In popular and academic discourse, sexual identity is regularly linked to a concept of sexual engagement with others. Recent thinking on sexuality has, however, opened up the possibility of understanding 'identity' in ways different from sexual behaviour. This paper considers data from the Australian "Queer Generations" project, in which…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of social context on young people's sexual lives and sexual health, and to highlight the need for HIV prevention and sexual health programmes which better take into account these contextual influences. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on findings from a multi-method,…

Conceptualizations of the self in relation to others are examined among a group of young women attending a fee-paying school in England. As part of a larger study exploring intimacy and agency among young women from relatively privileged class backgrounds, 54 young women participated in focus group discussions and interviews. Findings reveal that…

Agency among young women is often understood as fleeting in nature, and studies rarely offer insights into how agency could become a more sustained position. Using data from 54 young women discussing their sexual and intimate relationships, this paper suggests a new way of understanding agency beyond that found in work which stresses agentic…