Adolescent Sexuality

In the Arab-Muslim world, sexuality remains a taboo subject. However, Tunisian society finds itself in an intercultural context. It is, above all, a conservative Arab-Muslim society, yet at the same time it is undergoing a process of acculturation. The objective of our study is to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of 100 adolescents regarding sexuality. The study we conducted was a descriptive, quantitative cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire written in Arabic covering all aspects of the sexual lives of a sample of 50 girls and 50 boys aged 15 to 19 residing in the Monastir Governorate, randomly selected from high schools. The average age was 17.5 years for boys and 16.5 years for girls. Half of our sample (49%) reported not having received any sex education. Masturbation was practiced by 88% of boys and 24% of girls, accompanied by feelings of pleasure in 60.34% of cases. Heterosexual activity was reported among 40% of adolescent boys and 6% of adolescent girls. The average age at first sexual intercourse was 15 years for both sexes, indicating early onset of sexual activity.