Discourses and Practices around Children's Sexuality in Residential Care Facilities in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Social Contexts

Abstract

This research explores the discourses and practices around children's sexuality that have remained largely invisible within residential care facilities in Bangladesh. Although previous studies have considered children's sexuality in these settings, they have tended to highlight sexual exploitation and sexual violence rather than the everyday ways in which sexuality is understood and handled within institutional life. Through an ethnographic approach combining participant observation involving both staff and children, as well as in-depth interviews with staff members, this study elucidates how understandings and practices around sexuality are shaped and justified in everyday institutional life. The findings reveal how themes such as romantic relationships, clothing, hygiene, physical affection, menstruation, and SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression) are perceived and managed within the case-study facility. These discourses and practices were found to be formed at the intersection of the lived realities of the facility, the family, the community, and the national context, alongside the perceptions of the staff. In particular, the mutual“expectations”exchanged between the facility and the external environment played a crucial role in constructing and legitimizing the facility's approaches to sexuality. This process often served as a driving force for staff to rationalize and reinforce adult managerial intervention in children's daily lives. By focusing on these dynamics, the study demonstrates that the shaping of discourses and practices around children's sexuality within residential care facilities cannot be understood in isolation from external social relations. Furthermore, the findings reveal that in privately operated residential care facilities with weak financial bases and limited state support, it is crucial for supporters, both domestic and international, to engage with a nuanced understanding of how external voices influence the internal regulation of children's sexuality.