Holland, Janet; Ramazanoglu, Caroline; Sharpe, Sue and Thomson, Rachel
(1992).
| DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link: | http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.1992.tb00406.x |
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| Google Scholar: | Look up in Google Scholar |
Abstract
The AIDS epidemic has encouraged public discussion of safer sex, but heterosexual young women have to negotiate sexual relationships with men in situations in which sex is defined largely in terms of men's needs and which lack notions of a positive female sexuality or female desires. Analysis of data from the Women, Risk and AIDS Project is interpreted to show both the range of pressures on young women to engage in sexual practices which are risky, violent or not pleasurable, but also the possibilities for young women to empower themselves in sexual relationships. Women's control over sexual safety is undermined by the dominance of male sexuality and women's compliance in satisfying men's desires. Empowerment is a contradictory and contested process requiring both critical reflection (intellectual empowerment) and the transforming of sexual experiences (experiential empowerment), but some young women are able to put into practice ways of negotiating safe and pleasurable sexual encounters with men.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
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| Copyright Holders: | 1992 The Editorial Board of The Sociological Review |
| ISSN: | 0038-0261 |
| Academic Unit/Department: | Health and Social Care > Health and Social Care |
| Interdisciplinary Research Centre: | Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance (CCIG) Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET) |
| Item ID: | 19621 |
| Depositing User: | Katy Gagg |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jan 2010 09:26 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Jun 2012 08:58 |
| URI: | http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/19621 |
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