Sexuality in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Ideal and unsullied: Purity, subjectivity and social power

by Robbie Duschinsky

Draft only; Published in Subjectivity

There has been a good deal of empirical social scientific research which has addressed the theme of purity and has... more There has been a good deal of empirical social scientific research which has addressed the theme of purity and has indicated its social importance. However, few theoretical resources are available to scholars which explicitly attempt to analyse purity, besides Mary Douglas’s structural-functionalist model. This model has many insights, but is not well-adapted to considering issues of subjectivity or social power in contemporary Western societies. This article will attempt to take some steps towards filling this gap. It will be claimed that, through the way they appeal to an imputed essence and origin, purity discourses are often complicit in the consecration and occlusion of relations of power and processes of subjectivation. The argument will focus in particular on the operation of purity discourses in the discursive construction and practical negotiation of female adolescence.

A Gay-Themed Young Adult Novel as Alternative Rhetoric

by Karen Whitley

This literature review is part of a larger research project for ENGL 5363: Research Methods in TC and Composition. I am taking my second doctoral course. Even though I am a gay person, I knew very little about queer theory going into this project. Additionally, I am brand new to the field of TCR. My biggest challenges were trying to read, understand, and synthesize Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet, and David L. Wallace's new book Compelled to Write: Alternative Rhetoric in Theory and Practice. After developing a working understanding of those texts, I then had to situate what I wanted to do, which was perform a rhetorical analysis on a gay-themed, young adult diary-novel called Miguel's Secret Journal by A.V. Zeppa, within the field of composition and rhetoric.

In this literature review, I will define the larger cultural problem using my own knowledge and experience as a gay... more In this literature review, I will define the larger cultural problem using my own knowledge and experience as a gay person, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet, and Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble. Understanding the larger cultural problem is critical because it is the real-life backdrop against which I pose all of my questions. Next, I will explain how a gay-themed, young adult diary-novel is a rhetorical act and how analyzing that text is also a rhetorical act by providing a broad definition of rhetoric as well as a recently proposed definition of alternative rhetoric by David L. Wallace in Compelled to Write: Alternative Rhetoric in Theory and Practice. I intend to conclude with a discussion about what questions are important for a rhetor to ask when analyzing a gay-themed, young adult diary-novel, and which frameworks might best serve the rhetor in exploring answers to those questions.

Socialization and gender roles within the family: a study on adolescents and their parents in Great Britain

by Isabella Crespi

The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization. Since the moment we are born, we are being... more The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization. Since the moment we are born, we are being moulded into the being society wants us to be. Through socialization we also learn what is appropriate and improper for both genders. The vast literature on this topic has pointed out a
consolidation of the debate. It allows us to identify important problematic bonds relative to the achievement of their gender identity throughout their adolescence and to build reciprocity and complementarities between the sexes and the valorisation of fundamental contexts such as family. Socialization is a relational process between adolescents and parents and its objective is to build identity [in this case gender identity]. If the topic of gender is extremely important for the overview of sociological studies, it is even more important if it is
seen from an intergenerational point of view speaking about gender socialization. This paper will focus on how in particular family and parents’ attitudes mediate traditional gender
roles and the effect of their attitude towards gender roles.

Keywords: gender, socialization, youth, generations,
family, stereotypes, gender roles.

"It's like doing homework": Academic achievement discourse in adolescent girls' fellatio narratives

by Valerie Futch

By: April Burns, Valerie A. Futch, Deborah Tolman

Young women’s narratives of their sexual experiences occur amid conflicting cultural discourses of risk, abstinence,... more Young women’s narratives of their sexual experiences occur amid conflicting cultural discourses of risk, abstinence, and moral panic. Yet young women, as social actors, find ways to make meaning of their experiences through narrative. In this study, we focused on adolescent girls’ (N = 98, age 12–17 years) narratives of their first experiences with oral sex. We document our unexpected findings of persistent discourses of performance which echo newly emergent academic achievement discourses. Burns and Torre (Feminism & Psychology 15(1):21–26, 2005) argue that an extreme and high stakes focus on individual academic achievement in schools impoverishes young minds through the “hollowing” of their sexualities. We present evidence that such influence also works in the opposite direction, with an achievement orientation invading girls’ discourses of sexuality, “crowding out” possible narratives of pleasure, choice, and mutuality with narratives of competence and skill usually associated with achievement and schooling. We conclude with policy implications for the future development of “positive” sexuality narratives.