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Young women’s retrospective accounts of their experience of same-sex sexual desire in adolescence

University of British Columbia

Seven women aged 19-25 participated in this qualitative study on young women's retrospective accounts of their experience of same-sex sexual desire in adolescence. Each woman participated in an open-ended, audiotaped interview. Each interview was transcribed and then analyzed using Arvay's (2002) narrative method of analysis. A narrative was developed from the analysis of each interview to represent the experience of same-sex desire in adolescence. Upon completion, each narrative was returned to the participant for feedback. Questions were also asked of each participant for clarification or new information. Five themes were identified upon reading across the narratives, based on their consistency across most or all the participants. These were: Growing up in a homophobic and heterosexist environment, denial and repression of same-sex desire, unfulfilled desire, secrecy and self-silencing, and reaching self-acceptance. It is anticipated that this research will help to redress the 'missing discourse of desire' in research and in social constructions of young women's sexuality, and contribute to the development of knowledge and implementation of counselling practice related to adolescent women's same-sex desire.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-11-18

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15280

Counselling Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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