Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality
Year: 2024
DOI:
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“Is it Good to…” the Teenager Morality Behind the Social Construction of Sexuality in Catalonia, Spain
Zenaida Andreica – Gheorghe
ABSTRACT:
Adolescence has historically been considered the appropriate time to start discussing sexuality, particularly sexual practices, as puberty marks the onset of reproductive age. Consequently, many studies on this topic have primarily focused on heterosexual intercourse, contraceptive use, unwanted pregnancies, and more recently, pornography consumption (Save the Children, 2020; Diputació de Barcelona, 2023; ECESC, 2023). According to the World Health Organization (2010), access to information regarding sexuality is a human right. In this context, we asked 157 teenagers aged 14 to 15, “What is sexuality?” During the 2023-2024 school year, we conducted 23 focus groups with teenagers from three high schools in Catalunya, Spain, using a researchaction methodology that incorporated drawing and photovoice as narrative triggers to encourage discussion and insights among participants. The collected data underwent qualitative analysis employing discourse and visual analysis. Initial findings reveal that some teenagers do not consider themselves to have a sexuality due to adult-centric perspectives, while others show interest in discussing topics beyond those traditionally studied by institutions. Additionally, those who did speak about sexual practices often expressed moralistic concerns, posing questions such as, “Is it good to…?” These findings suggest a need for a broader approach to sexual education in schools, encompassing topics such as affective-sexual relationships, pleasure, consent, and communication. As such, our aim was to pinpoint the understanding of sexuality and how is it socially constructed by teenagers to offer guidance for institutions, parents and teachers on having meaningful conversations about these sensitive topics with teenagers.
keywords: anthropology, consent, participatory methodologies, pleasure, sexual education