Picturing Sexual Spaces in Everyday Life: Exploring the Construction of Sexuality and Sexual Behavior among Early Adult Women

Abstract

Despite an increased public and behavioral health emphasis on research which explores the link between individual sexual context and sexual decision making, most studies have yet to adequately explore the needs and purposes that sex fulfills among women. The current project employed photo-elicitation interviewing (PEI) as a means of generating a visual and narrative person-centered understanding of the ways in which women orchestrate spaces for sexuality within their day-to-day lives. Sexual spaces were created by rescripting the ordinary meaning associated with everyday locations, objects, and language to contain sexual meaning; these spaces serve as vehicles to integrate sexuality and sexual behavior within everyday experiences. Spaces also conferred sexual privacy and comfort for women, driving sexual desire and encouraging, as well as discouraging, contraception and condom use in individual and complex ways. PEI provided an effective tool for magnifying this complexity through the women's eyes and voices, suggesting important information for the correct design of future research, intervention, and education programs.

The Sexual Acceptability of Contraception: Reviewing the Literature and Building a New Concept

“…Researchers have documented a number of reasons why we consider contraceptives more a medical than a sexual good (Granzow, 2007;Hensel, Newcamp, Miles, & Fortenberry, 2011). For example, advocates from the late 19th through the end of the 20th century sought medical and legal respectability for birth control, thus downplaying its potentially sexually revolutionary aspects-especially for women (Tone, 2006).…”

Adolescent boys' experiences of first sex

“…The first element of preparation was the identification or creation of a sexual space. A sexual space is a point in time at a particular location in which an individual creates an opportunity and expectation that sex could happen (Hensel et al 2011). Key elements in participant’s narratives were lack of adult supervision and some degree of privacy.…”

Establishment of safety paradigms and trust in emerging adult relationships

“…Qualitative data collection allowed the researchers to elicit rich detail about the dynamic meaning of concepts (e.g. trust) from the point of individual participants (Hensel et al 2011). Semi-structured interview guides were used to collect data through face-to-face interviews with participants.…”

“…The development of intimacy is regarded as key for mental health and wellbeing, yet little is known about how young adults develop intimacy in sexual relationships (Montgomery 2005). In particular, little is known about the development of trust and its effect on decision-making (Hensel et al 2011). Trust appears to be a common element in relationship scripts, with intrapersonal, interpersonal and social functions (Willig 1997).…”

“…Given persistent social gender inequalities that create harmful sexual health contexts for girls and women (Bates, Hankivsky, and Springer 2009) and gendered relationship roles (Harvey, Beckman, and Bird 2003), it is imperative to develop an understanding of trust and relationship formation from the perspective of young women. Public health literature has been criticised for not exploring women’s varied purposes for having sex and what needs sex fulfills for women (Hensel et al 2011; Higgins and Hirsch 2007, 2008; Sandfort and Ehrhardt 2004). By elaborating a detailed conceptualisation of trust, researchers can better understand how trust affects sexual health decision-making.…”