Knowledge, attitude and practices of sex and sexuality among young adults in Delhi-NCR

Abstract

‘Gender’ as a category emerged in the 70s and 80s,challenging the common-sense perception accordingto which biological sex and gender are extensions ofeach other and that gender is a social construct and abasis of oppression of women. Studies reveal anincrease in the visibility of women in all spheres.However, does this imply an acceptance,understanding, and internalisation of this assertion?Gender inequalities and oppression of womencontinue. There is a gap between theory and practice,between academic discourse and popular discourse ongender. This paper looks at this disparity. It enquiresinto the extent of awareness about the distinctionbetween sex and gender among young adults and howthis informs their sexual attitudes and behaviour. It isbased on research done in Delhi-NCR on 480respondents, 71.88% of whom were young womenand belonged to the 18–24 age range.However, only roughly 33% of respondentsthought there was no connection betweenpornographic content and promiscuity, whileboth men and women (~47%) were unsureabout the relationship between erotic contentand promiscuity. Remarkably, only 18.5% ofrespondents thought that reading or viewingerotica could encourage promiscuity, andthere was no correlation