Feminist Approaches to Youth Sexualities

Anonymised transcript of an interview with Claire, 20, who has a daughter and was previously training as a hairdresser. She had been using the pill, but still managed to get pregnant. She had considered an abortion, but thought she would regret it in the future. Claire has had three romantic relationships, but only one has been sexual, from the age of 16. Her current partner, her daughter's father, is currently in prison for robbery, and she is unsure whether she would like the relationship to continue when he returns, but seems fairly optimistic about it. The sex education she received at her all girls' school was taught through biology lessons, mainly in the context of plants and animals. They had a male teacher, who wasn't taken very seriously. Contraception and reproduction was covered in child studies, but there was nothing about AIDS, as it wasn't a mainstream worry at the time. Her parents are too embarrassed to discuss sex and relationships, but she learnt a lot through her friends, and feels she was well-informed enough at the time of her first sexual debut. She went to her male doctor to arrange using the pill, but he did not offer any further advice on sexual relationships. Claire had heard about AIDS through the news, but feels it is not relevant to her as she only has one sexual partner. She considers those at risk to be people who are 'promiscuous' and bisexuals. She understands safe-sex in relation AIDS as using condoms and not sleeping around, and would make future partners be tested for AIDS before engaging in unprotected sexual activity.

Title	Interview with Claire, 20, White British, working class, Roman Catholic. Women, Risk and AIDS Project, Manchester, 1989. Anonymised version including fieldnotes (Ref: BYC11)
Description	Anonymised transcript of an interview with Claire, 20, who has a daughter and was previously training as a hairdresser. She had been using the pill, but still managed to get pregnant. She had considered an abortion, but thought she would regret it in the future. Claire has had three romantic relationships, but only one has been sexual, from the age of 16. Her current partner, her daughter's father, is currently in prison for robbery, and she is unsure whether she would like the relationship to continue when he returns, but seems fairly optimistic about it. The sex education she received at her all girls' school was taught through biology lessons, mainly in the context of plants and animals. They had a male teacher, who wasn't taken very seriously. Contraception and reproduction was covered in child studies, but there was nothing about AIDS, as it wasn't a mainstream worry at the time. Her parents are too embarrassed to discuss sex and relationships, but she learnt a lot through her friends, and feels she was well-informed enough at the time of her first sexual debut. She went to her male doctor to arrange using the pill, but he did not offer any further advice on sexual relationships. Claire had heard about AIDS through the news, but feels it is not relevant to her as she only has one sexual partner. She considers those at risk to be people who are 'promiscuous' and bisexuals. She understands safe-sex in relation AIDS as using condoms and not sleeping around, and would make future partners be tested for AIDS before engaging in unprotected sexual activity.
Identifier	BYC11/O
Subject	Parenthood Career Family life Parent attitudes Abortion Pregnancy Sex Education AIDS disease Sexual behaviour Casual sex Sexual reputation Homophobia Illegal drugs AIDS testing White British Working class Roman Catholic Catholicism.
Date	19/04/1989
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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