Gender and sexual agency : how young people make choices about sex / Heather Powers Albanesi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Albanesi, Heather, 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Youth--Sexual behavior--United States--Case studies.

Youth.

Youth--Sexual behavior.

United States.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

vii, 161 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, [2010]

Summary:

Gender and Sexual Agency considers how heterosexual Latin American, Asian American, and Caucasian American youth negotiate sexual encounters. In particular, this book examines sexual agency, exploring the question of why some young people assertively pursue what they want in a sexual encounter, while others go along with sexual activity they do not want. By comparing both young men and young women, Heather Powers Albanesi offers a unique perspective on how an individual's emotional experience of gender informs his or her willingness to exercise sexual agency. Using interviews to support her theoretical argument, Albanesi offers profiles of eleven different types of sexual agency, ranging from having strong convictions about their sexual decisions to abdicating responsibility to their partner. As the expressers of sexual agency, the voices of these youth from primarily working-class backgrounds come through to take us into their sexual decisions as they understand and experience them within the context of their lives. Ultimately, regardless of the decision, the book shows that it is young people's experience of gender that both shapes and allows them to make sense of these sexual choices.

Contents:

The sexual landscape today : a promise unfulfilled?

Gender and sexual agency

Shari-playing the game

Juan-refusing a "player" masculinity

Qui-maintaining a Christian identity

Maya-asserting a feminine vulnerability

Claire-"my parents can count on me!"

Margaret-deferring to partner pressure

Antonio-choosing to abdicate control

Laura-deferring to momentum

Carolyn-a cynical romantic

Lilly-moving toward mutuality

Michael-keeping sex special

Personal sense of gender and sexual agency.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739134986

0739134981

9780739135006

0739135007

OCLC:

439211043