Navigating unintelligibility: Queer Australian young women’s negotiations of safe sex and risk

Abstract

Australian public health promotion positions safe sex as a biomedical, heteronormative concept. Consequently, there is a dearth of scholarly research examining queer young women's sexual health. To fill this knowledge gap, this article considers how Australian bisexual and queer young women understand 'safe sex' and conceptualise 'good' sexual citizenship. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 15 participants in Tasmania, findings reveal that although queer women understand heterosexual safe sex, there is little awareness of safer sexual practices with female partners. We argue that gendered sexual scripts shape perceptions of sexual health risk whereby queer women adopt multiple situation-dependent approaches to safer sex.

A Rapid Review and Narrative Synthesis of the Consequences of Non-Inclusive Sex Education in UK Schools on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Young People

“…The young adults obtained sexual information mostly through the internet or LGB-specific TV programs, where not all information was accurate, educational, or realistic. theory was utilized in three articles to provide an open account of the ideas emerging from each study (Estes, 2017;Grant & Nash, 2018;Hobaica & Kwon, 2017). One article (Coll et al, 2018) employed a Youth Participatory Action Research method, which is a model used to engage youth and create transformational change within communities with young people involved as active researchers.…”

“…Theme 3: Self-Taught RSE via Online Resources. Participants in four studies quoted the internet as a useful resource when attempting to navigate early homosexual relationships, with social media, charitable websites, and pornography being the main sources for education around the mechanics of same-sex relationships (Formby & Donovan, 2020;Gowen & Winges-Yanez, 2014;Grant & Nash, 2018;Hobaica & Kwon, 2017).…”

Homonormativity or queer disidentification? Rural Australian bisexual women's identity politics

“…Incidentally, bisexual women report significantly poorer mental health and lower likelihood of self-disclosure and community connection compared to lesbians (Balsam and Mohr, 2007). These stressors are further exacerbated for rural bisexual women, who often report feeling invisible in rural LGBTQ communities (see Grant and Nash, 2018b). Barefoot et al.…”

Who decides when people can have sex? Australian mental health clinicians’ perceptions of sexuality and autonomy

“…Sexual dangerousness in this study was perceived not only as a consequence of social marginality (Douglas, 1966) but constructed through a specifically neoliberal discourse of autonomy, self-regulation and morality. Within a health care context, neoliberal discourse promotes an expectation that people will be knowledgeable, self-managing citizens who actively make 'good choices' to manage risk and achieve or maintain health (Gaffney, 2015;Grant and Nash, 2017). This need to make good choices and manage risk is a moral obligation to society (Ellis et al, 2017).…”