Using a post-structural lens which situates gender as discursively produced, this study investigates how four 12-year-old girls read feminist fairy tales and what feminist issues and concerns they discern and relate to in these texts. The study used a dialogic approach in Action Research informed reading groups to stimulate their thinking and…

The aim of this study was to better understand the role of school bathrooms in shaping the menstrual experiences of adolescents in the U.S.A. The participants were Black and Latina, low-income adolescent girls (15-19) and adults interacting closely with youth in three U.S.A. cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City). Data collection methods…

This piece builds on scholarship in African American parading and Black Girls' Literacies by presenting parading as a metaphor to analyze a website created by nine Black adolescent girls. I draw on multimodal analysis frameworks to understand the symbolic nature of the site and its components, as well as how the girls use it as a platform to speak…

To properly understand sex education, it is important to consider the informal education that takes place outside the classroom. Students often seek out other resources to supplement the education they receive in school, especially to cover topics which are absent or underdeveloped in the formal sex education curriculum. A key resource for this,…

This paper focuses on the affective and sensual dimensions of sexuality, especially on what feels good in and on the body. Drawing on a longitudinal participatory case study of a young Christian woman's dancing practices, it illustrates how for young women sexual feelings and sexual pleasure are not only pertinent to those practices normatively…

This qualitative study explored 18 high-risk adolescent Latinas' perceptions of their relationships with nonresident fathers. A number of interrelated factors--early childhood memories, mothers' interpretations, and fathers' behaviors--shaped girls' perceptions, which in turn, influenced how they interacted with fathers. Some girls struggled to…

This study examined the psychometric properties of a new scale to measure adolescents' worry regarding outcomes of risky sexual behavior (i.e. sexually transmitted infections, including HIV [STI/HIV], and unintended pregnancy). The 10-item worry about sexual outcomes (WASO) scale, resulting in two subscales STI/HIV worry and pregnancy worry, was…