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'Alternative' Narratives of Young People's Heterosexual Experiences in the UK

University of London, UK, c.maxwell{at}ioe.ac.uk

Thirty-eight young men and women from contrasting social locations were interviewed in depth about their sexual relationships, with a focus on gender roles and attitudes, romantic relationship expectations and sexual experiences. Analysis of young people's narratives revealed that these moved relatively easily between `normative' and `alternative' frameworks when situating and accounting for attitudes and heterosexual practices. Despite some evidence for the existence of `nonhegemonic' narratives, young people often reverted to more normative models of heterosexual experience and expectations. Gender and prior negative (childhood) experiences appeared to influence young people's ideas about and expressions of `alternative' identities and practices while, within the context of this small-scale study, the impact of socio-economic status seemed relatively insignificant.

Key Words: gender • heterosexuality • resistance • socio-economic status • young people

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Sexualities, Vol. 10, No. 5, 539-558 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1363460707083168


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Maxwell, C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?