Allen's "Girls Want Sex, Boys Want Love"

As the discussion leader for today, I have outlined my notes to the article and possible topics for discussion based on people's blog posts and responses.

Louisa Allen - University of Auckland
Research: aged 17-19 males and females

“I propose that some young people speak about their sexuality in ways that both conform and deviate to varying degrees from traditional constructions of female and male heterosexualities.”

Power of discourse: discourses are strongly implicated in the exercise of power; as they legitimate existing power relations and structures by defining what is “normal” alternative or “oppositional” subject positions are not usually perceived as desirable or even possible alternatives”

Foucault: “where there is power, there is resistance”

“This article explores Foucault’s notion of the possibility of resistance in relation to the discursive construction of young people’s sexual subjectivities.”

Traditional female discourse: young women are positioned as sexually vulnerable and less easily pleasured, victim to male sexual gratification and more interested in the emotional aspects of physical intimacy; appeared as the subordinate partner who was “acted upon” rather than “acting”

Mixed-gender:
-young woman spoke about female sexuality in terms of traditional notions of vulnerability where women’s romantic ideas of love made them susceptible to exploitation by their male partner (219)
-she saw women as less easily sexually aroused and more likely to be stimulated by foreplay than sexual intercourse

decision to have intercourse for first time: 4 of 6 women constructed notions of traditional female sexual passivity, seen through their anxiety (seen as reluctance to engage) and it was their partners that asked first
-women are constituted as the objects of sexual attention who must be reassured/convinced that intercourse will not have negative repercussions for them

Women who resisted traditional discourse:
-women don’t always want commitment
-sexual double standard (slut/stud)
-openly expressed desire and need to act on it
-talk occurred in environments where young women felt they would not be negatively stigmatized (exclusively female or mixed gender)
-may be argued that there is a juncture between the feeling of control over contraception in a relationship and actually having access to material power in this situation
-disconnect between women/their sexuality/their realtionship
Young Men:
-traditional discourse: perpetually ready for sex
-most examples of men taking up this position were in focus groups, not in front of their female partners
-emotional detachment; preoccupation with sexual attractiveness
-positioning themselves as traditionally masculine through the constitution of their bodies as “pleasure machines”
-constructing their sexual selves in this way served to establish themselves publicly as “appropriately” masculine within/through the realm of heterosexuality
-to achieve full masculine status young men must separate themselves from homosexual and feminine identities
-“hegemonic masculinity” : a form of power that sustains gendered inequality because of the way it achieves the consent of a majority of men who support it

Resistance:
-denying sexual intercourse as primary motive for entering into or remaining in relationships
-“what I want in a heterosexual relationship”:
-love, trust, honesty, respect, commitment
-importance of friendship, communication, equality within a relationship
-worrying about sexual performance: resists dominant meanings about men as sexually knowledgeable, confident, and always ready for intercourse

Conclusion:

-more young men than young women reported wanting sexual activity and sexual attraction in a heterosexual relationship
-significantly more women than men reported desiring caring, support, understanding, and trust, honesty, respect from their relationships
-notion that young women want only love from relationships and young men prefer sex is outdated
-many drew on dominant discourses, some resisted, this was complex however, as it often involved both an accommodation and rejection of subject positions offered by dominant discourses

-particular social locations may have facilitated young people’s access to or opened space for, other ways of constituting themselves as sexual
-young people’s constitution of sexual subjectivity is context bound

-sex education issues
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What did you think of her research techniques? How important was how they were interviewed? Mixed genders/couples/individuals; age range

Always returning to new language/discourse. What would be an example of inclusive sexuality discourse for young people today? Ex- Getting rid of labels: “slut”
-extending discourse into private sphere: potentially destructive (Matt)

Does her statistical data support her conclusion? (Traditional discourse is outdated)

Distinction between theory and practice: Heidi’s blog post

Holloway’s conclusion: egalitarian heterosexual relationships
-contextualize in 3^rd wave discourse

Pg 220: Cam and Chris “2 hours later”

Pg222: Anna, slut, cheating