Homophobia and the production of shame: young people and same sex attraction

Research among same-sex attracted young people in Western cultures has described a minority group of adolescents whose sexuality is negated by the significant institutions and people in their lives. Very often, there is a silence in the family and at school about same-sex sexuality and when a young person's homosexuality is suspected or disclosed s/he suffers from denial, discrimination and abuse. Not surprisingly, living in hostile environments leaves such young people at high-risk of drug abuse, depression and suicide. This paper describes some of the ways young people resist being positioned in these negative ways. Using autobiographical stories from 200 same-sex attracted young Australians, we document the discursive field of sexuality in which these young people struggle to construct positive identities. Young people were well aware of dominant discourses which characterized homosexuality as 'evil, diseased and unnatural'. Yet they use different strategies to fault, deflect and discount these negative understandings and to highlight other discourse which positions them positively.

It starts with the parents and ends with the parents

Alcohol is the most popular recreational drug in Australia. Despite the fact that many people gain enjoyment from alcohol related industries, alcohol is also implicated in much personal trauma and social damage. Parents play a key role in influencing alcohol use and driver behaviour in young people. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the attitudes and concerns of parents in Melbourne in relation to their teenage children's use of alcohol and how they educate and/or provide role models for their adolescents with respect to alcohol usage. A convenience sample of parents with adolescent children participated in focus groups. Parents described patterns of alcohol use and perceived influences on consumption. They reported that they wanted to create safe environments for adolescents to consume alcohol but that they needed more support and information on which to base these decisions. There i, an opportunity for public health policy makers to specifically address parents and enhance their role in alcohol related road safety.

Drawing on a Foucaultian genealogy to consider the constructions of psychopathology and sexualities in young people

This paper employs genealogical strategies to analyse examples from our own research in education relating to the construction of psychopathology and sexualities. We consider the application of four angles of scrutiny, discontinuity, contingency, emergences and subjugated knowledges (Foucault 1977, 1980, 1988). We explain the four angles of scrutiny and consider how these can be used to produce research practices commensurate with Foucaultian inspired genealogical strategies. For instance, we argue that subjugated knowledges form a critical component of the four angles of scrutiny. We propose that through their subjugation, these knowledges offer a different perspective to dominant knowledges on sexuality and psychopathology. It is our argument that it is precisely via this subjugation that these types of knowledges offer valuable perspectives to the construction of young people. Furthermore, highlighting contingency, discontinuity, emergences and subjugated knowledges makes for provocative moments, both substantively and methodologically, in the task of qualitative analysis.

Boys` Stuff

What do guys think about growing up, friends, sex, sport, drugs and everything else that matters? In this book, teenagers write about their lives. It's honest, raw and real. They talk about what the rules are, how they break them, and what's really cool.

Sexual sites, seminal attitudes : sexualities, masculinities, and culture in South Asia

This book situates current research into the sexual cultures of South Asia within a cross-cultural perspective. The book argues that in societies undergoing rapid social and cultural change, the construction of sexuality and the discourses that gather around it have a fundamental connection with an entire range of processes - social, cultural, economic, political and global - with which people must engage. The contributors have studied sexuality as a site around which social and cultural ideas may be expressed.

Youth and sexualities : pleasure, subversion and insubordination in and out of schools

These cutting-edge international essays challenge dominant narratives of queer youth predicated on oppression and victimization. As school systems address the emergence of Gay-Straight Alliances and calls to provide equal educational access, researchers, educators and youth workers are paying increasing attention to sexuality, gender and schooling. Yet present discourses are limited to liberal understandings of tolerance, safety, and equity that are defined by a separation of "queer" and "normal." This text documents and offers radical interpretations of the creativity of queer youth in challenging existing practices. Interdisciplinary analyses offer multiple vantage points for reconceptualizing adolescent sexual subjectivities and institutional and cultural practices.

Bourdieu, subcultural capital and risky girlhood

It is a contention of the culturalist strand of underclass theory that the growth of the underclass is not a function of social and economic change, but of features intrinsic to underclass culture. Children born into disadvantaged communities, it is argued, are socialized into the ‘deviant’ culture of their families, families typically headed by single mothers. According to the underclass thesis, daughters of such families will face a heightened risk of leaving school early and teenage pregnancy. An unanticipated correlation between claims of the underclass thesis and the cohort of mothers and daughters with whom we are working on a current project has led us to ask, ‘how do we acknowledge the culture of disadvantaged communities and their generational synergies, whilst avoiding the pernicious implications of the underclass thesis?’ To answer this question, this article assesses
the merits of bringing Bourdieu’s ideas on cultural capital together with Sarah Thornton’s concept of subcultural capital. The article concludes with two examples of how we might draw on these ideas as a way of exploring the means by which girls in difficult economic circumstances understand and pursue their school lives.

Editorial

When The Who sang about teenage angst in the 60s, their rock anthem ‘Talking about my Generation’ captured the divide between youth and beyond. Today, another divide – the digital divide – speaks to the issues of access, capital, and input that follow digital technologies. Like the earlier ‘me generation’, the new millennium D(igital) generation remains enigmatic, its members variously praised for their technological wizardry, criticised for their self-absorption, and pathologised for their unsociability. The D generation does not comprise youth alone, but the young are more exposed than others to the influence of new media and digital technologies. And like previous youth generations, they are often viewed as degenerate. A cybernetic degeneration symbolising society’s fears and cultural anxieties concerning the dehumanising prospects of technology appears most vividly in arguments about youth (Green & Bigum’s ‘aliens in the classroom’ [1993] is an apt description in this respect). Such negative rhetoric presents a dystopic view that tempers the more utopian, but equally reductionist visions of new technologies.

Effects of sexually transmitted infection status, relationship status, and disclosure status on sexual self-concept

Research has indicated that having a sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as genital herpes and genital human papilloma virus (HPV) can have a negative impact on an individual's sexuality. The current study was designed to evaluate the effect of STI status, relationship status, and disclosure status on various dimensions of sexual self-concept. A questionnaire that evaluated the above variables was completed by 117 individuals with genital herpes, 82 individuals with HPV, and 75 individuals with no STI. The results demonstrated that having herpes or HPV had a significant negative impact on aspects of sexual self-concept. It does not appear that an individual's relationship status is a factor associated with the impact of having an STI on the sexual self-concept. Respondents who had disclosed their STI to their partners, however, had significantly more positive feelings about aspects of their sexual self-concept than those who had not disclosed their STI to their partners. The implications of these research findings for health practitioners are discussed.

Erectile dysfunction and relationships : views of men with erectile dysfunction and their partners

There has been limited previous research that has examined the views of both men with erectile dysfunction (ED) and their partners on the impact of ED on their sexuality, relationship and general functioning. The current study was designed to evaluate the above variables among men with ED and their partners. Participants for the current study were 40 heterosexual men with ED and their partners. All participants completed a questionnaire that evaluated their reaction to ED, their past and current sexual activity, their sexual and relationship satisfaction as well as their levels of self-esteem and quality of life (QOL). The results demonstrated that both men with ED and their partners reported a reduction in their levels of sexual activity since the development of ED and that they wanted to seek a solution to the problem. Men with ED demonstrated lower levels of self-esteem, QOL and sexual satisfaction than their partners but there were no differences between the partners in their level of relationship satisfaction. These findings demonstrate that ED has an impact on both the man and his partner. They also indicate the importance of including the man's partner in the assessment and treatment of ED.

Sexually transmitted infections: Impact on individuals and their relationships

The impact of having genital herpes and genital human papilloma virus (HPV) on individuals and their relationships was investigated. A qualitative research methodology explored the lived experiences of 30 adults with genital herpes (15 men, 15 women), and 30 adults with HPV (15 men, 15 women). This study addressed individuals' feelings about the impact of stigma associated with having an STI, the impact of having an STI on sexuality and on intimate relationships, and feelings surrounding the process of disclosure. Implications of the findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.