Sexual subjects : a feminist post-structuralist analysis of female adolescent sexual subjectivity and agency

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-169).Research and intervention into female adolescent sexual health in the context of HIV/AIDS have been dominated by individualistic, cognitive perspectives, which present sexuality as a site of rational, individual choice and agency. A paradigm shift has occurred in recent years, advanced with the realisation that decision-making around sexual health is not driven by rational reasoning alone but, rather, is complexly intertwined with social/discursive constructions of gender and sexuality which, in turn, are enmeshed with processes of signification and relations of power. Drawing upon feminist, post-structuralist and discourse analytic theoretical, methodological and analytical frames, the study focuses on the discourses available to young women for making meaning out of their experiences with their bodies, their relationships and sexual choices, and explores how gendered constructions of (female adolescent) sexuality alternatively enable or undermine adolescent girls' sexual health