Peer regulation of teenage sexual identities

This article examines the teenage policing of heterosexuality in schools and contributes to debates about teenage sexual moralities and heterosexual male agency. It reports on a qualitative study in England of the collective sexual values of 12‐ to 13‐year‐olds and 14‐ to 15‐year‐olds. Focus group interviews indicated that pupils developed a consensual sexual morality through collusive sex talk. Homophobic and misogynistic views and verbal abuse were found to be key instruments of teenage peer regulation of sexual identities crossing class and ethnic boundaries. We found that the 'official' discourse of sex education did not relate to teenage lives. Anxieties about heterosexual masculinity and girls' sexual agency were conveyed by some boys through verbal sexual harassment—a form of behaviour regarded as intimidating yet normal. While white and Asian boys were more conservative in their views about marriage than girls, white and Asian girls struggled to resist heterosexual masculine power through career aspirations, by questioning marriage and being informed about sexual issues. Notes Corresponding author: Department of English and Media Studies, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK. Email: Deborah.Chambers@ntu.ac.uk The project on Teenage Sexual Morality was funded by a £20,000 research grant from the Nottingham Trent University. See Tincknell et al. (Citation2003). The schools were selected to represent the wide socio‐economic spread in urban areas based on Ofsted reports and catchment areas informed by census ward statistics: a private all‐boys school, two mixed comprehensives in inner city Nottingham which has high levels of teenage pregnancies, and a private all‐girls' school in Kent. We also interviewed 20 of the schools' Personal & Social Health Education teachers about teenage sexuality and its regulation within the official curriculum (Chambers et al., Citation2001). Eighty‐five% and above of girls and 76% and above of boys experience peer sexual harassment in American studies (Fineran & Bennett, Citation1999; Kopels & Dupper, Citation1999; Murnen & Smolak, Citation2000), and 77% of girls and 72% of boys admitting sexually harassing their peers during school (Fineran & Bennett, 1999). See the National Union of Teachers pamphlet on Dealing with sexual harassment (1986) and 'The legal framework for school discipline' (1999) (www.dfee.gov.uk/circulars/10‐99/discip.htm). The more recent Department of Education policy on bullying in schools has compulsory anti‐bullying strategies and emphasises that sexual bullying impacts on both genders: www.dfes.gov.uk/a‐z/BULLYING_ba.html. While the national average for school meal arrangements at maintained secondary schools is 15.8% of pupils in England, 75% of pupils were eligible for school meals at the smaller comprehensive school compared to 33.2% at the larger one. The national average of pupils in maintained secondary schools for whom English is an additional language is 8% and in the large comprehensive 25% of its students came from homes where English is not the first language. The smaller school contained 59% of pupils from ethnic minority families and 43% from homes where English was not the first language. The latter also had a higher proportion of pupils affected by social disadvantages with 58% on the school's register of special education need compared to a national average of 2.5% (Statistics of Education, Citation2001). This is reflected in ONS figures on regional differences on teenage pregnancies (ONS, Citation2000). See Tincknell et al. (Citation2003). Also see Gordon et al. (Citation2000, p. 112).