Innocent Girls or Active Young Women? : Negotiating Sexual Agency at a Detention Home

• This article analyzes discourse about sexuality at a detentionhome for young women aged 13-21 years. Staffmembers, both male and female, talk about the young women asif they were still children, i.e. as asexualbeings, thereby denying them sexual agency. Theimage of young women as innocent children is, however, contestedby the young women themselves, who explicitlyclaim sexual agency. The article concludes thatby not using the situatedness of a young woman as their therapeuticalpoint of departure, the staff members cannotprovide her with the guidance and support that she needs. The article further suggests that feminist theoryshould focus on young women's own perceived senseof agency and that sexual agency can be understood and established in the context of Moi's (1999) model ofwomen as `de Beauvoirian' situated beings.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

compulsory care

feminist theory

sexuality

situatedness

voice

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS

TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

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