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The Sexual Agency of Adolescent Girls: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes, expectations, and evolution of early experiences of Trinidadian adolescent girls as they navigate physical and emotional intimacy, their capacity to conceptualize and/or enact sexual desire to develop their own sense of agency. Using Trinidad and Tobago (TandT) as a case study, it examines whether attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors pertaining to sexual agency are influenced by socioeconomic factors or key life events, adverse experiences, and the influences of family, community, and broader societal structures. Emerging scholarship on sexuality in the Caribbean explores how women navigate sexual relationships and exercise their agency within the social and economic contexts of the Caribbean. The lived experiences of Caribbean people, particularly women and girls, are important, worthy of exploration, and necessitate permanent documentation. An examination of Caribbean society – a confluence of diverse and complex natural and social environments will enrich scholarship on the worlds shaped by people in this region, particularly by youth who will form the society of the future. Using transnational, Caribbean, and Black feminist frameworks, this study seeks to understand sexual awareness, desire, actions, and motivations in their early stages by conducting interviews with a diverse sample of adolescent girls in TandT.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Sociology
Department dc:contributor.department
Sociology
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2022

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Robertson Foncette, Leslie-Ann C.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Baldwin, Andrea N.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Labuski, Christine
  • Bell, Shannon E.
  • Bondy, Jennifer M.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:34608
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/109776

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Robertson Foncette, Leslie-Ann C.. The Sexual Agency of Adolescent Girls: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/109776