Feminist Approaches to Youth Sexualities

Anonymised transcript of an interview with a young woman (Melanie) working for a large company in Manchester.
Discusses the different ‘divvy jobs’ she has done since leaving school and her plans to move to London the next month to live with her boyfriend. Interview also covers her experiences of sex education at school, which just covered the biological aspects, and at home where she has an ‘open’ relationship with her parents although her dad is a Christian who does not believe in sex outside of marriage. Talks about learning about AIDS from the media as a ‘gay disease’ and her perception of who is and is not at risk from AIDS. Discussion about what ‘sleeping around means’ and responds to questions about her knowledge of HIV, AIDS and safer sex.
In a discussion about contraception she states she has never used a condom and has a ‘narrow minded’ view of them. Uses the pill now after 8 months of unprotected sex. Describes ‘harrowing’ experiences of going to a sexual health clinic to get the pill and better experience going to see her GP. Also discusses her early sexual experiences as ‘devastating’ and unenjoyable and her current more enjoyable sexual experiences; her sexual expectations and how she learnt about sex and pleasure from her sister, friends and cosmo magazine. Talks about her own attitude to abortion as the only viable option if she had got pregnant and her friends anti-abortion attitudes.

Title	Interview with Melanie, 21, White British, upper working class. Women, Risk and AIDS Project, 1989, Manchester. Anonymised version, ref BT08)
Description	Anonymised transcript of an interview with a young woman (Melanie) working for a large company in Manchester. Discusses the different ‘divvy jobs’ she has done since leaving school and her plans to move to London the next month to live with her boyfriend. Interview also covers her experiences of sex education at school, which just covered the biological aspects, and at home where she has an ‘open’ relationship with her parents although her dad is a Christian who does not believe in sex outside of marriage. Talks about learning about AIDS from the media as a ‘gay disease’ and her perception of who is and is not at risk from AIDS. Discussion about what ‘sleeping around means’ and responds to questions about her knowledge of HIV, AIDS and safer sex. In a discussion about contraception she states she has never used a condom and has a ‘narrow minded’ view of them. Uses the pill now after 8 months of unprotected sex. Describes ‘harrowing’ experiences of going to a sexual health clinic to get the pill and better experience going to see her GP. Also discusses her early sexual experiences as ‘devastating’ and unenjoyable and her current more enjoyable sexual experiences; her sexual expectations and how she learnt about sex and pleasure from her sister, friends and cosmo magazine. Talks about her own attitude to abortion as the only viable option if she had got pregnant and her friends anti-abortion attitudes.
Identifier	BT08/O.
Subject	Women's Employment Aspirations Sex Education AIDS Disease Interpersonal Relationships Sexual Behaviour Marriage Birth Control Health Care Facilities Premarital Sex First Sex Sexual pleasure Sexual Expectation Cosmopolitan Magazine Abortion Casual sex Pill Condoms Women's magazines Family planning clinic Religious beliefs Guilt Moral values Responsibility Risk Sexual reputation Parent attitude Love Protestantism Upper working class.
Date	02/08/1990
Creator	Women, Risk and Aids Project (WRAP, 1989-90)
Publisher	The Reanimating Data Project (2018-20)
Type	Text
Temporal Coverage	1990
Spatial Coverage	Greater Manchester, UK
Rights	CC BY-NC 4.0

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