Cleaning the womb’
Perspectives on fertility control and menstruation among students in Antananarivo, Madagascar
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15099568 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karine Aasgaard Jansen (0000-0002-3281-5373, University of Bergen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pages | 1227-1240 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Culture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13691058.2020.1773539 |
| PMID | 32643577 |
| OpenAlex | W3040738288 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
This article discusses students' perspectives on fertility control, including induced abortion, in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The study draws on a total of nine weeks of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017. It argues that while the majority of the students do not refrain from premarital sex, they negotiate their desire for physical intimacy in accordance with the prevailing discourse of premarital abstinence among the Merina ethnic group in the central highlands. In this context, modern contraception, particularly hormonal birth control that could cause menstruation to cease, is considered highly problematic since it was believed capable of creating a 'blockage' of the reproductive system which in turn could lead to future infertility. Due to such cultural barriers, there is therefore low coverage and unmet need for contraception among Malagasy students in Antananarivo. Instead, they would rather rely heavily on traditional methods such as periodic abstinence or the calendar method. Moreover, due to the risk of unwanted pregnancy, menstruation is central to the moral control of own and other's sexual behaviour at both a personal and a collective level
Abstinence · Birth control · Context (archaeology · Ethnic group · Family planning · Fertility · Geography · Menstruation · Population · Psychiatry · Sexual abstinence · Sociology · Demography · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Gender Studies · Global Maternal and Child Health · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception
Placing the dead
Purity and Danger
Sex and Salvation
Unsafe abortion
Induced abortion
New Mana
When abortion is not within reach
Unmet need for family planning and barriers to contraceptive use in Kaduna, Nigeria
But Then He Became My Sipa ”
Even with higher education you remain a woman’
The Sacrificed GenerationYouth, History, and the Colonized Mind in Madagascar
A critical examination of the barriers and social determinants of health impacting the implementation of a national sexual and reproductive health rights curriculum in Madagascar
The Disconnection between Power and Rank as a Process
Marriage Amongst Equals
The Mindful Body
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |