Sexual Taboos In Short Story: The Perception Of Malay Students In Unimas Towards Its Exposure in the Selected Short Stories

• Main Author: Hairi Waznati Azra, Abd Razak
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2007
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/46757/1/Hairi%20Waznati%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/46757/

This study sought to examine the perception of Malay students in UNIMAS towards the exposure of sexual taboos in selected short stories; The Neighbours by Karim Raslan and Under the Blanket by Hanna Alkaf. This study also aims to find out what are their perceptions toward the authors who exposed sex and sexual related issues in the works and the motivating factors which influenced their perceptions. A 12-items questionnaire was administered to 60 respondents consisting of Malay students in UNIMAS from various faculties and courses who made up the samples of the study. Frequency counts and percentages were the descriptive statistics used for the data analysis. The results showed that most of the respondents perceived the exposure of sexual taboos in short stories as reminder of the reality happening in the Malay society and it helps instill awareness among readers so that they will be fully aware of it. They also perceived it as matching the criteria of Malay and Islamic literary norms which purposes are to educate and provide guidances to the readers The results also showed that majority of the respondents thought of the authors' effort in exposing the issues as brave and as mediators between the Malay society and the reality. The most motivating factor which influenced respondents' perceptions towards the sexual taboo and its exposure is their religious belief.