Discuss the statement, “sexual norms are intrinsically linked to social norms” with your peers. In particular, discuss how power and self-esteem are deeply rooted within the various sexual dysfunctions.
Social norms of sexual initiation among adolescents and gender relations
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to identify standards and expectations regarding sexual initiation of 14 to 18 year-old adolescents in Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil, using data from four focal groups conducted in 2006. Results revealed that gender issues are clearly present in participants’ reports and showed to be essential in their choices about the moment, partners and contraceptive practices in the first sexual relation. Adolescents are subordinated to gender roles, traditionally attributed to male and female genders, i.e. the notion that sex is an uncontrolled instinct for boys, and intrinsically and closely associated to love and desire for girls. Adolescents also play a preponderant role in the perpetuation of these values within the group they live in.
Descriptors: adolescent health; sexual and reproductive health; gender and health
INTRODUCTION
The adolescence period is of great relevance for the public health area, especially in terms of sexual and reproductive health, because this is the phase when sexual practices, among which sexual initiation is highlighted, assume a specific character. Sexual initiation definitely places individuals in important contexts of vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases (STD and AIDS), non-planned pregnancies and abortions. Thus, it is important to learn their motivations, contexts in which they occur and their implications for health.
One of the aspects that determine choices regarding the moment, partner and context in which it occurs is related to peer pressure. Hence, sexual initiation for boys is a way to express the process of becoming a man, the consolidation of masculinity, which can only be achieved among a group of equals. Therefore, “having the first sexual experience is not an automatic guarantee of a new status. Peers’ acknowledgment is necessary because it confers legitimacy to the passage”(1). A code of conduct was observed, prescribing that, at a certain moment, virginity becomes a weight in adolescents’ lives and operates as an element of pressure(2).
Sexual initiation can be encouraged, among others, due to the diffusion of the sexual behavior model dictated by peers, molded by the meaning culturally attributed to sexuality, in which men’s role is not to resist to sexual impulse and women’s role is to control their impulse, ratifying gender relations, present in the sexual initiation scenario(1).
Differences in men’s and women’s sexual initiation are well described in population studies that analyze data through the gender variable because, most of the times, men’s sexual initiation occurs earlier than women’s(2-3). Nevertheless, studies that adopt gender relations as a category of analysis picture the diversity and complexity of individuals’ sexual trajectories in a better way. The gender perspective recommends that differences between genders should not be naturalized, but considered as a consequence of a social and cultural construction of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, hierarchies and relation of power in each time, space and social group(1).
Gender issues have been considered essential in choices that surround the first sexual relation, because “the feeling of ‘giving themselves’ is unanimous among women in relation to the sexual act, conferring it value, that is, virginity is something “rare”. At the same time as there is a desire to discover, the need for “self preservation” is imposed. The male experience, on the other hand, is translated into two attitudes: first, sexual performance is seen as a gain, supporting the power of masculinity, and second, it is definitely a romantic attitude in which men seek to ‘give themselves” at the right moment to the right partner”(4).
This study assumes that men and women have different motivations for engaging in sexual life, which are the result of the construction of their identities based on gender relations. It cannot be ignored that adolescents are inserted in a friendship network that is their basic space for socialization. And their peers are not only subjected to normative norms of sexual behavior, but also reinforce these norms in their relations within the group. In this perspective, this study aimed to identify norms and social expectations surrounding sexual initiation in a group of adolescents, devised as from the particular meanings expressed in their reports.
METHOD
This qualitative study used the focal group technique with a semi-structured script. The study population was composed of 14 to 18 year-old adolescents, students from a public school in the East of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. Data were collected through four focus groups conducted in June 2006. Two were composed of girls (11 and eight participants) and two of boys (seven and six participants). The option to conduct groups separately by gender aimed to make participants feel at ease so as to expose their points of view without any reticence that could possibly occur in the presence of the opposite gender.
The choice of classrooms, where participants were invited to participate in the study, was the school’s suggestion, so as to include younger adolescents (between 14 and 16 years old, attending the eighth grade of primary education) and older ones (between 16 and 18 years old, attending the second grade of secondary education).
The main themes used to guide discussions were: adolescents’ daily life in the community they live in; affective/loving relationships in adolescence; and expectations and social norms that guide decisions regarding sexual relations during adolescence, grasped during adolescents’ experiences with peers and family, including sexual initiation and the conception of a healthy sexual life. The authors, who played the roles of moderator and observer, conducted the groups. All interviews were recorded.
Ethical recommendations were observed according to Resolution nº 196/96. After a explanation (in class) of the study objectives, adolescents were invited to participate in the study. Free and informed consent terms were provided on the day of the invitation to be signed by the parents of students younger than 18 years old. Written consent was obtained from participants and/or their legal guardians. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at the Sao Paulo City Council.
Data analysis was based on thematic content analysis(5). The more relevant themes expressed in the adolescents’ reports were identified, associated both to their perception and behavior regarding expectations and potential pressure exerted by their socio-cultural group related to the first sexual relation.