Matrilineal Echoes in the Bedroom: Religious-Ethnic Identity, Sexual Communication, and Marital Intimacy among Indigenous Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim Women in Bangladesh

Background: Sexual health research in South Asia remains predominantly focused on disease prevention, with limited attention to how religious-ethnic identity shapes women's sexual agency within marriage. Indigenous communities with matrilineal traditions may exhibit distinct patterns of sexual communication and satisfaction compared to patriarchal religious majorities.
Methods: A cross-sectional comparative survey was conducted among 300 married women in Bangladesh: 100 Chakma (indigenous Buddhist, matrilineal), 100 Hindu Bengali, and 100 Muslim Bengali. Data were collected on sexual satisfaction, communication frequency, comfort discussing sex, preferred positions, orgasm ease, and thematic qualitative factors. One-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis tests, Mann-Whitney U post-hoc comparisons, and chi-square tests were employed.

sexual communication, marital intimacy, indigenous women, matrilineal society

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