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Girls’ Stories About Their First Sexual Intercourse: Readiness, Affection and Experience-Seeking in the Process of Growing into Womanhood

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Abstract

This study introduces Finnish girls’ views on and explanations for the factors contributing to their decisions concerning their first sexual intercourse. The data consists of personal interviews with girls aged 16–19, and stories produced through process drama. The analysis was conducted by narrative methods. Two model story categories of the first sexual intercourse stories were constructed: the close relationship and the casual relationship. The close relationship category consists of elements of two sub-stories: the conventional and the planned love story. The casual relationship category consists of elements of the tragic love, the teenage party and the experience-seeking sub-stories. Being prepared for sex was a shared plot element in all of the first intercourse stories. In the close relationship category the other major explanatory factors were mutual love and a steady relationship. In the casual relationship category the explanatory factors were girl’s affection for the partner without a relationship or getting experience, respectively. The girls’ agency in the use of contraception and the intercourse itself differed between the sub-stories. Girls regarded intercourse as an important step towards their womanhood. Those who work with teenagers should be aware of these stories in order to reinforce those stories where teenagers are active agents.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation. The authors would like to thank Rod McConci and Joel Kuortti for language checking.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kuortti, M., Lindfors, P. Girls’ Stories About Their First Sexual Intercourse: Readiness, Affection and Experience-Seeking in the Process of Growing into Womanhood. Sexuality & Culture 18, 505–526 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-013-9206-1

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