Walking Delicately Around Mental Handicap,Sex Education and Abuse in Pakistan

Public discussion of child abuse, sexual abuse and the sexuality of mentally handicapped

1 ‘Mental handicap’ is the English term commonly used in Pakistan and widely understood across Asia. It would be incongruous to use one of the more recent terms with which ‘mental handicap’ is being replaced in Britain, but which are seldom used in South Asia. Other obsolete terms in this paper, e.g. ‘pederast’, ‘idiot’, are used in historical contexts.

people is unwelcome in Pakistan, as in some other Asian and Muslim nations. Formal sex education is not given in schools. Sparse documentation exists in historical sources and the literature of anthropology, law, paediatrics, psychology and psychiatry. Some of this is reviewed, bearing in mind that cultural constructions of abuse vary significantly between Pakistan and western countries. Positive resources exist in the ordinary family life of Pakistan. Some families with mentally handicapped children appreciate teachers' efforts to explain bodily changes, personal hygiene and appropriate social behaviour, under the title ‘modesty education’. The accumulation of reliable and culturally sensitive information from a broad range of sources, and its wider dissemination, are important factors in supporting progress. Issues of knowledge and focus are discussed.