Feminist Approaches to Youth Sexualities

Anonymised transcript of an interview with Lori, who is doing a Pre-health course for nursing, but is not enjoying it too much and would like to be a nanny instead. The Sex Education she received at school was largely biological, where students where split into single-sex groups and read to from a text book, with opportunity for group discussion afterwards. She feels the Sex Education she had was adequate, especially what she had learned through her child-care course with regard to pregnancy. However, there was little on homosexuality, female masturbation and pleasure or relationships (it was typically scientific). Teachers largely relied on leaflets for students to read through. Lori feels AIDS was a taboo, stigmatised topic until she had learnt more about it, but considers those at higher risk to be needle-users and sex workers. She is currently in a relationship and had her first sex with this partner, but had had some sexual experience from previous romantic relationships. Her own sexual pleasure is important to her. She had associated virginity with notions of cleanliness, and was glad that her current partner was also sexually inexperienced, as this meant he was low risk in terms of AIDS or STIs. There was some pressure from peers to lose her virginity. Her and her current partner have discussed marriage, which she is hopeful for in the future. They have not been using contraception, but rather are relying on the 'pull-out' method. Lori has thought about using the pill, but is worried about her mother finding out and about going to the clinic. She feels she is well-informed enough around AIDS to protect herself from any risks.

Title	Interview with Lori, 16 - 17, White British, working class, Roman Catholic. Women, Risk and AIDS Project, Manchester, 1989. Anonymised version including fieldnotes (Ref: NMC07)
Description	Anonymised transcript of an interview with Lori, who is doing a Pre-health course for nursing, but is not enjoying it too much and would like to be a nanny instead. The Sex Education she received at school was largely biological, where students where split into single-sex groups and read to from a text book, with opportunity for group discussion afterwards. She feels the Sex Education she had was adequate, especially what she had learned through her child-care course with regard to pregnancy. However, there was little on homosexuality, female masturbation and pleasure or relationships (it was typically scientific). Teachers largely relied on leaflets for students to read through. Lori feels AIDS was a taboo, stigmatised topic until she had learnt more about it, but considers those at higher risk to be needle-users and sex workers. She is currently in a relationship and had her first sex with this partner, but had had some sexual experience from previous romantic relationships. Her own sexual pleasure is important to her. She had associated virginity with notions of cleanliness, and was glad that her current partner was also sexually inexperienced, as this meant he was low risk in terms of AIDS or STIs. There was some pressure from peers to lose her virginity. Her and her current partner have discussed marriage, which she is hopeful for in the future. They have not been using contraception, but rather are relying on the 'pull-out' method. Lori has thought about using the pill, but is worried about her mother finding out and about going to the clinic. She feels she is well-informed enough around AIDS to protect herself from any risks.
Identifier	NMC07/O
Subject	Sex Education AIDS disease Sexual pleasure First sex Condom use Contraceptive methods Risk Relationships Casual sex Masturbation Aspiration Prostitution Sex work White British Working class Roman Catholic Catholicism.
Date	17/05/1989
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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