Realizing Women's Sexual Rights: Challenges in South Asia

This article notes that the process of articulating sexual rights in South Asia is fraught with obstacles, among which are taboos concerning the meaningful public discussion of sexuality, negative attitudes towards women's sexual autonomy and politics. Using the 1995 parliamentary debates on reforms to the Sri Lankan Penal Code, the article explores the challenges to realizing women's sexual autonomy in a multi-ethnic South Asian society. It highlights how the fear of female sexuality can be manipulated by state-level actors, serving certain political exigencies, to justify the denial of sexual autonomy and even to validate sexual violence against women. It also reflects on the implications of the movement for women's rights in South Asia, premised increasingly on the universality of human rights norms. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Reproductive Freedom, International - Asia]