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This paper examines changing sexualities and gender relations as they are reflected in the use of sexual enhancement products by young women and men in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar. To examine the relationships between the use of these products and socially sanctioned gender roles, their 'gender scripts' were studied - the assumptions em...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... ‘herbal Viagra’ Sparta X suggests warrior-like virility can be attained by its users (Figure 2). The ‘crisis in masculinity’ is reflected in the images that accompany these products on the internet. The site for Sparta X (www.sparta-X.com) features an image of a man who suffers from ‘sexual dysfunction’ and an assertive-looking woman who appears to be frustrated by his performance (Figure 3). The same website emphasizes the popularity of the herbal contents of Sparta X (Epimedium, Ginseng and Butea superb) as aphrodisiacs in their countries of origin (Thailand and China), reinforced by testimonials ...
Citations
... Nesses casos, os processos de regulamentação são menos rigorosos. Por exemplo, antropólogos/as que estudam os sistemas médicos asiáticos apontam para os modos por meio dos quais os Estados-nação na África e na Ásia buscam facilitar a entrada no mercado e a exportação de drogas comerciais fitoterápicas por meio de subsídios e de mecanismos de regulamentação relativamente vagos (BLAIKIE, 2015;HARDON;IDRUS, 2015;LAI;FARQUHAR, 2015;LANGWICK, 2015;PORDIÉ;WAHLBERG, 2014). Nesse sentido, Pordié (2015) mostra como na Índia os remédios ayurvédicos são reformulados tanto para o uso local quanto para exportação. ...
Esta revisão aborda um conjunto crescente de trabalhos situados na intersecção entre a antropologia e os estudos sociais da ciência e tecnologia (CTS) que examinam como as drogas são tornadas eficazes nos laboratórios, em contextos terapêuticos e na vida cotidiana. Essa literatura ressalta como os interesses comerciais e as preocupações sociais modelam os tipos de efeitos farmacêuticos que são colocados em prática, e como certas eficácias são bloqueadas devido a questões morais. Os trabalhos reunidos aqui revelam como as instituições reguladoras e os atores envolvidos nas políticas públicas de saúde tentam estabilizar as ações farmacêuticas. Ao mesmo tempo, nas linhas de frente do cuidado, farmacêuticos, trabalhadores da saúde e usuários procuram ajustar as dosagens e as indicações, buscando adaptar as ações farmacêuticas a circunstâncias específicas. Nós mostramos que não existe um objeto (farmacêutico) puro que precede sua socialização. Os fármacos não são “descobertos”; eles são constituídos e reproduzidos em relação a contextos mutáveis. Esta revisão delineia cinco áreas-chave nas pesquisas etnográficas e nos estudos CTS que examinam tais drogas fluidas.
... Cindy and Rani are referred to as "experimental women" in Indonesia. These are highly educated women, who have careers of their own, and who don't see their future primarily as an ibu (the mother of the household) responsible for housekeeping while supporting a husband who operates in the outside world (Hardon and Idrus 2015;Yeom et al. 2002). Rather, they experiment with sexual enjoyment with multiple partners. ...
Chemical Highs looks at how young people themselves develop and share with their peers a multitude of ways to maximize the pleasures and minimize the risks involved in getting high, an empowering practice that we refer to as “harm reduction from below.” Ethnographies from the Amsterdam festival and afterparty scene illuminate two patterns: young people’s efforts to creatively self-regulate to achieve “hassle-free highs,” and the potentially positive role of government policy. This context is contrasted with that of youth in Indonesia, who also seek out hassle-free highs with their peers, but live under a government that is waging a deadly war against drugs, where they have little access to harm reduction information and tools. Our team discovered that Indonesian youth are turning to psychoactive prescription drugs (PPDs) to get high, which they consider safer than illicit drugs that can lead to the death penalty, but which are also highly addictive.
... We only heard about the use of these tissues after several months of fieldwork, when one of our waria interlocutor's mentioned that using Super Magic Man during sex work, to enhance the strength of his erection (which was weakened due to her use of hormones to grow breasts). The Anita Hardon, October 20, 2016, Indonesia) tissues are promoted through social media and through online marketing sites selling obat kuat (Hardon and Idrus 2015). ...
... Seeing the product made it easier for them to talk about the way they use it. Mali, a construction worker, said that when using the tissues his erection lasts for about one hour; without tissues he can only keep his erection going for around 15 minutes (Hardon and Idrus 2015). ...
... Young women whom we interviewed in Makassar also complained about side effects of the tissues, saying that they made their vaginas feel sore. And despite men's aim to please women by lasting longer, none of our female interlocutors were happy with the longer duration of the erections of their sexual partners (Hardon and Idrus 2015). ...
In this chapter, we present ethnographies from the Philippines, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and France that together show how young people use chemicals to shape their bodies, enhance their sexual pleasure, and foster their sexual hygiene. Through these intimate stories, we show how young people use chemicals to try out different sexual identities, connect with partners, enhance sexual experiences, and prevent unwanted pregnancies, as well as enhance their sexual performance. In this way, chemicals are used both as a way to relate to others and also to explore themselves. In Chemical Sexualities, we show how young people use chemicals to address their sexual needs and explore their sexual desires in four distinct ways: to shape their bodies, to enhance sexual performance, for sexual hygiene and STI prevention, and to abort unwanted pregnancies. Each of these “do-it-yourself” chemical sexualities involves various practices, which we compare and contrast across field sites to gain a better understanding of what is at stake in young people’s sexual lives.
... In the most eastern parts of Indonesia such as Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, studies found alarming results on adolescents' sexual behavior during the past years [38], [39]. Smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of reproductive health knowledge were identified as strong determinants of Muslim Bugis adolescents' promiscuity besides the weakening of religious and familial norms [38], [39], [40] whereas high-risk sexual behaviors, such as polygyny, extra-marital sex, multiple sexual partners and sex at young age have been found in some indigenous Papuans [41], [42], [43]. ...
... In the most eastern parts of Indonesia such as Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, studies found alarming results on adolescents' sexual behavior during the past years [38], [39]. Smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of reproductive health knowledge were identified as strong determinants of Muslim Bugis adolescents' promiscuity besides the weakening of religious and familial norms [38], [39], [40] whereas high-risk sexual behaviors, such as polygyny, extra-marital sex, multiple sexual partners and sex at young age have been found in some indigenous Papuans [41], [42], [43]. ...
... Although there is a weakening tendency of religious norms among Muslim youth as sexual promiscuity increases [35], [36], [37], studies also documented premarital sexual practices are more prevalent in non-Muslim regions of Indonesia [38], [39]. The lower prevalence of premarital sexual activity among Muslim youth relative to their non-Muslim counterparts, however, should not be directly interpreted as their persistence in holding Muslim values. ...
Purpose
This study aimed to present the level and patterns of premarital first births in Indonesia, and its association with early childbearing.
Methods
This study used three rounds of the Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey, including a total of 29,483 women in 2002; 32,895 in 2007 and 45,607 in 2012. Those women who had their first child before reaching 19 years of age were defined as early child bearers, otherwise, the women were known as later child bearers. All conceptions that occurred 9 months after the first marriage were defined as timely births within marriage, thus, premarital first birth is a first birth that occurred less than 7 months after the first marriage.
Findings
About 7–11% of Indonesian women conceived their first child before marriage. Both early and later child bearers experienced their first birth less than 7 months after their first marriage, however, women who experienced conception before marriage were twice as likely to become early child bearers compared to women who had their first birth occurred timely.
Conclusion
The results of the present analysis show that some Indonesian women had their first child before marriage. Although the unavailability of marriage and birth registrations is the most plausible explanation for the decline in premarital first births among the youngest cohort, regional differences suggest there is also an influence of socio-cultural diversity in the premarital sexual practices of Indonesian women.
... When interviewed, women described Resik-V as cheap, convenient, and safe because it is for external use; they reported no negative effects and claimed the product cleans, tightens, and perfumes their vaginas. 11 Female sex workers also used it to avoid feeling "dirty" and because, in the era of HIV, having a clean, fragrant vagina was deemed necessary to attract customers. 12 Influenced by unsubstantiated marketing claims about antiseptic properties, some young women believed vaginal washes protected against sexually transmitted infections. ...
... Here, regulatory processes are less stringent. Anthropologists who study Asian medicines, for example, point to the way in which nation-states in Africa and Asia seek to facilitate the market entry and export of commodified herbal drugs through subsidies and relatively loose regulatory mechanisms (Blaikie 2015, Hardon & Idrus 2015, Lai & Farquhar 2015, Langwick 2015, Pordié & Hardon 2015, Wahlberg 2014. Pordié (2015), for example, shows how in India Ayurvedic medicines are reformulated for both local use and export. ...
This review discusses a growing body of scholarship at the intersection of anthropology and science and technology studies (STS) that examines how drugs are rendered efficacious in laboratories, therapeutic settings, and everyday lives. This literature foregrounds insights into how commercial interests and societal concerns shape the kinds of pharmaceutical effects that are actualized and how some efficacies are blocked in response to moral concerns. The work brought together here reveals how regulatory institutions and health policy makers seek to stabilize pharmaceutical actions while, on the front lines of care, pharmacists, health workers, and users tinker with dosages and indications to tailor pharmaceutical actions to specific circumstances. We show that there is no pure (pharmaceutical) object that precedes its socialization. Pharmaceuticals are not "discovered" they are made and remade in relation to shifting contexts. This review outlines five key areas of ethnographic and STS research that examines such fluid drugs.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected social and economic sectors and has created new behavior and lifestyles. This article employs a quantitative methodological approach. Through interviews with 274 university students in East Java, Indonesia, the findings suggest that young people’s awareness of health behavior shifted after the spread of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, parents are struggling to have their children consume herbs. Youngsters consider herbs as a traditional lifestyle for the elderly. However, after COVID-19, the results suggest that young people are more supportive of herbal medicine in order to protect themselves from COVID-19. Therefore, it can be argued that COVID-19 pandemic generates a growing awareness for young people to consume herbal medicine, which becomes a new lifestyle and preserves the nation’s centuries-worth wisdom of the local culture.
This open access book explores how young people engage with chemical substances in their everyday lives. It builds upon and supplements a large body of literature on young people’s use of drugs and alcohol to highlight the subjectivities and socialities that chemical use enables across diverse socio-cultural settings, illustrating how young people seek to avoid harm, while harnessing the beneficial effects of chemical use.
The book is based on multi-sited anthropological research in Southeast Asia, Europe and the US, and presents insights from collaborative and contrasting analysis. Hardon brings new perspectives to debates across drug policy studies, pharmaceutical cultures and regulation, science and technology studies, and youth and precarity in post-industrial societies.
This paper examines the non-prescription use of the sexual enhancement drug Viagra by young men in Addis Ababa. Data was collected through repeated in-depth interviews with 14 Viagra users - heterosexual men between the ages of 21 and 35 - and focus-group discussions with 21 male and 22 female university students. Study participants turned to Viagra to impress lovers, as a 'support mechanism' when feeling weak or tired, to counteract the effects of chewing the stimulant plant khat and to satisfy what they perceived as a psychological 'addiction'. More generally, young men used Viagra to quell anxieties about what they perceived as women's growing expectations about their sexual performance - informed by changing gender relations and sexual expectations, constructions of masculinity that emphasise sexual prowess, and a misreading of women's sexual desires largely fuelled by the emergence of pornography as a new standard for sexual performance. While some men gained sexual confidence by using Viagra, others - particularly those who used Viagra regularly - paradoxically experienced feelings of loss of manhood.
