Who decides to have sex? Exploring the perceptions of Timorese women and men through a reproductive justice lens.

Who decides to have sex? Exploring the perceptions of Timorese women and men through a reproductive justice lens. Cult Health Sex. 2019 Feb 26;:1-16 Authors: Wallace HJ, McDonald S, Belton S, Isolina Miranda A, da Costa E, da Conceicao Matos L, Henderson H, Taft A Abstract Despite national policies to support sexual rights, Timorese women are constrained when making sexual and reproductive health decisions. Contextual understanding of sexual decision making is vital for effective engagement by sexual and reproductive health service providers with communities. An intersectional reproductive justice approach broadens the sexual rights lens allowing for an examination of multi-system factors impacting on sexual rights and health. Using the Matrix of Domination as a conceptual framework, we explored Timorese perceptions around decisions to have sex, and examined intersecting systems of oppression impacting on these decisions. Our study adopted a critical medical anthropological approach using ethnographic methods. A decolonising methodology aimed to make Timorese worldviews central to the analysis. Nine focus group discussions with 80 men and 17 individual reproductive history interviews with women were held in 4 of Timor-Leste's 13 municipalities during October 2015. Findings suggest that decisions to have sex are framed in terms of wishes and rights; however, it was the perceived entitlements of men that were prioritised and predominan...
Source: Culture, Health and Sexuality - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Cult Health Sex Source Type: research