged, and headlines such as We dont
want the state in our bedrooms were splashed
across the front pages of the newspapers.28
Non-prohibition or allowance of sex is not
based on a concept of drives and instincts

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

determining behaviour but rather on a holistic

concept of the capacity to be rational about
sexual interests. Non-prohibition does not
mean you must have sex; on the contrary, it
means having information and the acceptance
of desire, dialogue, negotiation and pleasure.
This is the meaning of empowering young
people in relation to sexuality.

Conclusions
Until a political agenda is developed that dares
to turn the discourse of prohibition into one of
honesty and respect for adolescents needs and
rights, young women and men, whether heterosexual or homosexual, will be confronted with
expectations that they should remain innocent
and abstinent at a time when they are seeking to
understand the sexual functions of the body and
act respectfully towards partners.
In our study of the literature and discussions
with young people, we found them to be rather
active sexually. They were curious, experimenting and unafraid, but also careful. Young people
know quite a lot and want all the information
they can get and they want to be recognised as
responsible beings. The images of young people
we encountered in discussions and popular
magazines are contrary to those representing
youth as frightened of the terrible consequences
of sexuality and needing protection. Rather, we
found young people who are exploring an experimental field of pleasure for themselves
with some caution and with responsibility a
field segregated from adults. If prohibition does
not prevent young Indonesians from experiencing their sexuality, what discourse about adolescent sexuality is of value?
If sexuality is a form of knowledge-seeking
that creates identity and connectivity, then sexuality is not something dangerous that should be
suppressed. Young people can have a healthy,
informed and responsible sexual life. Information should be available concerning the complexities of different sexualities, respecting the
spectrum of diversity. The means to stay healthy
and be responsible contraceptives and condoms should be available at strategic sites
where youth feel comfortable about accessing
them. Meanwhile, young Indonesians are engaging in different forms of sexual relationship
and finding their own sources of information,

independent of government, religion and international organisations.

By providing information and the means to
sexual health, we actually reduce the risk of
young people inflicting harm on themselves.
The ideal, in our opinion, are sexually street-wise
youth who know when not to engage in sex, and
when they are engaging, know how to protect
themselves from unwanted outcomes, whether
pregnancy, STIs or HIV, and for gay youth from
futile experimentation with heterosexual relationships. Popular youth media have an especially important role to play in putting knowledge in
the hands of youth, to help them to be responsible. In addition, policy on adolescent sexual
activity should conceptualise youth as a life stage
in which more than just sexuality is at issue.
In many ways, young Indonesians are fortunate to be living in a country with one of the
freest presses in Asia and where the freedom to
discuss sexuality is growing, at least in urban
areas. International donors have also woken up
to the complex realities of sexuality, and have
felt less constrained to fund programmes for
educating different sectors of society, including
government itself, about sexuality. By far the
most advanced are the HIV/AIDS and STI prevention and care programmes now operating in
almost half the countrys provinces. Young
people are an important target of these programmes, not only heterosexual youth but also
young people who are sex workers (female,
male and transgender), homosexuals, transgenders and transexuals. In many instances, it is
young people who are educating programme
managers and funders about different sexualities. Other organisations, including those working on reproductive health and womens
organisations, are not responding as quickly
to these new perspectives, but trends in the
media and amongst funders are slowly affecting
them as well.
Acknowledgements
This paper is a revised version of a paper
presented at the European Social Science Java
Network Conference on Youth and Identity,
Universite de Provence, Marseilles, 25 May
2002. Our thanks to Danny M Goenawan and
Kholid Fathirius, who facilitated focus group
discussions. Translation of text from Indonesian
to English was by the authors.
47

BM Holzner, D Oetomo / Reproductive Health Matters 2004;12(23):4049

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Resume
Depuis la Confe rence internationale sur la
population et le developpement en 1994, on a
articule le besoin dune education sexuelle pour les
jeunes et beaucoup dactivites a` Java, Indonesie, se
sont adressees aux adolescents. Neanmoins, de
nombreux parents, enseignants et dirigeants
religieux ont juge que cette education devait
supprimer la sexualite des jeunes. Cet article
reflechit aux discours actuels sur la sexualite des
jeunes a` Java par rapport au comportement sexuel
reel des jeunes. A laide dexemples de magazines
populaires et de publications educatives, et de
discussions de groupe avec des jeunes gens et
jeunes filles a` Surabaya, Java-Est, nous avancons
que le discours dominant dinterdiction decrit la
sexualite des jeunes comme malsaine, et pratique
lintimidation en citant les dangers des rapports
sexuels. Pourtant, un discours de competence et
de citoyennete est plus adapte au comportement
reel des adolescents et fixe de nouvelles taches pour
leducation sexuelle. Les jeunes doivent disposer
dinformations sur diffe rentes sexualites, en
respectant la diversite des comportements. Les
medias populaires parmi les jeunes ont un role
particulie` rement important a` jouer dans ce
domaine. Les moyens de demeurer en bonne
sante et detre responsables contraceptifs et
preservatifs devraient etre disponibles dans des
endroits ou` les jeunes se sentent a` laise. Entretemps, les jeunes Indone siens pratiquent
differentes formes de relations sexuelles et
trouvent leurs propres sources dinformation,
inde pendantes des organisations e tatiques,
religieuses et internationales.

Jakarta Post. [Kabar-indonesia]

Indo News - 10/1/03 (Part 2 of
2). At: <http://www.kabaririan.com/pipermail/kabarindonesia/2003-October/
000534.html>. Accessed
17 February 2004.

Resumen
Desde la CIPD de 1994, se ha expresado la
necesidad de impartir educacion sexual a la
juventud y, con este fin, se han realizado
numerosas actividades en Java, Indonesia. Sin
embargo, muchos padres, maestros y lderes
religiosos piensan que esta educacion debe
suprimir la sexualidad de la juventud. En este
art culo se reflexiona sobre los discursos
actuales que estan en contra del comportamiento
sexual de los jovenes de Java. Mediante ejemplos
de revistas populares y publicaciones educativas,
as como discusiones en grupos focales con
hombres y mujeres jovenes de Surabaya, Java
Oriental, se argumenta que el discurso prohibitivo
dominante en Java denuncia la sexualidad de la
juventud como no saludable, reforzada
mediante la intimidacion en torno a los peligros
del sexo. En cambio, un discurso de competencia y
ciudadana reflejara mas adecuadamente el
verdadero comportamiento sexual de los jovenes,
y planteara nuevos retos para la educacion sexual.
La juventud debe disponer de informacion sobre
las diferentes modalidades de la sexualidad, que
respete el espectro de diversidad. Los medios de
comunicacion populares dirigidos a los jovenes
desempenan un papel de particular relevancia al
respecto. Los metodos para conservar la salud y ser
responsable (p. ej., anticonceptivos como el
condon) deben estar disponibles en lugares donde
la juventud se sienta comoda accediendolos.
Mientras tanto, los jovenes indoneses estan
participando en diferentes tipos de relaciones
sexuales y encontrando sus propias fuentes de
informacio n, independiente del gobierno, la
religion y las organizaciones internacionales.

49