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Functionalists identify how society upholds heterosexuality and a marital union between a man and a woman as ideal normative behavior. This is also referred to as institutionalized heterosexuality, the set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the heterosexual family as the societal norm (Lind 2004)

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Things to consider in practice...

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This study questions the links between the young adolescents quality of attachment to the mother and father (secure, ambivalent or avoidant) and the sexual behaviours reported by early adolescents. Two questionnaires were completed by 312 French middle-school students (mean age: 13.8 years) to test attachment style and sexuality (emotion, intention and relation). Ambivalent attachment was related to greater sexual involvement than to secure attachment. Avoidant attachment to the mother was associated with emotional disinvestment in sexuality. Avoidant attachment to the father appears to influence sexual decision-making, especially for girls. These results support an individuated conception of attachment patterns with differential influence of dyadic relationships and could provide a better understanding of adolescent sexual behaviour.

Introduction

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by significant changes in and reorganisation of family and peer relationships. Adolescents gradually distance and acquire emotional and behavioural autonomy, leading to investment in extrafamilial relationships (peers, romantic partners) (Atger, ; Botbol et al., ; Fraley, Davis, & Shaver, ). This autonomy is not based on detachment from the parents, but on individuation in relation to them. During adolescence, attachment functions are transferred from parents to peers, and eventually to a romantic partner (Koepke & Denissen, ). This tendency to diversify and reorientate emotional engagement underlines the importance of friends and romantic relationships for feelings of security in adolescence. In this stage, the reorganisation of the hormonal, anatomic and neuropsychological changes is profound and confronts adolescents to their emerging sexuality (Fortenberry, ). Early adolescents should integrate sexual attitudes, feelings and experiences into a developing sense of self. This exploration is considered as a natural process in achieving sexual maturity and offers a context for youth to explore various facets of relationships (Tolman & McClelland, ).

Method

Participants

The sample was composed of 312 secondary school children (seventh and ninth grades), attending public middle schools in Tours and its suburbs (départment of Indre-et-Loire, France). This ensured that the sample covered a broad social and geographic mix. In terms of the parents' socioprofessional categories, for fathers: 21% ( n = 49) were in high (executives), 35% ( n = 82) average and 44% ( n = 105) low (unskilled worker) categories. While for mothers, the percentages were 12% ( n = 28), 36% ( n = 82) and 51% ( n = 115), respectively. Seventy-one percent of adolescents lived in urban areas ( n = 164) and 29% ( n = 68) in rural areas. There were 52.6% ( n = 164) girls and 47.4% ( n = 148) boys; mean age was 13.8 years (SD 1.02, range 10.7-16.9), with no significant difference between boys and girls ( M age = 13.8, SD 1.0 in both cases; age range: 11.5-16.9 for girls and 10.7-16.2 for boys F(1,287) = 0.01, ns). The age of 61% of adolescents was 14 years or less ( n = 177). There were no specific differences between educational establishments.

Material

The following questionnaires were used to investigate parent-adolescent attachment style and sexuality in early adolescence.

The interest, emotions, relationships scale (IERS)

To measure dimensions of sexuality in adolescence, we used the sexuality scale, interests, emotions, relationships scale (IERS) (Courtois, Potard, Réveillère, & Moltrecht, ). This scale has 15 items measuring three significant aspects of sexuality in early adolescence (12-15 years). These three dimensions are: (1) 'Going out with someone', evaluating engaging in sexuality and the intensity of sexualisation of relationships (cuddling, kissing, sexual intercourse, etc.) (e.g. I have already had sex with a boy/girl); (2) 'Giving priority to love', measuring the need to be in love or not to have sex (emotional dimension) (e.g. I plan to wait to find someone I love before having sex). A preference for sexual relationship involving affection is considered as a more integrated attitude in relation to sexuality. And (3) 'Flirting with the aim of having sexual relations', evaluating the intention or desire to be sexually active (e.g. I plan to have sex as soon as the opportunity arises). This scale measures the early adolescents' intention to engage in intercourse and orientation to engage in sex in the near future. This self-report questionnaire used a six-point Likert scale. Scores were obtained by calculating means. The Cronbach's alphas were 0.78, 0.68 and 0.63, respectively. In our sample, under 2% ( n = 5) of the adolescents did not complete this questionnaire.

The inventory of peer and parental attachment (IPPA)

For the attachment measurement, we used the inventory of peer and parental attachment (IPPA), based on Armsden and Greenberg's three-dimensional model (Armsden & Greenberg, ; Vignoli & Mallet, ). The IPPA consists of 28 items, 14 for the mother and 14 for the father. It is a self-report questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale response format (never/almost never true, not very often true, sometimes true, often true and almost always/always true). It is designed for adolescents and measures their perceptions of the positive and negative affective/cognitive dimension of relationships with each parent (sources of psychological security). It is composed of three dimensions: 'Communication' (quality of communication), 'Trust' (degree of mutual trust) and 'Alienation' (extent of anger and alienation). The theoretical framework of this questionnaire is attachment theory. Overall quality of attachment to parents, respectively, was defined as the degree of trust and communication relative to Alienation (Armsden & Greenberg, ). Furthermore, in this study, subscale scores are used to classify attachment styles among adolescents. The scores on these three scales thus enable us to characterise attachment styles of adolescents to their mother and father (secure, ambivalent or avoidant). In our sample, 11% ( n = 35) of adolescents reported that they had no contact with their father, and 2% ( n = 6) reported that they had no contact with their mother for various reasons (death, family breakdown, unknown mother or father). These adolescents did not complete the IPPA. A few adolescents were not included in the attachment analyses, either because data were missing for one or more of the IPPA items (1%, n = 3 for father attachment and 1%, n = 3 for mother attachment), or because scores on three dimensions of the IPPA did not correspond to any attachment style (27%, n = 84 for father attachment and 9%, n = 29 for mother attachment). Ultimately, the attachment style to the father was determined for 190 adolescents (61%), and to the mother for 274 adolescents (88%). Internal consistency (alpha) coefficients for the IPPA's three subscales ranged from 0.86 to 0.91. In the present study, for attachment to mother, Cronbach's alphas ranged from 0.85 to 0.91 and from 0.73 to 0.91 for attachment to father.

Procedure

After the agreement of the schools, the parents and the teenagers had been obtained, the questionnaires were completed during class in the presence of the teacher and a researcher. The ethics of the study (confidentiality, anonymity, right of refusal) were explained. Each participant was given their own questionnaire. Classes were randomly selected.

Data analysis

We used variance analysis (ANOVA) to compare attachment and sexuality by gender and attachment style. For significant ANOVAs, planned comparisons were run to test the schema group contrasts (between secure, ambivalent and avoidant attachment). Statistical analyses were performed with Statistica (version 9.0, Statsoft, France).

Results

Comparison of attachment and sexuality by gender

Attachment

The IPPA allows the attachment styles of adolescents to be categorised from three dimensions ('Communication', 'Trust' and 'Alienation'). There were significant differences between boys and girls for the dimensions paternal 'Communication' [ F(1,273) = 4.59, p < 0.05] and maternal 'Trust' [ F(1,304) = 5.1, p < 0.05], boys scoring higher on both dimensions. Table 1 shows the distribution of the three attachment styles (secure, insecure ambivalent and insecure avoidant) for the whole sample. There were significant differences between boys and girls for attachment style to the mother (χ ² = 6.07, dl = 2, p < 0.05), with more boys than girls showing secure attachment.

Sexuality

The IERS questionnaire measures the levels of sexual involvement (behaviour), romantic involvement (emotion) and intention to begin sexual activity (intention). Table 2 presents the mean scores and standard deviations for the sexuality assessment. Comparison of the scores for girls and boys on the three subscales revealed no significant difference for 'Going out with someone' [ F(1,307) = 0.39, ns], but a significant difference for 'Giving priority to love' [ F(1,307) = 9.14, p < 0.001] with girls scoring higher than boys, and for 'Flirting with the aim of having sexual relations' [ F(1,307) = 28.37, p < 0.001] with boys scoring higher than girls.

Comparison between attachment styles and sexuality in early adolescence

Sexuality: comparison between attachment styles to the mother

With regard to the three styles of maternal attachment, there were significant differences between groups for 'Going out with someone' [ F(2,268) = 3.20, p < 0.05]. Planned comparison between secure attachment and ambivalent attachment shows F(1,268) = 6.25, p < 0.01: adolescents with an ambivalent attachment scored higher on this dimension. Planned comparisons between secure attachment and avoidant attachment, and between ambivalent attachment and avoidant attachment, revealed non-significant interactions, F(1,268) = 7.54, ns, and F(1,268) = 9.81, ns, respectively. For 'Giving priority to love', the ANOVA was significant, F(2,268) = 3.05, p < 0.05. Comparison of secure and ambivalent adolescents indicated a non-significant effect [ F(1,268) = 0.05, ns], but there was a significant difference between secure attachment and avoidant attachment [ F(1,268) = 5.25, p < 0.05] and between avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment [ F(1,268) = 4.31, p < 0.05], adolescents with avoidant attachment scoring lower in each case. No significant differences were found for 'Flirting with the aim of having sexual relations', F(2,268) = 0.58, ns.

Sexuality: comparison between attachment styles to father

No significant relations were found for paternal attachment: 'Going out with someone', F(2,185) = 2.35, ns; 'Giving priority to love', F(2,185) = 1.92, ns; and 'Flirting with the aim of having sexual relations', F(2,185) = 0.49, ns. However, the ANOVA revealed a significant difference [ F(2,87) = 3.98, p < 0.05] for 'Going out with someone' for girls only. Planned comparisons showed no significant difference between secure attachment and ambivalent attachment [ F(1,87) = 0.23, ns], but a significant difference between secure attachment and avoidant attachment [ F(1,87) = 7.95, p < 0.01] and between ambivalent attachment and avoidant attachment [ F(1,87) = 4.81, p < 0.05], girls with avoidant attachment scoring higher on this dimension. No other significant relationship was found for either girls or boys.

Discussion

During adolescence, there is a dual trend of reorganising parental attachment and experimenting with romantic and sexual relationships. Many studies with adults (Brassard et al., ; Davis et al., ; Davis et al., ) have shown that parental attachment style influences future relationships, including sexual behaviour. This study investigated the relationship between style of attachment to each parent and sexual behaviour in early adolescence, the first such study on this period. The majority of adolescents described a secure attachment style to their parents, although a secure attachment to the mother was reported more by boys than by girls. The proportion of adolescents in our sample reporting insecure attachment (ambivalent and avoidant) is in line with Western data. In order to take a sufficiently broad view of sexuality in this period, we considered both behavioural and subjective aspects of the adolescents' sexual experiences. Adolescents have to develop their sexuality within emotionally close relationships, based on their cognitive and affective maturity. We focused on two main areas of sexuality due to their association with sexual risks: early sexual involvement and the emotional investment in the sexual relationship. We found no difference between boys and girls in terms of involvement in sexuality. In contrast, girls take a more romantic view of sexuality than boys. Boys reported stronger intentions to have sex. The main finding is that adolescents with an insecure attachment style display specific characteristics with regard to their sexual involvement. Adolescents who report an insecure, ambivalent relationship with their mother tend to become more involved in sexual interactions, whereas those with an insecure avoidant relationship with their mother show little involvement in the emotional aspect of sexuality. Attachment to the father also plays a key role, but only for girls, for whom avoidant attachment promotes involvement in sexuality.

Based on the main studies with adults (Bogaert & Sadava, ), we postulated that adolescents with an ambivalent attachment style would engage earlier in sexual activities. Our results confirm this hypothesis; adolescents with ambivalent maternal attachment showed greater sexual engagement ('Going out with someone') than those with secure attachments. According to Tracy et al. (), insecure ambivalent attachment leads to earlier sexual experimentation and consequently to a higher probability of sexual risks. This sexual engagement could fill the emotional gaps of childhood. In a relationship, adolescents should, the greatest extent possible, first develop a base of secure mutual trust through loving interactions before engaging in sexual activity. Theirs is a hyper-activating attachment strategy in which the sexual relationship is used to increase their sense of security. These adolescents with high separation anxiety seek close relationships. They are likely to engage rapidly and extensively in sexual activity, often to avoid loneliness (Tracy et al., ). In other words, it is possible that anxious adolescents tend to use sex to fill their needs for closeness and security and are likely to view sex as a barometer of the quality of the relationship.

We also observed that the relationship between avoidant paternal attachment and 'Going out with someone' was only significant for girls; young girls with avoidant attachment to their father engage earlier in sexual behaviour. Knowing that styles of attachment to the mother and father are closely correlated (Beinstein-Miller & Hoicowitz, ), it seems that these teenagers are potentially more 'at risk' of acting out their sexuality and divesting it of its emotional dimension. It is interesting to note that father-daughter attachment has related to the precocious sexual activity of adolescents. The quality of the father-daughter bond has an influence in the modelling/development of sexual involvement. An inconsistent father figure leads to more sexual acting out for girls, in search of a compensatory male figure. For girls, besides providing closeness and security, fathers play a particularly salient role in their style of relationships with men, including sexual.

In conclusion, in early adolescence, attachment style seems to play an important role in the acting out of sexuality, particularly attachment to the father for girls. Secure attachment seems to play a protective role, with later initiation of sexual activity. On the other hand, insecure ambivalent attachment promotes earlier sexual involvement. Avoidant attachment, especially to the mother, determines the importance of the sentimental aspect of sex ('Giving priority to love'), with sex seen essentially as a functional activity, isolated from affective needs. Thus, insecure attachment is specifically associated with sexual behaviour and emotions identified as being risky, with earlier sexual involvement and/or purely functional sexual behaviour (disinvestment of the affective sphere). Paternal attachment seems to have a significant effect on sexual decision-making and behaviour in adolescence, especially for girls. Further work should examine the respective roles of attachment to the mother and father in adolescent sexuality (girls and boys).

This study has a number of limitations. First, the use of self-evaluation measures may have led to a bias in reported behaviour. Due to the correlational nature of the data, it is not possible to determine causal relations. Furthermore, the sample has been relatively small, which reduces the number of participants within each gender who could be characterised as having insecure attachments. Although our findings support many of our hypotheses, attachment only explains part of the sexual experiences during early adolescence. Analysis distinguishing the type of sexuality (homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual) must also complete these results. Therefore, future research should further investigate these links between attachment and sexual experiences through other variables, both psychological (personality, sensation-seeking, impulsivity, emotional style) and sociocultural (beliefs, socialisation).

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine PotardCatherine Potard, PhD, EA6291, is associate professor in psychopathology and adolescent psychology in the Department of Psychology at Reims Champagne Ardenne University in Reims, France.

Robert CourtoisRobert Courtois, PhD, EA2114, is associate professor in psychopathology and clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology at Franc¸ois Rabelais University in Tours, France.

Christian RéveillèreChristian Réveillère, PhD, EA3188, is associate professor in psychopathology and clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology at Franc¸ois Rabelais University in Tours, France.

Geneviève BréchonGeneviève Bréchon, PhD, EA2114, is associate professor in psychopathology and clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology at Franc¸ois Rabelais University in Tours, France.

Anne CourtoisAnne Courtois, PhD, is associate professor in psychopathology and clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The relationship between parental attachment and sexuality in early adolescence

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This study questions the links between the young adolescents quality of attachment to the mother and father (secure, ambivalent or avoidant) and the sexual behaviours reported by early adolescents. Two questionnaires were completed by 312 French middle-school students (mean age: 13.8 years) to test attachment style and sexuality (emotion, intention and relation).

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Human sexuality is much more complex than the biological forces that initiate the sexual maturation process. As such, the development of adolescent sexuality includes not only physical development but also cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development.

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Human sexuality is much more complex than the biological forces that initiate the sexual maturation process. As such, the development of adolescent sexuality includes not only physical development but also cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development. Yet, as emphasized throughout this article, these developmental areas do not uniformly advance at the same rate. This is particularly problematic with respect to adolescent sexuality because poor decisions, due to a lack of cognitive and/or emotional maturity, can have dire, life-long consequences. Thus, it is important for caregivers to be prepared to discuss all aspects of sexuality (i.e., the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and moral aspects of sexuality) so that they can best assist their teens to make wise and thoughtful decisions. When parents understand the process of adolescent sexual development they are in a better position to assist their children. In addition, knowledge of this information enables caregivers to know when to intervene if necessary.

This portion of the article will describe the average, natural evolution of adolescent sexuality: their sexual thoughts and questions; their sexual feelings and concerns; and their sexual behavior and choices. Some youth may choose to remain entirely abstinent from sexual activity due to their personal values and beliefs; even so, they will still experience similar thoughts, feelings, and desires, as their sexually active peers. Parents are cautioned to remember that every youth is unique. Children may reach these developmental milestones at ages that are different from averages listed here and still be considered "normal."
Early adolescence (ages 12-15): The age of curiosity and experimentation
Early adolescence is a precarious period in youths' sexual development because of the inter-relationship between sexual development, cognitive development, and emotional development. Youth at this age lack the cognitive and emotional maturity that is necessary to make wise and healthy decisions regarding their sexuality and are ill-prepared to cope with consequences of sexual activity. This is particularly unfortunate as today's adolescents are becoming sexually active sooner than previous generations. According to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published in 2010, 46% of high school students were reported have sexual intercourse (Eaton, Kann, Kinchen, et al., 2010). This stands in contrast to the 1940's when only 10% of women ages 16-17 reported having had sex, while 50-60% of men of the same age, reported having had sex (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948; Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebbard, 1953). Since sexual development begins during Puberty, the reader may wish to review the Middle Childhood article on Puberty for more detailed information and for specific advice regarding menstruation, erections, etc.

When teens are approximately 12-13 years of age, they begin to show a general interest in sexual topics. Youth may try to satisfy their curiosity by reading information about sex, and viewing images with a sexual content. This may include drawings in anatomy books, photographs of naked people, images of animal sexual behavior, and pornographic materials. Youth can readily find these images at the library, in an older sibling's biology text book, watching certain television programs, viewing adult magazines, or searching on the Internet. Some youth may attempt to satisfy their curiosity by "peeping;" i.e., to secretly observe people when they are naked such as when they are bathing or changing clothes. It is normal for youth to want to avoid the embarrassment of being discovered doing any of these things so they may attempt to deny or conceal what they are doing.

During early adolescence boys will experience frequent erections since this is the normal response of the male body to sexual excitement. Erections can also occur spontaneously for no apparent reason at all as boys' bodies adjust to the extreme chemical and hormonal changes initiated during puberty. Similarly, girls may find they produce vaginal secretions for no apparent reason, even when they're not menstruating. Sometimes, these secretions are caused by sexual arousal, but increased vaginal secretions can also be caused by normal hormonal fluctuations during their monthly cycle.

By ages 13-14 years, guys will have a more obvious interest in sex than girls do, but girls are interested in sex as well. Guys will have even more frequent erections at this age. It's quite normal for guys to experiment with their erections and their sexual arousal through masturbation. Because sexual pleasure is a new experience, boys may want to masturbate quite frequently. Since indicators of girls' sexual arousal are not as overtly obvious as boys' erections, girls may not masturbate as frequently because they may be less aware of their sexual arousal.

Although sexual behavior is usually limited to masturbation at this age, both guys and girls may start to experiment with sexual arousal through flirting, hugging, and playfully hitting or tickling other youth they are romantically interested in. They may also start kissing or "making out" with other teens. This may occur between two teens in private or it may occur in the context of a larger group, such as a party, where youth might play a kissing game like spin-the-bottle.

Youth at this age may also begin to experiment with vocalizing their sexual thoughts when they are with other teens. They may begin telling sexual jokes or using sexual double entendres, which are comments that can have two meanings: the usual or customary meaning, and a subtly inferred sexual meaning. Teens may also begin hinting about their own sexual activity to gauge others' reactions and readiness to talk about sex.

As discussed in the cognitive development section, teens begin to become concerned with other people's opinions and judgments of them. Therefore, it makes sense that both guys and girls will become more modest about their own nudity, even around people of the same gender. For instance, a father and son may have routinely enjoyed going to the gym together to play basketball, and comfortably dressed next to each other in the locker room. But suddenly, the son seems highly uncomfortable with this arrangement, and may attempt to dress in another row of the locker room, or may even make excuses to avoid going to the gym altogether. This increased sense of modesty is due to youths' own uncertainty about their new adult-like bodies and their concerns about how others might judge their body. Family members will need to remember to adjust to this increased need for privacy.

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Human sexuality is much more complex than the biological forces that initiate the sexual maturation process. As such, the development of adolescent sexuality includes not only physical development but also cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development. Yet, as emphasized throughout this article, these developmental areas do not uniformly advance at the same rate.

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Lone parents vs in tact two parents

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Sexuality in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

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PDF download + Online access 48 hours access to article PDF & online version Article PDF can be downloaded Article PDF can be printed USD 45.00 Issue Purchase 30 days online access to complete issue Article PDFs can be downloaded Article PDFs can be printed USD 437.00

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Demographic structure of society - sex, gender, and sexual orientation | MCAT | Khan Academy

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Marxist - Working class are oppressed by bourgeoise , however women are oppressed by other working class men. Sexuality and pornography,

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GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN EARLY MARXIST THOUGHT on JSTOR

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Journal Information The annual journal of the Indian History Congress, entitled The Proceedings of the Indian History Congress carries research papers selected out of papers presented at its annual sessions on all aspects and periods of Indian History from pre-history to contemporary times as well as the history of countries other than India.

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Understanding Sexuality and Sexual Orientation for Teens (2020)

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Understanding Sexuality and Sexual Orientation for Teens (2020)

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Youtube video.
Short video summarising how teens understand sexuality.

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Understanding Sexuality and Sexual Orientation for Teens (2020)

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Journal Information

Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue.Recognized as the leading international journal in women's studies, Signs is at the forefront of new directions in feminist scholarship. The journal publishes pathbreaking articles, review essays, comparative perspectives, and retrospectives of interdisciplinary interest addressing gender, race, culture, class, nation, and sexuality. Special issue and section topics cover a broad range of geopolitical processes, conditions, and effects; cultural and social configurations; and scholarly and theoretical developments.

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Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory on JSTOR

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Journal Information Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue.Recognized as the leading international journal in women's studies, Signs is at the forefront of new directions in feminist scholarship. The journal publishes pathbreaking articles, review essays, comparative perspectives, and retrospectives of interdisciplinary interest addressing gender, race, culture, class, nation, and sexuality.

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Examples and explanations of how young girls and adolescence are sexualised within society, linking to a societal basis of paedophilia and the objectification of young girls

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The girl is a site of a culture's most intensified disinvestments and re-castings of the body. ( Grosz, 1994: 174)

The girl is a radical singularity constituted in relations of power between statements and visibility. ( Driscoll, 2002: 193)

The 'girl subject' and 'young femininity' are repeatedly and with great effect being made increasingly visible as a particular social, cultural and psychical problematic in late capitalist societies ( Driscoll, 2002). The last two decades have witnessed a burgeoning and interdisciplinary field of critical girlhood studies that have rapidly taken up this contested site of young femininity (e.g. Walkerdine, 1991; Hey, 1997; Walkerdine et al., 2001; Gonick, 2003; Aapola et al., 2004; Harris, 2004; Mitchell and Reid-Walsh, 2005; Jiwani et al., 2006; Nayak and Kehily, 2007; Duits, 2008; Currie et al., 2009; Kearney, 2011; Hains, 2012; Ringrose, 2013). As a socio-political project, the figure of the contemporary girl is over-determined, weighted down with meaning and commonly represented through binary formations of celebratory postfeminist 'girl power' vs. crisis discourses of 'girls at risk' ( Aapola et al., 2004; Gonick et al., 2009). One of the primary 'luminosities' (Deleuze in McRobbie, 2008) surrounding girls as both bearers of power and objects of risk centres on girls' relationship to sexuality and entry into sexual womanhood. In this special issue, we bring together a series of articles that explore a veritable explosion of interest, debate and controversy over what is referred to as the (premature or hyper) 'sexualisation of the (girl) child'.

Public and private anxieties over the eroticised child have long circulated throughout history ( Egan and Hawkes, 2010; Egan, this issue), most notably via protectionist discourses of child abuse and child protection, and often in moments of big societal and cultural change, such as seismically shifting sexual and gender relations ( Nayak and Kehily, 2007; Bray, 2008). However, in the contemporary context, the discourse of 'sexualisation' is gaining hegemonic status in the way that childhood sexuality is framed, which is why a range of commentators have dubbed child sexualisation as a contemporary 'moral panic' (Buckingham et al., 2009). In the past several years, popular and consumer culture has been subject to a regulatory gaze from a range of government and non-governmental bodies across the global north ( Rush and La Nauze, 2006; APA, 2007; Papadopoulos, 2010; Bailey, 2011), accompanied by a steady stream of sensationalist popular cultural texts purporting to illuminate the real problems of 'sexualisation' (for a critical overview, see: Egan, 2013).

Given the enormous public attention to the topic, there has been a growing number of academic critiques that have deconstructed the tensions, assumptions and effects of the 'sexualisation' debates in special issues of journals in the areas of psychology ( Sex Roles, 66(11-12); Tolman, 2012), media studies ( Albury and Lumby, 2010) and education ( Attwood and Smith, 2011; Epstein et al., 2012). Commentators have particularly sought to gender the sexualisation discourse to explore how the primary objects of looking and fear are girls ( Egan and Hawkes, 2010; Egan, 2013), and to consider what the multiplicitous effects of such gendered moral panics may be for diverse groups of children and young sexualities more widely (Fahs et al., forthcoming; Renold et al., forthcoming). In our own work ( Renold and Ringrose, 2011: 391), we have previously identified and here adapt how the 'sexualisation of girls' discourse:

codifies almost any sexual expression (e.g. sexual desire) and related concerns (e.g. body image, sexual violence, etc.) as an effect of and thus evidence for 'sexualisation';

focuses exclusively on the harmful effects of media exposure with little analysis of how girls themselves make meaning of, and negotiate the media in their everyday lives;

produces a 'scary futurology' ( Smith, 2010), with an overemphasis on protectionism, victimisation and objectification;

neglects girls' sexual agency, rights and pleasure (including how the eroticisation of innocence features in girls' own sexual subjectification practices);

renews enduring binaries of active, predatory male sexuality versus passive, non-agentic female sexuality (where girls' sexuality is always risky/at risk);

encourages either/or position-taking among stakeholders between sexual empowerment and pleasure versus sexual danger and protectionism;

legitimises a heteronormative and linear developmental trajectory of 'healthy' female hetero sexuality;

operates as a white middle class panic over the desire for and loss of a raced and classed sexual innocence, and thus reproduces the othering of working class/racialised cultures as evidence of hyper-sexuality; and

refuses psychoanalytic understandings of how girls live under the burden of adult desires, projections and fantasies.

Notwithstanding these critiques, the ways in which the girl figure continues to be colonised, exploited, abused and commodified have perhaps intensified in an ever increasing global girl market, where 'girl' becomes synonymous with 'sex'. Discussing the historical and contemporary domain of children's sexuality, Faulkner (2010) encourages us to think about how girls' sexual innocence is now so fetishised that it has become an irretrievable lost object. We see a visceral longing for innocence in what is constructed as a toxic, impure and spoiled sexual landscape. Nowhere are these desires more evident than in the UK policy review The Bailey Report: Letting Children be Children ( Barker and Duschinsky, 2012). Developing Fine's 'seminal' work on the missing discourse of girls' desire, Fine and McClelland (2006) have cogently argued that girls' sexual desire is not so much 'missing' anymore, but rather caricaturally displayed everywhere in sex-saturated visual representations. How this enmeshes or not with girls' ambivalent accounts of embodied desire, however, has largely still to be rendered visible ( McClelland and Fine, 2008; Tolman, 2012).
Foucault's discursive incitement to sex is thus girlified in the sexualisation moral panic, such that all girls are unevenly subject to a new figuration of the 'proto-sexual girl'; a working class femininity whose sexuality continually poses a social threat ( Walkerdine, 1999). As Driscoll theorises, drawing on Deleuze, the girl is 'defined by a conception of her body as sexualised territory': the girl becomes sex ( Driscoll, 2002: 256; Driscoll, this issue). Also reminiscent of Walkerdine's ground-breaking work on classed fantasies of femininity are the mass fantasies of the eroticised-innocent girl child that work in highly paradoxical ways. Where historically paedophilia was a site of perpetual danger reserved for a sick and abject individualised minority ( Walkerdine, 1997), commentators are now noting that such desires are normalised and writ large in 'lad mags', for instance, through what has been conceptualised as a 'paedophilic imaginary' ( Bray, 2008). Moreover, the notion of 'corporate paedophilia' has been used by Rush and La Nauze (2006) to shame corporations' 'age-inappropriate' commercialisation of girls' bodies for profit.

Given this highly complex landscape, this special issue aims to animate discussions that might help us to make sense of complex social-cultural-material-temporal-historical intensities, forces and struggles of the sexual-girl-child and her body as she traverses diverse social, cultural and political fields: as body, image and affect. Our call for articles asked for engagements that could help theorise, research and understand the complex figuration of the sexual-girl-child in the contemporary socio-political moment, where enduring gendered, classed, raced and sexual inequalities are being recomposed and old and new feminisms are enlivened and re-tooled.

To engage these contradictions, our own work engages Deleuzo-Guatarrian notions of feminism as schizo practice ( Lorraine, 2008) to help us navigate what we see as the 'schizoid' conditions of living young femininities ( Renold and Ringrose, 2008, 2011, Ringrose and Renold, forthcoming). A schizo-feminist analysis would explore 'sexualisation' as a dynamic post-human 'sexuality assemblage' (see also Fox and Alldred, forthcoming), made up of animate and inanimate technological, virtual, material, discursive and semiotic elements. A schizo-feminist mapping of the girl in this assemblage would trace the multiple movements territorialising and de-territorialising girls' sexual becomings. It would involve tracing the nomadic 'vitalising paths' ( Lorraine, 2008: 80) of what a girl can do, become and bear inside this and other sexuality assemblages.

One of our aims in this introduction is to invite readers to think about what the collection of articles and shorter 'interchange' pieces do together as a type of assemblage, where each article intra-acts with the other to create new potentials for thinking about girls and sexuality. Each author explores in different ways how the figure of the 'girl' connects with culturally specific contexts across a range of topics and practices. The girl travels across the articles in multi-modal ways (as digital, as affect, as animation, as biology, as brand, as policy discourse) and through different theoretical, disciplinary and political lenses. What follows is our own particular, partial tracing of the girl and her affective address across this engaging range of articles.

In the first contribution, aptly titled 'What does sexualisation mean?', Robbie Duschinsky sets the scene, carefully deconstructing the different ways in which the girl is evoked in and through media and policy discourses on 'sexualisation'. He elaborates how sexual- isation, as portmanteau, frames sexuality as passive enculturation, delimiting and displacing the possibility of girls' sexual agency, and masking the contradictory conditions that contain and shame young female subjectivity in the contemporary socio-political context. His analysis gestures towards how 'sexualisation' emerges as an amorphous and elastic set of ideas with complex psychosocial effects, particularly in terms of how sexualisation discourses produce pernicious gendered and heteronormative truisms that operate to pathologise Other girls and young women.

Next, Danielle Egan explores similar affective dynamics, using psychoanalysis to think about how 'sexualisation' forms a site of melancholia and protection, and even a politics of resentment for some feminist commentators. Taking up Angela McRobbie's (2008) figure of the 'phallic girl', Egan traces the classed and racialised pronouncements in this formulation, questioning the way that it positions girls as blindly adopting hyper-sexualisation and laddette culture. Egan urges us to resist this reductionist and seductive narrative of girls' sexuality in crisis, and encourages us instead to afford feminine subjectivity 'nuance, complexity, ambivalence or difference'.

Edell, Tolman and Brown outline the practical challenges of acknowledging this complexity when adult feminists partner with teen girls, in this case to develop the USA organisation SPARK (Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge) dedicated to creating space for girls to voice their analyses and stage actions through media engagement, blogging and activist events. They share the paradoxes of teen girls managing the multifaceted and contradictory messages about girls' sexuality mobilised in the notion of 'sexualisation', narrating the story of a SPARK teen girl activist, Emma, who appears on national television to discuss a protest against Teen Vogue 's digital airbrushing, wearing a 'miniskirt [that] does not quite reach the top of her black thigh-high knee socks'. The article speculates on the projective adult desires and anxieties that surround Emma, throwing up a series of questions about how to support girls' 'choices' whilst sitting with our own discomfort and projections, particularly as academic and activist feminists.

Catherine Driscoll's article pushes us to challenge discourses of 'choice' by critically engaging with theoretically nuanced accounts of girls' sexual agency through an extended analysis of Tiqqun's Raw Materials for a Theory of the YoungGirl (2001). YoungGirl is a philosophical French text which relates the figure of the girl to the functions of capital. Drawing connections between Tiqqun's assertions about girls as sexual commodities and the generalisations and universalisms incited in recent 'sexualisation' debates, Driscoll urges girl studies to continue to research the complexities of commodification and the 'economies of attention' through which girls get defined and 'bear the burden of representing sex' in ways that account for the inseparability of material and discursive girlhoods, from the 'idealised' through to 'counter-images'.

Celia Roberts also draws attention to and disrupts traditional ontologies of the material and discursive in her provocative challenge for feminists to critically engage with sexuality assemblages created by evolutionary psychology. Taking the pubertal girl-body as her unit of analysis, Roberts considers controversial theory and research from Belsky, Steinberg and Draper, who suggest that early onset of puberty is an effect of traumatic and stressful socio-familial conditions (e.g. parenting patterns and absent fathers), thus rupturing and reversing causal and linear explanations of the timings of puberty. Her article encourages us to think with post-human developments in feminist science studies and the 'infoldings' of sexual embodiment, and to explore the intra-action, rather than separation or inter-action, of social-biological-psychological accounts of 'premature sexualisation'.

The human-non-human assemblage of girls' mediated bodies is pivotal in Ringrose, Harvey, Gill and Livingstone's article, which returns us to the luminosity of the self-sexualising young feminine subject. They examine the gendered moral economy of sexual exploitation in teen 'sexting', questioning the 'postfeminist' contradiction where adult women are assumed to be empowered by sexy self-display, but girls as 'not-yet-woman' are morally condemned and shamed for 'sexting' images. Drawing on qualitative research with minority ethnic young people living in London, they analyse teens' meaning-making practices in what they call the 'visual economy' of networked, digital peer culture, exploring both the ambivalent pleasures of digital flirtation, but also persistent sexual double standards in the way images of girls' bodies can be traded like currency at the same time as the bodies in images can be devalued as 'slut'.

Gywnne's article takes up the acute moral anxieties surrounding the sexualisation of the animated girl-body in the context of Japan, locating them in a wider sexuality assemblage of the changing status of Japanese womanhood and the 'crisis of (Japanese) masculinity'. Exploring the figure of the sexualised schoolgirl mobilised in Manga comic books aimed at male readers, Gywnne deliberates on whether the sexy schoolgirls should be read as postfeminist empowered vixens or sexualised victims. The article challenges simplistic readings of Manga, showing the psychosocial force of sexual power projected on to the sexualised schoolgirl, and underscoring the vulnerability of the male body, the fragility of male sexual power and masculine desire for sexually assertive females. Debating whether this is simply a patriarchal fantasy for a 'phallic', hyper-sexualised girl, or a measure of the progressive nature of Manga, the article raises critical questions about changing norms of Japanese masculinity and desire.

In the final article, Heather Switzer explores the power of mediated and discursive girlhoods, analysing how the figure of the girl is mobilised in the representational regime of the Nike Foundation's flagship corporate social responsibility campaign, 'The Girl Effect'. The article does the crucial work of establishing how concern over girls' sexuality takes differing forms in development discourses of the global south, where 'panics are less about girls being "too sexy too soon"... and more about girls being " too reproductive too soon" and not commodified enough, insofar as their labour is unproductive and illegible to the state and their consumptive patterns are stalled at subsistence'. Psychosocially, 'The Girl Effect' mobilises a power fantasy for Western girls in particular to save 'other girls' from patriarchal sexual slavery as 'child brides', for instance, through a mechanics of erasure that ignores the politics of location of girlhood, leading ultimately to 'securing the status quo'.

Collectively, this special issue highlights a diverse range of theoretical and methodological challenges involved in engaging in the contested and contradictory terrain of girlhood, sexuality and 'sexualisation'. Exploring the myriad assumptions, silences and myths associated with the seemingly ubiquitous discourse of 'sexualisation' and its wide-ranging psychosocial effects/affects, the articles offer critical tools for interrupting and displacing sexualisation's disciplining forces as these come to settle upon and re-regulate girls and girlhood sexuality.

We would like to thank the editorial team at Feminist Theory for providing us with an opportunity to guest-edit this special issue. A special thank you goes to Carolyn Pedwell and Celia Roberts who have been wonderfully supportive in enabling this collection to come to fruition. Thank you also to the anonymous reviewers, and to each of the authors for their contributions.

References

American Psychological Association (APA) (2007) Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. Available at: http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report.aspx (accessed August 2011).
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Buckingham, David, Rebekah Willett, Sara Bragg and Rachel Russell (2009) Sexualised Goods Aimed at Children: Scottish Parliament Review. Available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/equal/reports-10/eor10-02.htm (accessed August 2011).
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Epstein, Debbie, Mary, Jane Kehily, Emma, Renold (2012) 'Making Sense of the Sexualisation Debates: Schools and Beyond'. Gender and Education [Special Issue] 24(3): 249-254.
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Lorraine, Tamsin (2008) 'Feminist Lines of Flight from the Majoritarian Subject'. In: Claire, Colebrook, Jami, Weinstein (eds) Deleuze and Gender, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 60-82.
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McClelland, Sara I., Michelle, Fine (2008) 'Writing on Cellophane: Studying Teen Women's Sexual Desires, Inventing Methodological Release Points'. In: Kathleen, Gallagher (eds) The Methodological Dilemma: Critical and Creative Approaches to Qualitative Research, London: Routledge, pp. 232-260.
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Smith, Clarissa (2010) 'Review: Papadopoulos, Linda: Sexualisation of Young People Review, London: Home Office'. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 7(1).
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Walkerdine, Valerie, Helen, Lucey, June, Melody (2001) Growing Up Girl: Psychosocial Explorations of Gender and Class, Basingstoke: Palgrave Press.
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Feminisms re-figuring 'sexualisation', sexuality and 'the girl' - Emma Renold, Jessica Ringrose, 2013

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The girl is a site of a culture's most intensified disinvestments and re-castings of the body. ( Grosz, 1994: 174) The girl is a radical singularity constituted in relations of power between statements and visibility.

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The changing world of adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights.

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The changing world of adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights.

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The changing world of adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights

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Feminist ideals of female teen sexuality

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Feminist ideals of female teen sexuality

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References

1. American Psychological Association, Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. (2007). Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html

2. Chidgey, R. (2008, March). The Fword: Contemporary UK Feminism (blog). Retrieved from http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2008/03/labours

3. Debold, E. (1996). Knowing bodies: Gender identity, cognitive development, and embodiment in early childhood and early adolescence. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation,) Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.

4. Guttmacher Institute. (2009). A new day: The Obama administration and U.S. sexual and reproductive public policy. Retrieved from http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2009/03/04/index.html

5. Lamb, S. (2009). Towards a sexual ethics curriculum: Bringing philosophy and society to bear on individual development. Paper revised and resubmitted to Harvard Educational Review.

6. Little rapes. (1977). In R. Baxandall & L. Gordon (Eds.), Dear sisters: Dispatches from the women's liberation movement (pp. 192-194). NY: Basic Books.

7. Matthew, R. (2005, December 30). Craze of Teenage Boys for Viagra. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Craze-of-Teenage-Boys-for-Viagra&id=120227

8. Painter, K. (March 15, 2002). Sexual revolution hits junior high. USA Today, Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-03-15-sex-and-teens.htm?loc=interstitialskip

9. Tolman, D. (1992). Voicing the body: A psychological study of adolescent girls' sexual desire. (Unpublished dissertaion). Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Cambidge, MA.

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Feminist Ideals for a Healthy Female Adolescent Sexuality: A Critique

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This paper explores the ideals of healthy sexuality for teenage girls in the U.S. proposed by feminist theorists and researchers. Current ideals emphasize desire, pleasure, and subjectivity, and appear to be a response to three historically problematic areas for women and girls: objectification; abuse and victimization; and stereotypes of female passivity.

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Understanding normal development of adolescent sexuality: A bumpy ride

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Understanding normal development of adolescent sexuality: A bumpy ride

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Abstract

Adolescence, derived from the Latin word "adolescere" meaning "to grow up" is a critical developmental period. During adolescence, major biological as well as psychological developments take place. Development of sexuality is an important bio-psycho-social development, which takes an adult shape during this period. During adolescence, an individual's thought, perception as well as response gets colored sexually. Puberty is an important landmark of sexuality development that occurs in the adolescence. The myriad of changes that occurs in adolescents puts them under enormous stress, which may have adverse physical, as well as psychological consequences. Understanding adolescent sexuality has important clinical, legal, social, cultural, as well as educational implications.

KEY WORDS: Adolescence, development, puberty, sexuality

INTRODUCTION

Growth and development are continuous processes, which bring a change in an individual, every moment. Development of sexuality starts as early as in intrauterine life following conception and continues through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood till death.[ 1] During infancy, there is no awareness of gender. The child acknowledges its gender in early childhood as early as by 3 years. Self-awareness about sexuality (gender role, gender identity) evolves during the childhood.[ 2] Biological research evidences are suggestive of the definite role of androgens in deciding the gender sensitive roles and gender-specific behaviors.[ 2] Adolescence is a phase of transition during which major developments of sexuality takes place. Puberty is reached during adolescence, which is a major landmark in the development of sexuality. The hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis function is highly essential for the sexual development during puberty.

Adolescence can be broadly divided into three stages: Early (10-13 years), middle (14-16 years), and late (17-19 years). Physical changes start in early adolescence, where they are very concerned about their body image. During adolescence cognitive development takes place; adolescents develop abstract thinking and reasoning. Emotionally, they develop a sense of identity during late adolescence; social involvement, peer interaction, as well as sexual interest, develop in this phase. Different behavioral experimentation is seen in early adolescence, risk taking in middle adolescence, and later adolescents learns to assess their own risk taking.[ 3]

As per the 2014 data, published by U.S Census Bureau, adolescents (10-19 years of age) count approximately 1.2 billion across the globe.[ 4] Nearly, 70% of total adolescent (10-19 years of age) population of the world resides in developing countries.[ 5, 6] Developing countries in recent decades are going through a rapid change due to - urbanization, migration, education, and mixing of cultures, which are having a definite impact on the attitude toward sexuality in adolescents.

In developing countries like India, the adolescents are also subjected to early marriage, which results in teenage pregnancy and adolescent fatherhood. In most cases, females in comparison to males are subjected to early marriage. Early exposure to sexual relationship also increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. As the culture of the developing country facilitates early marriage, as well as early pregnancy and adolescent fatherhood, the family and the society usually prepare the adolescents for the same which colors the adolescents attitude toward sexuality. In some reserved cultures, sexuality is discussed little so there is little scope to explore sexuality, and it still remains as a myth or enigma for the adolescent, which affects their perception of sexuality.

DEVELOPMENT OF SEXUALITY IN AN ADOLESCENT

During adolescence, the physical growth, psychological as well as cognitive development reaches its peak. Adolescent sexuality development can be better explained with the bio-psycho-social model.[ 7] Biological factors, psychological factors, as well as social factors have equal importance in determining, the development of sexuality in adolescents.

Biological factors are the genetic factors and neuro-endocrinal factors, which determine the biological sex and also having an influence on the psychological sex. During adolescence the gonadal hormones, cortisol, and many other hormones play a role in causing the onset of puberty.[ 8] The secondary sexual characters are expressed due to this neuro-endocrinal influence.

In both males and females-pubic hairs, axillary hairs develop which take a gender specific growth pattern. In males, there occurs enlargement of genitals, appearance of beard and mustache, and the physique takes a typical masculine shape. In females, there occurs development of breast; menstruation starts, genitalia takes an adult shape, and the physique changes to a feminine type. An adolescent's interest in a sexual relationship is also influenced by the hormones.

Individual's personality or temperament is an important psychological factor that also decides the attitude toward sexuality. Introvert adolescents face difficulty in approaching and responding sexually.

Social factors or environmental factors also play a significant role in the development of adolescent sexuality. The attitude of the parents toward sexuality, parenting style, peer relationship, cultural influences are the important social factors which facilitates the sexual learning and decides the sexual attitude of the adolescent.

Other than the biological, psychological, and social factors, many more factors such as political, legal, philosophical, spiritual, ethical, and moral values significantly influence the sexuality development.[ 9] Media also influences the sexuality in adolescents.[ 10] In the recent decades, there is an exponential growth in the media coverage worldwide. Adolescents' access literature related to sexuality, sexual crimes, and violence through media which affects the adolescent's perception and attitude toward sexuality.[ 10] Similarly television, internet also exposes the adolescents to literature and movies with sexuality content, influencing their perception about sexuality.[ 11]

Sigmund Freud had proposed his theory of psychosexual development, where he described about - oral phase, anal phase, phallic phase, latency phase, and genital phase as the landmark steps of psycho-sexual development.[ 12] During these phases, different body parts behave as most erotogenic and the individual attempts to explore or stimulate these erotogenic zones in order to get gratification.[ 12] The table 1 below mentions about the onset of the phases of psychosexual development across life time.[ 12]

Table 1

During early adolescence, an individual enters the genital phase from latency phase and throughout the adolescence the genital phase is maintained. The sexuality, which remains quiescent during the latency phase, becomes active during the genital phase.

During adolescence, an individual's need for intimacy and love making with opposite gender increases. Adolescents explore about different appropriate ways to express the love and intimacy.[ 13]

The development of an adolescent occurs not in isolation, rather in the background of the family, society in a defined culture, which significantly influences the adolescent sexuality.[ 13] Society's attitude and cultural perception of sexuality largely have an influence on the families in which an adolescent nurtures and his or her sexuality cherishes.

GENDER AND ADOLESCENCE

Puberty changes differ in both the sexes. On an average females experience these changes 12-18 months earlier than males. Furthermore, the time of attaining maturity can impact the adolescent development differently.[ 14]

Early maturing boys having good body image are more confident, secure, and independent as compared to late maturing boys. However, they may have increased aggressiveness due to a surge of hormones.[ 15, 16] They are more likely to be sexually active and participate in risky behavior.[ 15, 16]

Early maturing girls on the other hand, are very self-conscious, insecure, and more likely to develop eating disorders.[ 17] They are more likely to face sexual advances from older boys, more chances of unwanted pregnancies and more likely to be exposed to alcohol and drug abuse.

As per a research in the United States, during childhood-boys as compared to girls are more likely to face negative health outcomes like aggressive behavior and depression.[ 18] On the other hand, during adolescence, the girls are more likely to face the higher risk of negative health outcomes.[ 18] The effect of discrimination, gender, poverty, and abuse make the adolescent girls more vulnerable to the adverse outcomes.[ 19]

In areas of conflict (war prone zones, countries with political instability, and religious conflicts), young girls are at higher risk of sexual abuse and trafficking and young boys are more likely to be recruited as child soldiers.[ 20] The culture influences the roles and expectations from girls and thus has an impact on their access of information, education, and opportunity.

ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

Adolescence is the period during which an individual's thought perception, as well as response gets colored sexually. Adolescence is the age to explore and understand sexuality. Sexual curiosity in the adolescence led to exposure to pornography, indulgence in sexual activities, and also increases the vulnerability for sexual abuse.

Halpern et al., studied on western population regarding sexual behavior patterns of adolescents and explored the possible factors attributing to the sexual behaviors.[ 21] In this study, they studied over 11,000 adolescents between 18 and 27 years of age and found that more than 90% lose their virginity before marriage.[ 21] The virgin population is found to be younger in age, have the poor physical maturity, higher body mass index, more religious inclination, and often had perceived disapproval for sex during adolescence by parents.[ 21] By the late teenage and early 20's, most individuals experience oral or vaginal sex irrespective of marital status as found in different studies from US.[ 22, 23] It was seen that early exposure to vaginal sex during adolescence increased the risk of sexual transmitted disease, however, the risk gradually declines with age.[ 24, 25, 26] It was also reported that, those who were exposed early to vaginal sex found to have more number of sexual partners which might have a link with the increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases.[ 26, 27] In recent years, internet has brought a revolution in adolescent's attitude and perception toward sexuality.[ 11] Adolescents acquire extensive information related to sexuality, which may be misguiding and can have a significant negative impact on the sexual behaviors.[ 11] Sexuality is a complex human behavior, which is largely influenced by factors such as physical appearance, psychological factors, social factors, cultural norms, and past experiences.[ 2]

Most of the studies focus on vaginal sex on the sexual behavior in adolescence and hardly few studies discuss the non-vaginal sexual behavior.[ 26] There is a need to explore the non-vaginal sexual behaviors (oral sex, anal sex) which may be potential routes of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV infection/AIDS as adequate protections like use of condom is taken in these methods like vaginal sex.[ 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32]

CHALLENGES FACED

Adolescents face a great challenge in their early adolescence. Many critical biological, as well as psychological changes, occur during this phase for which many adolescents are not prepared enough to cope with, which often puts them under stress. Onset of menstruation, change in voice (puberphonia) in boys, development of secondary sexual characteristics, and psychological changes often perceived as challenges. Family and society's attitude, as well as a cultural influence on these changes, during puberty, plays a major role in deciding the adolescent's sexual behavior after puberty.

Sexual exposure during adolescence is a matter of serious concern due to the risk of transmission of sexually transmitted infections including HIV infection/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and adolescent fatherhood.[ 13, 33] In many developing countries, as well as underdeveloped countries, early sexual exposure leading to HIV infection is a matter of great concern.[ 34, 35] Early marriage leading to early sexual exposure, and pregnancy also has adverse consequences on the reproductive health.[ 5, 36]

In many developing countries and most of the underdeveloped countries, formal sex education in school mostly does not exist; if it exists, then mostly found to be inadequate. Lack of proper sex education often leads to unprotected sex, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Due to multiple reasons adolescents are exposed to unprotected sex. Lack of awareness and improper sex education is an important reason of unprotected sex in adolescents.[ 5] In developing and underdeveloped countries, the parent - child communication related to sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases is poor.[ 5] Adolescents get little opportunity to discuss about their sexuality related issues, which likely to hamper the healthy sexual development.[ 7]

Difficulties associated with the sexual approaches and encounters are not the only challenge in adolescence. Interpersonal violence is one of the notable concerns in adolescents.[ 13] It may result in physical, as well as sexual abuse. Most of the interpersonal violence is related to sexuality. Usually, the adolescents are not trained enough in the parenting skills due to, which teenage pregnancy and adolescent fatherhood becomes a challenge.[ 13] Clinical and educational interventions on adolescent sexuality focus mostly on coital sexual activities of adolescents. However, there are plenty of evidence regarding adolescent's involvement in non-coital activities, which are potential routes of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV infection.[ 5, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37] There is a need to focus on non-coital sexual activities during clinical assessment and health education.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the sexuality development of adolescent is of utmost importance. Without this understanding, one cannot move forward for clinical or educational intervention. Understanding the factors influencing sexuality is also useful for intervention. At the same time, understanding adolescent sexuality, will also help parents to understand the difficulties of their children better and will help them to guide their children in the crossroads of adolescence.

Footnotes

Source of Support: Nil

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

REFERENCES

6. UNFPA. New York: UNFPA; 2008. Generation of Change: Young People and Culture, 2008, Youth Supplement to UNFPA's State of the World Population Report. [ Google Scholar]

12. Dave S, Dave A. Psychosexual development and human sexuality. In: Kar N, Kar GC, editors. Comprehensive Textbook of Sexual Medicine. 2nd ed. Jaypee Publishers: New Delhi; 2014. pp. 42-53. [ Google Scholar]

14. National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academics Press; 2002. Community Programs to Promote Youth Development. [ Google Scholar]

15. Garn SM. Physical growth and development. In: Friedman SB, Fischer M, Schonberg SK, editors. Comprehensive Adolescent Health Care. St Louis: Quality Medical Publishing; 1992. [ Google Scholar]

16. Susman EJ, Dorn LD, Schiefelbein VL. Puberty, sexuality and health. In: Learner MA, Easterbrooks MA, Mistry J, editors. Comprehensive Handbook of Psychology. New York: Wiley; 2003. [ Google Scholar]

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Articles from Journal of Human Reproductive Sciences are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understanding normal development of adolescent sexuality: A bumpy ride

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Adolescence, derived from the Latin word "adolescere" meaning "to grow up" is a critical developmental period. During adolescence, major biological as well as psychological developments take place. Development of sexuality is an important bio-psycho-social development, which takes an adult shape during this period. During adolescence, an individual's thought, perception as well as response gets colored sexually.

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Human sexuality is much more complex than the biological forces that initiate the sexual maturation process. As such, the development of adolescent sexuality includes not only physical development but also cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development. Yet, as emphasized throughout this article, these developmental areas do not uniformly advance at the same rate. This is particularly problematic with respect to adolescent sexuality because poor decisions, due to a lack of cognitive and/or emotional maturity, can have dire, life-long consequences. Thus, it is important for caregivers to be prepared to discuss all aspects of sexuality (i.e., the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and moral aspects of sexuality) so that they can best assist their teens to make wise and thoughtful decisions. When parents understand the process of adolescent sexual development they are in a better position to assist their children. In addition, knowledge of this information enables caregivers to know when to intervene if necessary.

This portion of the article will describe the average, natural evolution of adolescent sexuality: their sexual thoughts and questions; their sexual feelings and concerns; and their sexual behavior and choices. Some youth may choose to remain entirely abstinent from sexual activity due to their personal values and beliefs; even so, they will still experience similar thoughts, feelings, and desires, as their sexually active peers. Parents are cautioned to remember that every youth is unique. Children may reach these developmental milestones at ages that are different from averages listed here and still be considered "normal."
Early adolescence (ages 12-15): The age of curiosity and experimentation
Early adolescence is a precarious period in youths' sexual development because of the inter-relationship between sexual development, cognitive development, and emotional development. Youth at this age lack the cognitive and emotional maturity that is necessary to make wise and healthy decisions regarding their sexuality and are ill-prepared to cope with consequences of sexual activity. This is particularly unfortunate as today's adolescents are becoming sexually active sooner than previous generations. According to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published in 2010, 46% of high school students were reported have sexual intercourse (Eaton, Kann, Kinchen, et al., 2010). This stands in contrast to the 1940's when only 10% of women ages 16-17 reported having had sex, while 50-60% of men of the same age, reported having had sex (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948; Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebbard, 1953). Since sexual development begins during Puberty, the reader may wish to review the Middle Childhood article on Puberty for more detailed information and for specific advice regarding menstruation, erections, etc.

When teens are approximately 12-13 years of age, they begin to show a general interest in sexual topics. Youth may try to satisfy their curiosity by reading information about sex, and viewing images with a sexual content. This may include drawings in anatomy books, photographs of naked people, images of animal sexual behavior, and pornographic materials. Youth can readily find these images at the library, in an older sibling's biology text book, watching certain television programs, viewing adult magazines, or searching on the Internet. Some youth may attempt to satisfy their curiosity by "peeping;" i.e., to secretly observe people when they are naked such as when they are bathing or changing clothes. It is normal for youth to want to avoid the embarrassment of being discovered doing any of these things so they may attempt to deny or conceal what they are doing.

During early adolescence boys will experience frequent erections since this is the normal response of the male body to sexual excitement. Erections can also occur spontaneously for no apparent reason at all as boys' bodies adjust to the extreme chemical and hormonal changes initiated during puberty. Similarly, girls may find they produce vaginal secretions for no apparent reason, even when they're not menstruating. Sometimes, these secretions are caused by sexual arousal, but increased vaginal secretions can also be caused by normal hormonal fluctuations during their monthly cycle.

By ages 13-14 years, guys will have a more obvious interest in sex than girls do, but girls are interested in sex as well. Guys will have even more frequent erections at this age. It's quite normal for guys to experiment with their erections and their sexual arousal through masturbation. Because sexual pleasure is a new experience, boys may want to masturbate quite frequently. Since indicators of girls' sexual arousal are not as overtly obvious as boys' erections, girls may not masturbate as frequently because they may be less aware of their sexual arousal.

Although sexual behavior is usually limited to masturbation at this age, both guys and girls may start to experiment with sexual arousal through flirting, hugging, and playfully hitting or tickling other youth they are romantically interested in. They may also start kissing or "making out" with other teens. This may occur between two teens in private or it may occur in the context of a larger group, such as a party, where youth might play a kissing game like spin-the-bottle.

Youth at this age may also begin to experiment with vocalizing their sexual thoughts when they are with other teens. They may begin telling sexual jokes or using sexual double entendres, which are comments that can have two meanings: the usual or customary meaning, and a subtly inferred sexual meaning. Teens may also begin hinting about their own sexual activity to gauge others' reactions and readiness to talk about sex.

As discussed in the cognitive development section, teens begin to become concerned with other people's opinions and judgments of them. Therefore, it makes sense that both guys and girls will become more modest about their own nudity, even around people of the same gender. For instance, a father and son may have routinely enjoyed going to the gym together to play basketball, and comfortably dressed next to each other in the locker room. But suddenly, the son seems highly uncomfortable with this arrangement, and may attempt to dress in another row of the locker room, or may even make excuses to avoid going to the gym altogether. This increased sense of modesty is due to youths' own uncertainty about their new adult-like bodies and their concerns about how others might judge their body. Family members will need to remember to adjust to this increased need for privacy.

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Human sexuality is much more complex than the biological forces that initiate the sexual maturation process. As such, the development of adolescent sexuality includes not only physical development but also cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development. Yet, as emphasized throughout this article, these developmental areas do not uniformly advance at the same rate.

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Adolescence can be tough enough to get through without questions of sex, sexuality, and sexual identity.

“Above all, it is critical that parents be truthful, honest, and available to their children.”

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Adolescence can be tough enough to get through without questions of sex, sexuality, and sexual identity. But adolescents are humans, too - no matter how alien they may seem to their parents at times. Openly addressing the all-too-human questions of sexual development, sexual desire, and the nature of the adolescent's developing sexual identity are critical. Sharing factual information with and giving good moral guidance to your teenager is a vitally important part of helping your teen understand herself or himself. It can help your child avoid devastating, and possibly life-threatening, errors in judgment.

"Above all, it is critical that parents be truthful, honest, and available to their children," says Charles R. Wibbelsman, M.D., FAAP, Chief of Adolescent Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Adolescence.

"Parents often have their own agenda - don't do this and don't do that. But they need to take a step back and leave the judgments aside for this discussion," says Warren Seigel, M.D., FAAP, Chairman of the Pediatrics Department and Director of Adolescent Medicine at Coney Island Hospital, Brooklyn, N.Y. "The most appropriate and important thing for a parent and a child or adolescent in dealing with questions about sexuality and sexual health is an open channel of communication."

The Messages They Get

In today's hyper-sexualized culture of Internet sites, mass media entertainers, and 24/7 programming, the traditional "birds and bees" lecture (or pamphlet handed to the child to read on her or his own) on reproductive basics is completely inadequate. Carefully preparing children for the normal changes in their bodies as well as the endless assault of peer pressure, media glorification of irresponsible sexuality, and advertising come-ons is the only way to create a sense of security for parents and children alike.

"There are a lot of things in the media that are not appropriate for a particular age," says Dr. Wibbelsman, who is co-author of The Teenage Body Book and Growing and Changing . "We don't put children on the street and wish them luck before sending them out on their own. We hold their hands. We educate them about the risks. And we trust them with increasing responsibility only as they're old enough and show they're ready to handle it."

"The media particularly and everything around us talks about sex," adds Dr. Seigel. "It's hard to avoid it."

The only foolproof approach to sexual safety, of course, is to say "no" and defer sexual activity until later in life. The good news is that as many as half of all adolescents do just that. But that leaves the other half at risk - many of them engaging in unprotected sex, exposing themselves to potentially grave disease and unwanted pregnancy.

"The most important thing to teach your child is responsibility," Dr. Seigel says. "Discuss how to make decisions and understand what the consequences of decisions will be. You can start by discussing decisions and consequences that don't involve sex, and then move the conversation toward sexuality. After all, there are consequences to having sex or not having sex, and every child is going to get a lot of misinformation along the way from their peers and the media."

The pressures upon children - from peers and also the media as mentioned above - may actually offer one of the most effective pathways to opening what must be an ongoing dialogue about sex and sexuality, not a single talk or lecture. What to do, then? It's good to turn these encounters with the media into teachable moments.

"Seeing something in the media that is obviously sexually charged can be a springboard for conversation between adolescent and parent," says Dr. Wibbelsman. "Is the ad bad or good? What's the ad trying to say? Use this moment as an opportunity to teach and encourage, not to pronounce a harsh, dismissive judgment. By engaging the child and building his self-esteem and her confi dence in her ability to make judgments, you're showing him that you respect what he's learning and how she's growing in her decision-making."

After all, however adult their appearance, behavior, and attitudes may appear, adolescents remain closer to childhood than adulthood, and children need ongoing parental guidance to prepare for adulthood. "I know it's a lot of work, but parents need to monitor what their children see and be there, available to them, to provide some context," says Dr. Wibbelsman. "Find out what's in the movie, what's in the program, what's on that Internet site before you let your child see or hear. And experience with him or her together, so you can discuss it and use it to build trust between you."

Starting the Discussion

So when is the right time to start talking about sex with your child? It's a good idea to start laying the groundwork for these conversations long before the onset of puberty. The more frequently and frankly sexual matters are discussed, the easier and even more open such discussions are likely to be as you both grow comfortable with talking about it. "Let's face it, we're all embarrassed to talk about sex with each other," Dr. Seigel says. "The easiest way to start is to be real with your adolescent: 'This is really hard for me to talk about, and it was hard for me to talk about with my dad when I was your age.' But it's important to talk about, and we have to talk about embarrassing things sometimes."

Keep reminding your child that you are in her corner every step of the way. "Never let them forget that your love is unconditional," Dr. Seigel says. "Tell them, 'I am here with you, and I love you and I will be here with you no matter what through all of this.' Yes, it's much easier said than done, but no less important."

So what should you talk about? Perhaps start with how sexuality is portrayed in the media and, far more importantly, how it "works" in real life - the potentially bad consequences and catastrophes than can be a result of sexual activity, as well as the pleasure and positive results of responsible sexuality (remember: the job here is to be honest.) "You see a character in a TV show who's made a decision with regard to sex," Dr. Seigel says. "Start the discussion there, but don't make it your soapbox. If you harshly criticize what you're both seeing, your child will assume there's no discussion to be had, and there goes your channel of communication."

By approaching the topic carefully and conversationally, you and your child are much more likely to sort through the complexities together.

Keeping the Channels Open

As your child matures - physically, mentally, and emotionally - opportunities will emerge for making regular discussions about sexuality part of your continuing conversation. Obviously, changes in your child's body as puberty begins are crucial markers for such conversations.

One area that should receive particular attention is "urban myths" - bits of false information that "everyone" knows, passed along from adolescent to adolescent (and even from generation to generation: Don't be surprised to find that your child has heard some of the same myths and misinformation that circulated during your adolescence). Make clear, for instance, that oral sex is not without risks, that unprotected intercourse without ejaculation is not effective birth control, and so on. "It's very important to get the facts straight from the start, and share those facts with your child," says Dr. Wibbelsman. "That builds trust, and that trust is critical to guiding your adolescent through these challenging times."

In particular, be specific and accurate about the risks or pregnancy, the effectiveness (and limitations) of different types of birth control, and the variety of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and their effects. (See "Helpful Resources" at the bottom of this page for reliable resources of information on these subjects.)

Countering the Pressure

One key area to emphasize is that no one has the right to pressure your daughter or son to have sex. Peer pressure - and the media pressure that often stimulates it - can be addressed by empowering your children with your belief in their ability to withstand such pressure, a sense of values that are more important than immediate gratification, and their absolute freedom to bring any concerns to you.

It is wholly natural for adolescents to have questions about sex and sexual identity. While attitudes toward gay and lesbian identity (among other issues) remain tangled and complex, the crucial thing to bear in mind is that all of us have such questions at one time or another. "Parents need to be open about that and understand the entire spectrum of sexuality and sexual orientation, and not try to funnel them into a particular niche or area," says Dr. Wibbelsman. "Accept the adolescent's questions as part of growing up, because that's exactly what it is. But at the same time, let the adolescent know what your views and values are. Know the difference between facts and your opinion, and be clear about both."

But how to do it in a way that helps keep the channels open? It's a four-letter word, actually. "The key is to let adolescents know that you love them no matter who they become," Dr. Seigel says. "They may turn out tall, short, heavy, thin, healthy, or sickly - but you'll love them no matter what, no matter what decisions they make. That is much easier said than done for many parents, but that's key to raising a healthy adolescent."

And don't hesitate to discuss values, morals, and ethics with regard to sex - without lecturing, but with guidance. By providing your child with a solid framework of information and values, you've taken a large step toward making sure that when he or she becomes sexually active it will be with the knowledge, preparation, and maturity that will mark the transition to sexual activity as an informed choice, not a risky accident.

This article was featured in Healthy Children Magazine. To view the full issue, click here.

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Adolescent Sexuality: Talk the Talk Before They Walk the Walk

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Adolescence can be tough enough to get through without questions of sex, sexuality, and sexual identity. But adolescents are humans, too - no matter how alien they may seem to their parents at times. Openly addressing the all-too-human questions of sexual development, sexual desire, and the nature of the adolescent's developing sexual identity are critical.