Inverting virginity, abstinence, and conquest: Sexual agency and subjectivity in classroom conversation

This study examines youth sexual agency during sexuality lessons in a New Zealand secondary school. Employing poststructuralist discourse analysis, examples are highlighted in which girls (and boys) gain access to sexual agency. Through conversation, girls are simultaneously positioned as ‘asked’ and ‘pursuer’ and boys as ‘asker’ and ‘pursued’ whilst abstinence and virginity are imbued with sexual agency for both sexes. This study demonstrates that it is discursive versions of agency which hold central importance in youth sexual development. Thus the capacities for sexual action that are fostered in classroom conversation cannot plausibly be separated from agentive sexual practices of young people beyond the classroom's walls.