Under Pressure: First Sexual Relation of Teenagers from Trelew (Argentina)

• Published in: Estudos feministas Vol. 18; no. 2; p. 339
• Main Author: Jones, Daniel Eduardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Florianopolis Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, CFH/CCE - Revista Estudos Feministas 01-01-2010
• Subjects: Adolescents; Children; Coercion; Feminism; Friendship; Gender; Gender relations; Sexual behavior; Sexuality; Social classes; Womens studies; Argentina
• ISSN: 0104-026X; 1806-9584
• DOI: 10.1590/S0104-026X2010000200004

The article analyses the expectations and experiences related to the first sexual relation of teenagers. The research is based on individual semi-structured interviews with 22 men and 22 women aged from 15 to 19 , belonging to the middle class layer from Trelew, a city of 100,000 inhabitants in the Argentinean Patagonia. The article focuses on the expected roles and experiences of pressure for sexual initiation. Desired roles for girls and boys regarding their first sexual relation reflect asymmetric gender expectations and can lead to coercive actions of partners and friends. These coercions can be interpreted considering the relations with the sexual partner and the influence of teenagers’ networks as a public interested in the first sexual relation. The testimonies are analyzed within a sexual scripting theory, and considering gender and age of the interviewed actors.