Safer sex without a condom: Expanding discursive boundaries in understanding youth sexual health

Contemporary sexual health initiatives have often promoted condom-use as one of the most important ways to avoid risks associated with young people’s sexual activities, such as unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Examining the regulatory work of the discourse of sexual health among young people, in this paper I argue that this dominant discourse has positioned young people as (potential) health patients who have no knowledge about their own (sexual) body, are blinded by raging hormones, and therefore urgently need to be “saved” by sexual health educators through contraceptive knowledge, particularly condom-use. I argue that the positioning of sex, condom, and young people through this discourse has narrowly confined the notion of safer sex into very limited, mechanistic practices; and simultaneously constrained young people’s exercise of sexual agency. Drawing on empirical narratives from Indonesian young people I interviewed during my research, I explore possibilities of resistance towards this discourse in the constitution of young people’s sexual subjectivities. The findings exhibit a range of other contextual and more relevant safer sex practices, which might expand the discursive boundaries in understanding youth sexual health

Church youth sexuality in Surabaya: Teachings, attitudes, and behaviors

The aim of this study is to describe the teachings regarding sexuality among Christian churches in Surabaya, sexual attitudes, and sexual behaviors of the church youths. Six church leaders from six churches were interviewed and 267 church youths filled anonymous sexual attitude and sexual behavior questionnaire. The result shows that most of the churches adopt conservative teachings. These teachings are consistent with sexual attitudes of the church youths. However, the behaviors are not always consistent with the attitudes, mainly on the autonomous sexual behaviors. In term of sexual abstinence, 85.8% of respondents report never engaged in sexual intercourse in their lifetime. The implications and limitations are discussed

Indonesian Christian International students in Australia: (Re)Constructing religious identities

Indonesian Christians international students are experiencing new religio-cultural experiences during their study in Australia. Some of those experiences are contradictory with their Christian beliefs. This study seeks to understand the way Indonesian Christian international students in Australia negotiating their cultural and religious identity. In this qualitative study, I interviewed four Indonesian Christian international students in Australia including myself. The findings describe participants’ tensions between their Christian beliefs and new religio-cultural experiences during participants’ study in Australia, such as questions about sexuality, feminism, and various knowledges met in their university studies. Participants constructed their new ways of being a Christian by demonstrating different markers of evangelical Christianity, liberal Christianity, and spiritual seekers (Mathews, 2000)

The limit of human rights: Sexual orientation, LGBTI activism, and Indonesian youth

The discourse of human sexual rights has been dominant in recent sexuality studies, declarations, and activisms. It has become one of the most powerful rhetoric in international discussions, so that both proponents and opponents of LGBTI movement unreservedly employed human rights arguments. In these debates, human rights is taken for granted as one of the strongest authorities to appeal to. It becomes the norm everyone is assumed to unequivocally agree. Inspired by the radical anti-normativity approach of queer theory, in this presentation I seek to deconstruct the discourse of human sexual rights – which could potentially be the new oppressive regime in the LGBTI movement. I unpack several assumptions behind the discourse of human sexual rights, namely: (1) the assumption of fixed and stable “identity,” (2) the assumption of autonomous and self-determining subject, (3) the assumption of a universal vision of humanity, and (4) the assumption that human rights movement is apolitical. I use the narratives of Indonesian youth I interviewed to show how youth’s sexual subjectivities have been regulated by and transgressed these assumptions. I discuss the broader impact of my critique with regard to alternative LGBTI activisms in Indonesia and elsewhere, such as creative and unusual activism strategies which can potentially rework and disrupt the dominant heteronormative culture

Exploring same-sex attraction in Indonesian churches: Teachings, attitudes, and experiences

The aim of this study is to explore the issue of same-sex attraction (SSA) among church members in Indonesia. Using both qualitative and quantitative method, the teaching of the leaders, attitudes of the church members, and the experiences of SSA are described. Six church leaders of six churches in Surabaya, Indonesia were interviewed in semi-structured interviews and 268 church youths filled questionnaires on SSA. The results show that the majority of church leaders and church youths have conservative attitude toward SSA. As many as 5.6% of participants have experienced SSA at a time of his/her life. Similar with Indonesian church youths in general, most of them agree with and do maintain abstinent sexual lifestyle. Implications and suggestions are discussed

From Divine Instruction to Human Invention: The Constitution of Indonesian Christian Young People’s Sexual Subjectivities through the Dominant Discourse of Sexual Morality

Based on a study of 22 young people aged 16–24 years old, this article examines the constitution of young Indonesian Christians’ sexual subjectivities through the dominant discourse of sexual morality. It is concerned with how this discourse has been drawn on and resisted as these young people become sexual subjects. I argue that the dominant discourse of sexual morality has positioned Indonesian young people within a binary of being either “moral” (maintaining heterosexual abstinence until marriage) or “immoral” (engaging in sex), to the extent that other ethical sexual relationships and pleasures become unthinkable. This article also provides evidence that the dominant discourse of sexual morality has been contested in the constitution of Indonesian Christian young people as sexual subjects. Three alternative ways in which participants resist the religious sexual moral codes imposed upon them are discussed, namely: casting off religion altogether, reinterpreting religious morality, and practising a double morality

Rethinking radical inclusiveness: A theoretical provocation

The notions of human rights and identity politics have been widely drawn on in the contemporary understandings and practices of developing more inclusive cities. Examining the UN Habitat III Issue Paper on Inclusive Cities (2015), in this article I attempt to identify and problematize some assumptions that might have underpinned our efforts to improve the inclusiveness of our cities. I argue that a liberal view of human being has constrained the understandings about who “everyone” is, the nature of their sense of self, and what they want; which subsequently might exclude and marginalise those who do not fit our conceptions. Alternatively, I will draw on poststructuralist theorisation of discourse and subjectivity to offer a new way of thinking about human rights and identity politics, and discuss how it might contribute to our understanding and practices of inclusiveness

Beyond Pre/Post Measurement: Discourse Analysis as an Alternative Methodology in Reporting on an Intervention Programme

Pre/post comparison has become the most prominent method in reporting on a psychological intervention programme, to the extent that it is almost impossible to report on such programmes without a pre/post evaluation framework. This article introduces discourse analysis methodology as an alternative in reporting on an intervention programme, highlights some of its benefits, and provides an empirical example of its application. Discourse analysis methodology is applied to analyze a diversity workshop, conducted by the author, in a youth refuge in Surabaya (N = 15). Three key discourses were identified, namely, a discourse of (different) abilities, a discourse of peaceful resolution, and a discourse of crime as a natural consequence of inequality; which are discussed in relation to the methodological benefits of the application of discourse analysis, in an intervention programme

Scientia sexualis and ars erotica: Indonesian young people resisting the discourse of sexual desire

Based on a qualitative study conducted with Indonesian young people, this article explores the ways in which the discourse of sexual desire – that constitutes sexual self as categorisable into LGBT+ identities – may be contested in the participants’ sexual becoming. Employing Michel Foucault’s comparison of scientia sexualis (science of sex) and ars erotica (erotic art), participants’ narratives are analysed to explore new possibilities of sexual subjectivity without both categorising into or rejecting LGBT+ subject positions. The findings show that participants have taken up a subject position offered by the discourse of sexual desire, but they simultaneously resisted its scientia sexualis mechanisms by positioning the art of sexual pleasure, rather than specification of desires, at the centre of their becoming sexual subjects

Neoliberalism within psychology higher education in Indonesia: A critical analysis

Critical scholars have demonstrated the ways in which neoliberalism has increasingly become a dominant organising principle in current global political, economic, and social practices, including in higher education. This article aims to explore how and to what extent neo-liberal discourses have operated in a specific context, namely, in psychology higher educa-tion in Indonesia. To this end, the author examined policy documents published by relevant authorities such as AP2TPI, Dirjen DIKTI, and BAN-PT; and reflect on how those policies were enacted in the author’s 10-year experience as a psychology lecturer in a university in Indonesia. The results show that neoliberal discourses such as standardisation, competi-tiveness, and market orientation have underpinned the policies, curricula, and practices of psychology higher education in Indonesia. The author argues that such discourses (re)pro-duce psychology students, graduates, and lecturers who are competitive, result-oriented, and market-driven. Consequently, democratic, humane, and organic ways of learning and practicing psychology have given way to more mechanistic, standardised, and box-ticking approaches to human behaviour