Women, Islam and Modernity by Bennett, Linda Rae;

Short description:

This book examines how the cultural context influences the way in which young single women approach courtship, and issues of sexuality and reproductive health.

Long description:

In popular debates about reproductive and sexual rights, formal religions, especially Islam, are seen as barriers providing institutional and ideological resistance to women's realization of reproductive and social autonomy. This book challenges this simplified view of Islam. Based on original fieldwork in Eastern Indonesia, the book explores the complex factors that affect how young Indonesian women form their sexual subjectivities, discusses the cultural and historical conditions under which single Muslim women repress or express their sexuality, and examines how the cultural context, including other factors besides Islam, simultaneously influence the ways in which young single women approach courtship, and issues of sexuality and reproductive health. It demonstrates that Islam is neither alone in trying to control female sexuality, nor entirely successful in doing so.

'Women, Islam and Modernity offers rich pickings not only to feminist scholars of Islam, but to specialists in gender and development in South East Asia, and to those interested in debates about reproductive health and rights.' - Asian Affairs

'Highly recommended to students of Gender and Development, and also a useful background read for policymakers and practioners working on reproductive health in Indonesia and other Muslim countries.'- Asian Affairs

Table of Contents:

Introduction  1. Cultural Constructions of Sexuality and Gender  2. Maiden Bodies - Inscriptions of Femininity and Desire  3. Premarital Relationships and Contemporary Courtship Practices  4. Indigenous Sexual Scripts and Social Transition  5. Women's Health and Maiden Identities  6. Reproductive Rights for Single Women.  Conclusion