Schools, Sex, and Shame: An Ethnographic Study of How Education Shapes Gendered Shame for Girls in Lahore, Pakistan

• In Event: Sites of Gender Learning: Education, Media, and the Politics of Justice

Proposal

Due to the religious and conservative culture of Pakistan, the female body is often seen as the carrier of social reproduction and the family’s honor and shame. Discussions relating to the female body and sexual and reproductive health are therefore often seen as taboo and silenced. The lack of information and availability of safe spaces where females can share their experiences and curiosities fuels the alarming statistics and experiences of gender violence and inequity in Pakistan. School is a potential font for access to information and safe discussions around gender and sexual health, but few scholars have investigated what young women actually learn about gender and sexuality in Pakistani schools. Using observations, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of curricular material conducted in urban secondary schools in Lahore with female students and teachers, this study explores the public narratives, official and hidden curricula, and daily school experiences of gender and sexuality in girls’ secondary schools. I focus particularly on if, how, and to what effects schools (re)produce and reinforce classed sociocultural notions and/or embodied experiences of shame around the female body. In doing so, I examine how schools both reproduce and resist shame, offering insights for feminist pedagogy and reform and ways to improve our understanding of how to support young women’s sexual and reproductive health in Pakistan.

Grounded in feminist theory and the anthropology of the body, this research conceptualizes shame (sharam) as a deeply gendered and institutionalized emotion shaped by societal constructs of honor (izzat), religious morality, and patriarchal family systems. Shame is not simply an individual feeling but a regulatory mechanism that disciplines female behavior, often operating silently through surveillance, omissions, euphemisms, and bodily codes embedded within both the formal curriculum and hidden school culture. Drawing from theorists such as Mary Douglas (Purity and Danger), Veena Das, and Brooks Bouson (Embodied Shame), I understand shame as a pedagogical force: taught, internalized, and sometimes resisted in everyday educational contexts.

My multi-sited ethnography was conducted across three types of all-girls secondary schools in Lahore: a high-cost private school, a low-cost private school, and a government school. These were selected to reflect classed variations in how gender and sexuality are communicated and regulated. Across eight months of immersive fieldwork, the study covers over 150 interviews, hours of classroom and campus observations, facilitated focus group discussions, and analysis of curricular and policy documents from each institution.

The female students, primarily aged 15 to 17 and belonging to grade 11, were chosen due to their transitional status between childhood and adulthood, a period where school teachings, peer dynamics, and bodily changes converge to shape gender identity and bodily awareness. Through this comparative lens, I trace how the performance and expectations of modesty, the management of puberty, the silencing of curiosity, and the pedagogical language used by teachers all contribute to an educational experience steeped in shame. Crucially, curricular and textbook analysis revealed both overt and covert forms of regulation.

This research has both academic and applied implications. Theoretically, it contributes to anthropologies of gender and sexuality by examining shame as a structural and pedagogical force –– one that is shaped by class, religion, and the politics of education in a traditional Muslim majority society. Empirically, it highlights the voices and experiences of girls and teachers who navigate these landscapes daily, often with limited resources but great resilience. My research also attempts to raise urgent questions about the role of schools in perpetuating gender-based violence, emotional harm, and reproductive injustice — not through overt abuse, but through neglect and silence.

By centering student narratives, teacher struggles, and curricular content, this study proposes that educational reform in Pakistan must move beyond simply “adding” sex education to curricula. It must address the underlying pedagogies of shame that shape how topics are taught, who is allowed to speak, and what is left unsaid. Feminist pedagogies in this context must include not only content reform, but structural and emotional work — enabling schools to become spaces of care, bodily autonomy, and dialogic learning rather than fear. As Pakistan and other Global South countries struggle with how to educate youth about gender and health in culturally sensitive ways, this work urges us to listen closely to the voices of those most affected — and to reimagine schooling not as a site of silence, but as a potential space for empowerment and safety by reimagining gender, power, and pedagogy.

Author

• Farah Basit, The University of Wisconsin-Madison