`Exploring relationships': a study of young people's (hetero)sexual subjectivities, knowledge and practices
type: CreativeWork
description: The objective of this research is to examine the relationships between young people's sexual knowledge, sexual subjectivities and (hetero)sexual practices. It also aims to investigate how young people's articulation and experiences of their sexual knowledge, subjectivities and practices are gendered. A further goal is to re-examine what is theorised as a 'gap' between young people's knowledge and practice. The research sample consists of 515 New Zealanders aged 17-19 years drawn from schools and community training programmes within the Auckland and Hamilton regions. A feminist research methodology is employed utilising a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in order to explore different narratives produced in diverse research contexts. These contexts include 17 focus groups, 12 individual interviews, 6 couples engaging in a specially designed 'activity', and the distribution of 411 questionnaires. Contribution is made to the literature on sexuality education by re-visiting the 'gap equation' so that primacy is given to young people's own construction of the concepts of 'knowledge' and 'practice' and the perceived relationships between them. The research methods employed afford young people agency by enabling them to review this 'gap' from their own perspective. Young people's agency is also revealed by in-depth exploration of their sexual subjectivities and particularly how their subjectivities are constituted through dominant discourses of heterosexuality. How alternative sexual subject positions are negotiated by young people, and the contexts and factors which make this possible, are also investigated. The research extends our understanding of sexual subjectivity by taking account of young people's 'materiality', as it is expressed in their talk about their experience of their bodies in relation to sexuality. The research thus reveals how the processes of embodiment and disembodiment are experienced differently by young men and women and identifies…
abstract: The objective of this research is to examine the relationships between young people's sexual knowledge, sexual subjectivities and (hetero)sexual practices. It also aims to investigate how young people's articulation and experiences of their sexual knowledge, subjectivities and practices are gendered. A further goal is to re-examine what is theorised as a 'gap' between young people's knowledge and practice. The research sample consists of 515 New Zealanders aged 17-19 years drawn from schools and community training programmes within the Auckland and Hamilton regions. A feminist research methodology is employed utilising a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in order to explore different narratives produced in diverse research contexts. These contexts include 17 focus groups, 12 individual interviews, 6 couples engaging in a specially designed 'activity', and the distribution of 411 questionnaires. Contribution is made to the literature on sexuality education by re-visiting the 'gap equation' so that primacy is given to young people's own construction of the concepts of 'knowledge' and 'practice' and the perceived relationships between them. The research methods employed afford young people agency by enabling them to review this 'gap' from their own perspective. Young people's agency is also revealed by in-depth exploration of their sexual subjectivities and particularly how their subjectivities are constituted through dominant discourses of heterosexuality. How alternative sexual subject positions are negotiated by young people, and the contexts and factors which make this possible, are also investigated. The research extends our understanding of sexual subjectivity by taking account of young people's 'materiality', as it is expressed in their talk about their experience of their bodies in relation to sexuality. The research thus reveals how the processes of embodiment and disembodiment are experienced differently by young men and women and identifies…
author: Allen, Louisa Elizabeth
language: en
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/2cf40bde-18fc-44cf-af41-1d2fcc66b292/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2000-02-15
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:30Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.16493