Despite signi. cant changes in the social landscape over the past two decades, much
ethnographic research suggests that young women’s negotiations of (hetero)sexuality
remain dominated by the sexual double standard. Within the sexual double standard,
an active, desiring sexuality is positively regarded in men, but denigrated and regulated
by negative labelling in women. This article analyses young women’s talk on the
subject of negotiating (hetero)sexual relationships, drawn from focus-group interviews
with six groups of young women aged 16–18 years. A feminist, post-structuralist form
of discourse analysis is used to analyse the material, the aim being to examine young
women’s talk about (hetero)sexuality from the standpoints of agency and resistance.
Analyses identi.ed various ways in which the sexual double standard was disrupted,
including challenging the language of the sexual double standard, articulating sexual
desire, and positioning of self and (hetero)sex within alternative discourses. The
. ndings also suggest, however, that voices of resistance to the sexual double standard
may be muted and individual rather than collective, and that, accordingly, every effort
should be made by those working with young women to recognize and support
attempts to disrupt the sexual double standard.http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=13&sid=ffc110e8-78a8-4e0f-94f6-8853e0c97945%40sessionmgr13
