By: Ahmad Hadid
Umah Ramah together with Komunitas Cendekia hold a book review and discussion on book “Pesantren, Seksualitas dan Kekerasan Seksual” (Islamic Boarding Schools, Sexuality and Sexual Violence) on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at Wiralodra University, Indramayu Regency. The activity was attended by dozens of students from various communities and campuses, including from Wiralodra University, STIKES Indramayu, Open University, IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, Ahmad Dahlan University Yogyakarta, UNINUS Bandung, IPADHAKU Indramayu, and For a Smile Community.
The founder of Umah Ramah, Asih Widyowati, who was a resource person at this event, said that the book “Pesantren, Seksualitas dan Kekerasan Seksual” is Umah Ramah‘s latest book which was published in 2024. The book is an in-depth study of two previous books, namely “Bahaya Laten Kekerasan Seksual” (The Latent Dangers of Sexual Violence) (2022), and “Memahami Kekerasan Seksual dengan Lebih Dalam” (Understanding Sexual Violence Deeper) (2023).
“Umah Ramah conducted research related to sexual violence in Islamic boarding schools long before it was widely reported in the media in 2019. We started publishing the results of this research in book form in 2022 and most recently in 2024,” she said.
Asih also underlined the need for ongoing efforts to end sexual violence since many people continue to misunderstand it and believe that discussing sexuality is taboo.
“Sexuality is often understood as sexual intercourse, intimate relationships which are a private domain and taboo to discuss. These taboos then get in the way of teaching about sexuality. This taboo is also what makes people misunderstand sexual violence,” she added.
She says that until now society still views sexual violence to be only major incidents, such as rape and molestation. In fact, these major incidents are formed from the habit of minimizing other acts of sexual violence, such as bullying and jokes with sexual nuances.
“This book can be a reference to explain sexual violence more deeply,” she concluded.
Komunitas Cendekia, which is a student literacy community in Indramayu, is concerned about an increase in sexual violence on campuses and in the neighborhood.
The community’s chair, Fityan, described them as an active group of young people in Indramayu who are committed to literacy and who encourage others to read widely and to be aware of community issues.
“Hopefully this book review and discussion can provide an in-depth understanding of the sexual violence that has been plaguing students and the surrounding community which has recently become widespread,” he said. []
Purchase the book HERE.