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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 4(1)

Sex, love and gender norms: sexual life and experience of a group of young people in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hoa Ngan Nguyen A and Pranee Liamputtong B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Gender and Family Studies, The Institute of Social Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

B School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: pranee@latrobe.edu.au

Sexual Health 4(1) 63-69 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH06023
Submitted: 30 March 2006  Accepted: 22 January 2007   Published: 26 February 2007

Abstract

This paper discusses the impacts of gender norms on the sexual life and experience of a group of young Vietnamese people. It is based on a qualitative study on sexuality and abortion among young people in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. There were two general attitudes towards premarital sex. One view supported young people in a serious, loving relationship engaging in sex before marriage; the other opposed premarital sex because it affected the reputation of girls and their families. These general attitudes were similar to the views on virginity: one group believed strongly in girls maintaining their virginity and the other group emphasised love, emotion and trust, not virginity, as the most important criteria for marriage. Among women there were more supporters than opponents of the traditional view of premarital sex and virginity. Premarital sex was more acceptable for young people in a serious, loving relationship with certain commitment to marriage. Young men considered sex a way to express their love and to become more intimate. Women’s view was that premarital sex only occurred within a serious, loving relationship or when there was a serious commitment to marriage. It is clear that young people’s sexual life is shaped and constrained by gender norms through political interventions, sexual education and moral judgements. Under the pressure of these norms, young people face many difficulties in order to fulfill a safe and satisfying sexual life.


Acknowledgements

We thank all the Vietnamese young people who took part in this study and were willing to share their private experiences with the researcher. Without their insights, this study would not have been possible. The first author thanks the Ford Foundation for sponsoring her study at La Trobe University and field trip to undertake her field work in Vietnam. We also thank Greg Murphy and Rosemary Oakes, who read and made comments on this paper for us.


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* ‘Trial marriage’ is a term to describe a way of life occurring among students in dormitory or renting houses, in which a couple live together for a while then separate if they think they are not suitable for each other (p. 12).27