Talking tough and feeling safe

1
Talking tough and feeling safe

• Researching young womens sexual safety
• innovations and perspectives
• Joy Trotter
• UK Joint Social Work Education Conference with
  the UK Social Work Research Conference
• Social Work People, Place and Politics
• Homerton College, Cambridge
• 9th-11th July 2008

2
Lavie-Ajayi, M. (2007)

• Introduction
• adults concerns about young people
• adults concerns about young womens sexual
  safety
• safe from what? safe from whom?
• reasons to have sex
• adults lack of concern?
• findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey
• adults lack of knowledge?
• adults lack of awareness?
• young gay women's sexual safety
• Researching young womens sexual safety
• The project
• Preliminary stages chicken or egg?
• Other considerations
• Vulnerability and consent
• Reflecting on process (so far)
• References

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adults concerns about young people

• Last months news headlines
• A dossier of abuse of the human rights of
  children and young people in Britain widespread
  infringements of the UN convention most serious
  defects include
• A punitive juvenile justice system
• Public attitudes that demonise teenagers
• Lack of protection against physical punishment in
  the home
• One of the highest levels of child poverty in
  Europe.
  The Guardian Monday, 09 June 2008
• Under-25s offered online help as debts grow
• over 2 out of 3 young people aren't planning
  ahead
• increasing numbers are in debt
• a third owe more than 5,000 .
  The
  Independent Sunday, 08 June 2008
• School meals 'near collapse' as soaring food
  costs and lack of Government funding take toll.
• The Daily Mail Monday, 23 June 2008

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adults concerns about young women's sexual
safety

• Last months news headlines
• 1 in 5 parents refuse daughters' cervical cancer
  jab. The
  Guardian Friday April 25 2008
• Abortion rate hits record high among under-16s.
  The Independent
  Saturday, 20 June 2008
• The Pill online Fear for young girls as website
  starts selling prescription-only contraceptives
  today.
  The
  Daily Mail Monday, 23 June 2008
• Not in the headlines
• women account for nearly half of the 40 million
  people living with HIV-1 worldwide (Quinn
  and Overbaugh 2005)
• numerous studies into pregnancy and sexually
  transmitted infections (STIs) all with sub-text
  of prevention and/or abstinence
  
  (Remez 2000 Wellings
  et al 2001)

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safe from what? safe from whom?

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18 heterosexual young women - action research
group, YWCA Northampton 2006 Lavie-Ajayi, M.
(2007)
7
adults lack of concern?
8
findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey

• Current levels of sexual victimisation
• 0.9 per cent of women aged 16 to 59 said they
  had been subject to some form of sexual
  victimisation (including rape) during the last
  year.
• Levels of lifetime (since age 16) sexual
  victimisation
• Around 1 in 10 women (9.7) said they had
  experienced some form of sexual victimisation
  (including rape) since age 16.
• Around 1 in 20 women (4.9) said they had been
  raped on at least one occasion since age 16.
• Risk factors for sexual victimisation
• Age is the biggest risk factor for experiencing
  sexual victimisation young women aged 16 to 24
  were more likely to say they had been sexually
  victimised in the last year than older women.
• Single women, students, and women living in
  privately rented households also experienced
  higher than average risks of sexual
  victimisation it is likely, however, that this
  is the same pattern reflected for age young
  women are disproportionately found in these
  socio-demographic group
• (Myhill and Allen 2002)

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adults lack of knowledge?

• Failing to address sexuality and fertility for
  young people with impairments or health
  conditions means we also fail to offer them the
  chance to feel good about themselves and to
  achieve socially and psychologically healthy
  adult identities. (Balen Crawshaw
  2006 p11)
• Much of the violence and aggression that was
  talked about was sexual in nature and again, they
  spoke of young mens violence against young
  women. They try to nip your bum ... cos they
  just do it cos theyre (young woman)
  (Trotter 2006 p296)

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adults lack of awareness?

• Young, out and proud sexual health experts have
  expressed concern that - with no chance of
  pregnancy and few worries about STDs - lesbian
  teenagers are more promiscuous than their
  straight peers.
  The Guardian Friday October
  13, 2006
• The seemingly everyday occurrences of sexual
  aggression and intimidation between young people
  in schools might signal adults disinterest or
  even acceptance of homophobic violence and
  violence against women
  (Trotter 2006
  p299)

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young gay women's sexual safety

• One member of our group told us of a friend of
  hers that was walking hand-in-hand with her
  girlfriend one evening in the centre of Bristol
  and was attacked and punched by two men.
• Young woman, Lavie-Ajayi 2007
• She got tortured for it. She ended up sitting on
  the front at dinner times and breaks for being
  called lesbian. She was the only one who ever
  got really badly bullied, and whether its true or
  not nobody knows.
  Young
  man, Trotter, 2006
• Generally there is a lack of specific services
  for young women I think theres a lot more for
  young men, and young gay men are so much more
  accepted than young women are ... I felt isolated
  people need to feel safe about who to talk to.
  If you were black and getting racism you could
  maybe talk to a black teacher. But I didnt know
  if there was any gay teachers but it wasnt
  talked about so you suspected that they were in
  hiding themselves or not allowed to be gay
  doesnt fill you with confidence.
  Young woman, Hind 2004

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Researching young womens sexual safety
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The project

• research focus
• differences between adults' perceptions and young
  people's
• research aims
• redressing the balance between the literature
  around young women and sexual safety (mostly
  based on adult-controlled research) by
• involving young women in the design, content and
  structure of the research process
• by asking young women what they believe the
  differences and gaps are between their
  perceptions and adults' perceptions of young
  women's sexual safety and,
• by involving the perspectives of young gay women
  (often missing from research in this area).

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Preliminary stages chicken or egg?

• Consultation
• Design
• Content
• Structure
• Process
• Creating a safe environment
• discussing a working agreement
• explaining research
• getting to know each other
• securing consent
• Ethical approval

• Permission
• Ethical approval
• Design
• Content
• Structure
• Process
• Creating a safe environment
• discussing a working agreement
• explaining research
• getting to know each other
• securing consent

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Other considerations

• self-presentation
• insider/outsider status
• influence of obtaining consent on participation
  rates
• verbal consent / written consent
• verbal parental consent / written parental
  consent
  
• (Geldens, 2002)
• how informed can participants be?
• how can consent be obtained from everyone who
  enters the field?
• how extensive can consent to observation be
  assumed to be?
• (Mulhall, 2003)
• 'informed dissent ensuring that children and
  young people can refuse to take part.
• (Edwards Alldred, 1999)

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Vulnerability and consent

• lesbian and gay young people are characterised as
  vulnerable because lesbian and gay sexualities
  are largely stigmatised and/or problematised
  identities.
• conducting research with lesbian or gay young
  people is difficult because of
• the reluctance of adults/professionals to agree
  to research focusing on sexuality
• the reluctance of young people to participate
  because of risks of bullying and social
  exclusion.
• (Valentine, Butler Skelton, 2001)

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Reflecting on process (so far)

• Stalled and frozen
• Talking tough or feeling safe?
• Mirrored experiences?
• Im happy because Im not nervous and anxious or
  worried about being gay, Im not worried about
  being on my own Ive got more self confidence, I
  know being gay is normal and okay.
• Young woman, Hind 2004

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References

• Balen, R. Crawshaw, M. (Eds.) (2006) Sexuality
  and Fertility Issues in Ill Health and
  Disability From Adolescence to Adulthood,
  London Jessica Kingsley.
• Edwards, R. Alldred, P. (1999) Children and
  young people's views of social research the case
  of research on home-school relations. Childhood,
  6(2), 261 281.
• Geldens, P. (2002) I am not as cool as I thought
  I was the challenges of conducting research with
  young people in rural areas. Rural Social Work
  7(1), 1 6.
• Hind, T. (2004) Promoting Lesbian and Gay Health
  and Wellbeing, London PACE.
• Mulhall, A. (2003) In the field notes on
  observation in qualitative research. Journal of
  Advanced Nursing 41(3), 306 - 313.
• Quinn, T. C. and Overbaugh, J. (2005) HIV/AIDS in
  women an expanding epidemic, Science, 308(5728),
  pp. 1582 1583
• Remez, L. (2000) Oral sex among adolescents is
  it sex or is it abstinence? Family Planning
  Perspectives, 32(6), pp. 298 - 304
• Wellings, K., Nanchahal, K., Macdowall, W.,
  McManus, S., Erens, B., Mercer, C., Johnson, A.,
  Copas, A., Korovessis, C. and Fenton, K. (2001)
  Sexual behaviour in Britain early heterosexual
  experience, The Lancet, 358(9296), pp. 1843
  1850
• Marston , C. and King, E. (2006) Factors that
  shape young people's sexual behaviour a
  systematic review, The Lancet, 368(9547), pp.
  1581 1586
• Lavie-Ajayi, M. (2007) Is it a sex thing? Using
  co-operative inquiry to support sexual health A
  YWCA report of action research by young women,
  Oxford YWCA England Wales
• Myhill, A. and Allen, J. (2002) Rape and Sexual
  Assault of Women The Extent and Nature of the
  Problem. Home Office Research Study 237
• Trotter, J. (2006) Violent crimes? Young
  peoples experiences of homophobia and misogyny
  in secondary schools. Practice, 18(4), 291 302
• Valentine, G., Butler, R. Skelton, T. (2001)
  The ethical and methodological complexities of
  doing research with vulnerable young people.
  Ethics, Place and Environment 4, 117 - 178.

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Talking tough and feeling safe

• Researching young womens sexual safety
• innovations and perspectives
• thank you
• Joy Trotter j.trotter_at_tees.ac.uk