Indigenous Women’s Voices: Perceptions of Sex Education from Indigenous Women Across Generations in a K’iche’ Town in Guatemala

Author

Mariana Escobedo de la Peña, University of Kentucky

Year of Publication

2025

College

Undergraduate Education

Abstract

The present study examines how colonization continues to impact the daily lives of K’iche’ (Maya) Indigenous women through sex education in a town in the highlands of Guatemala. Sexuality, as many de-colonial feminist scholars argue, is used as a tool for control over bodies, especially over Indigenous women (Smith, 2003; Lemonius, 2017). Indigenous women constitute the population least likely to learn about sex education in the country. Most of the existing studies about Indigenous communities are grounded in a westernized lens, often minimizing Indigenous knowledge, and disregarding it as “primitive” (Akena, 2012). However, it is important to decolonize scholarship and understand Indigenous knowledge as ancestral and non-western. This research aims to participate in the efforts to decolonize scholarship by incorporating Indigenous knowledge in the form of interviews. For this purpose, 18 women were interviewed individually either in K’iche’ or Spanish. The interviews lasted around 30 to 60 minutes, and the questions were about sex education topics like menstruation, pregnancy, birth, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual intercourse. First, I trace the history of sexuality in Guatemala before, during, and after colonization, to understand where Indigenous beliefs originated. Second, my analysis of the interviews traces how their perception of sex education changes across time. Third, I explore how these perceptions and beliefs affect their lives. Finally, I highlight how Indigenous women resist this colonial oppression using their own knowledge and experiences. In this regard, this study contributes to the scholarship of indigenous people through 2 a de-colonial lens and non-western perspective, diversifying and bringing importance to indigenous experience.

Recommended Citation

Escobedo de la Peña, Mariana, "Indigenous Women’s Voices: Perceptions of Sex Education from Indigenous Women Across Generations in a K’iche’ Town in Guatemala" (2025). Gaines Fellow Senior Theses. 31.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gaines_theses/31