Feminist Approaches to Youth Sexualities

Anonymised transcript of an interview with a young woman aged 17 (Amy) who had recently moved to Manchester from a small town and is resitting her GCSE exams for the second time. Living at home with her parents and grandfather. Worried about dynamics within friendship groups where she is seen as the 'agony aunt'. Interested in a career in occupational therapy or speech therapy. Talked about competition between (platonic) girlfriends and standards or ideals of femininity. Is self-conscious about her figure. The sex education she received at school was poor, as her (male) teacher was embarrassed - she learnt more through her peers. Her child-care lessons provided her with information on conception, but not much else. Lots of her peers were sexually active and had been using the pill as their main method of contraception. AIDS was not discussed formally at school, and Amy had first heard it on the news. Her Health Studies Biology class has provided much more information on AIDS transmission and risk, which she found interesting. She seems confident in her understanding of safe-sex in relation to AIDS as using condoms. Amy feels there is pressure from friends to have a steady, romantic and sexual relationship. She is in a heterosexual relationship at the moment that she isn't too excited about, as she doesn't want anything too serious at the moment.

Title	Interview with Amy, 17, White British, middle class. Women, Risk and AIDS Project, Manchester, 1989. Anonymised version including fieldnotes (Ref: EDD114)
Description	Anonymised transcript of an interview with a young woman aged 17 (Amy) who had recently moved to Manchester from a small town and is resitting her GCSE exams for the second time. Living at home with her parents and grandfather. Worried about dynamics within friendship groups where she is seen as the 'agony aunt'. Interested in a career in occupational therapy or speech therapy. Talked about competition between (platonic) girlfriends and standards or ideals of femininity. Is self-conscious about her figure. The sex education she received at school was poor, as her (male) teacher was embarrassed - she learnt more through her peers. Her child-care lessons provided her with information on conception, but not much else. Lots of her peers were sexually active and had been using the pill as their main method of contraception. AIDS was not discussed formally at school, and Amy had first heard it on the news. Her Health Studies Biology class has provided much more information on AIDS transmission and risk, which she found interesting. She seems confident in her understanding of safe-sex in relation to AIDS as using condoms. Amy feels there is pressure from friends to have a steady, romantic and sexual relationship. She is in a heterosexual relationship at the moment that she isn't too excited about, as she doesn't want anything too serious at the moment.
Identifier	EDD114/O
Subject	AIDS disease Sex education Condom use Sexual expectation Sexual reputation Alcohol use Illegal drugs Family life Birth control Sexually Transmitted Diseases Middle class White British No religion.
Date	07/06/1989
Creator	Women, Risk and Aids Project (WRAP, 1989-90)
Publisher	The Reanimating Data Project
Type	Text
Temporal Coverage	1989
Spatial Coverage	Greater Manchester, UK
Rights	CC BY-NC 4.0

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