Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary Indonesia: Sexual Politics, Health, Diversity and Representations

347 Pages·2015·2.421 MB·English

by  Linda Rae Bennett, Sharyn Graham Davies

Sex and Sexualities in
Contemporary Indonesia
Sex, sexuality and sexual relationships are hotly debated in Indonesia, triggering
complex and often passionate responses. This innovative volume explores these issues
in a variety of ways, highlighting historical and newer forms of sexual diversity, as
well as the social responses they provoke. It also critiques differing representations of
sexuality, pointing to the multiplicity of discourses within which sexuality and
“the sexual” are understood in modern-day Indonesia.
P lacing sexuality centre-stage and locating it within the specifi c historical context of
the Reformasi era, this landmark volume explores understandings and practices across a
wide variety of sites, focusing in on a diverse group of Indonesian actors and the
contested meanings that sexuality carries. Beginning with a substantive introduction
and concluding with a scholarly refl ection on key issues, the volume is framed around
the four themes of sexual politics, health, diversity and representations. It seeks both to
present new empirical fi ndings and to add to existing theoretical analysis.
T his work fi lls an important gap in our understanding of the evolution and
contemporary dynamics of Indonesian sexualities. It will be of interest to scholars and
academics from disciplines including gender and sexuality studies, global health,
sexual and reproductive health, anthropology, sociology and Asian studies.
Linda Rae Bennett is Senior Research Fellow at the Nossal Institute for Global
Health, the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a medical anthropologist special-
ising in sexual and reproductive health and rights among youth and women in
Indonesia, and the regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacifi c more generally. In 2010 she
was awarded a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council to undertake
the fi rst extensive social research project on compromised fertility in Indonesia. Key
publications include Women, Islam and Modernity: Single Women, Sexuality and Reproductive
Health in Contemporary Indonesia (2005); Violence Against Women in Asian Societies, edited
with Lenore Manderson (2003); and special editions of the Intersections journal – Sexuality
and Gender Among Contemporary Indonesian Youth, edited with Lynette Parker (2008), and
Women, Gender and Politics in Asia and the Pacifi c, edited with Petra Mahy (2011).
Sharyn Graham Davies is Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences and
Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. She is an anthropolo-
gist who focuses on gender and sexuality in Indonesia. More recently her research has
broadened to examine ways in which policing and surveillance affect gender and sexual-
ity. Key publications include Gender Diversity in Indonesia (2011) and Challenging Gender
Norms (2007). In 2014, Sharyn took up a Fulbright to present her work at a number of
universities in the United States. She will also be spending the 2015 Michaelmas term
at the University of Cambridge as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor.
S exuality, culture and health series
E dited by Peter Aggleton, University of New South Wales, Australia
R ichard Parker, Columbia University, New York, USA
S onia Corrêa, ABIA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
G ary Dowsett, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
S hirley Lindenbaum, City University of New York, USA
T his series of books offers cutting-edge analysis, current theoretical perspec-
tives and up-to-the-minute ideas concerning the interface among sexuality,
public health, human rights, culture and social development. It adopts a
global and interdisciplinary perspective in which the needs of poorer coun-
tries are given equal status to those of richer nations. Books are written with
a broad range of readers in mind, and they will be invaluable to students,
academics and those working in policy and practice. The series also aims to
serve as a spur to practical action in an increasingly globalised world.
C ulture, Society and Sexuality: T echnologies of Sexuality, Identity
A Reader, 2nd ed. and Sexual Health
P eter Aggleton and Richard Parker E dited by Lenore Manderson
D ying to be Men: Youth Masculinity Understanding Global Sexualities:
and Social Exclusion New Frontiers
G ary T. Barker Edited by Peter Aggleton, Paul Boyce,
Henrietta L. Moore and Richard Parker
S ex, Drugs and Young People:
International Perspectives Men Who Sell Sex: Global
E dited by Peter Aggleton, Andrew Ball and Perspectives
Purnima Mane Edited by Peter Aggleton
and Richard Parker
P romoting Young People’s Sexual
Health: International Perspectives Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary
E dited by Roger Ingham and Peter Aggleton Indonesia: Sexual Politics, Health,
Diversity and Representations
S exuality, Health and Human Rights Edited by Linda Rae Bennett
S onia Corrêa, Rosalind Petchesky and and Sharyn Graham Davies
Richard Parker
M obility, Sexuality and AIDS
E dited by Felicity Thomas, Mary
Haour-Knipe and Peter Aggleton
Sex and Sexualities in
Contemporary Indonesia
Sexual politics, health, diversity
and representations
Edited by Linda Rae Bennett
and Sharyn Graham Davies
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 L.R. Bennett and S.G. Davies
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sex and sexualities in contemporary Indonesia : sexual politics,
health, diversity, and representations / edited by Linda Rae Bennett
and Sharyn Graham Davies.
p. ; cm. – (Sexuality, culture and health)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Bennett, Linda Rae, editor. II. Davies, Sharyn Graham, editor.
III. Series: Sexuality, culture and health series.
[DNLM: 1. Reproductive Health–Indonesia. 2. Sex Workers–
Indonesia. 3. Sexual Behavior–Indonesia. 4. Sexuality–Indonesia.
WQ 200 LI4]
HQ18.A35
306.709598–dc23
2014033251
ISBN: 9780415731287 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781315849805 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond
by Cenveo Publisher Services
To Alfi e, Livi and Raphy with love
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of fi gures x
List of tables xi
List of contributors xii
Acknowledgements xvii
Introduction: mapping sex and sexualities in
contemporary Indonesia 1
SHARYN GRAHAM DAVIES AND LINDA RAE BENNETT
PART I
Sexual politics 27
1 Surveilling sexuality in Indonesia 29
SHARYN GRAHAM DAVIES
2 Masculinity, sexuality and Islam: the gender politics
of regime change in Indonesia 51
KATHRYN ROBINSON
3 The sexual politics of polygamy in Indonesian marriages 69
NINA NURMILA AND LINDA RAE BENNETT
PART II
Sexual health 89
4 Negotiating risk: Indonesian couples navigating
marital relationships, reproduction and HIV 91
IRWAN MARTUA HIDAYANA AND BRIGITTE TENNI
viii Contents
5 Sexual tensions: HIV-positive women in Papua 109
LESLIE BUTT
6 Chemicals, biocapital and the everyday lives of
sex workers and waitresses in South Sulawesi 129
NURUL ILMI IDRUS AND ANITA HARDON
7 Sexual morality and the silencing of sexual health
within Indonesian infertility care 148
LINDA RAE BENNETT
Part III
Sexual diversity 167
8 Discursive contestations concerning intersex in Indonesia:
stigma, rights and identities 169
SASKIA E. WIERINGA
9 ‘I just ate some chilli’: identities, bodies and sexual
practices of young female sex workers in Java 183
HARRIOT BEAZLEY
10 Belonging, community and identity: gay men in Indonesia 203
STEPHEN MCNALLY, JEFFREY GRIERSON
AND IRWAN MARTUA HIDAYANA
11 Lesbian subjectivities: butch, femme and andro from
the New Order to Reformasi era Indonesia 220
EVELYN BLACKWOOD
PART IV
Sexual representations 235
12 Indonesian grannies and transnational sexualities:
negotiating sexuality, gender, age and belonging
through cultural dance performance 237
MONIKA SWASTI WINARNITA
13 Sex on Indonesia’s screens 253
THOMAS BARKER
Contents ix
14 Indonesian beauty queens: embodying ethnicity,
sexual morality and the nation 273
HELEN PAUSACKER
15 Sexuality, politics and loss of innocence:
recent literary explorations 293
PAMELA ALLEN
Afterword: refl ections on sexual rights, politics
and sexuality studies in Indonesia 307
DÉDÉ OETOMO AND TOM BOELLSTORFF
Index 318