Pre-Adolescent and Adolescent Sexual Relationships - More Than Just Sex!

A great deal has been written, and said, about ‘teenage pregnancy’ and the
resultant status of ‘young’ motherhood. Much of this commentary takes a
moralistic position that seems insistent on imposing causal and consequential
explanations; based upon values and beliefs that are seldom subjected to
detailed scrutiny. This chapter relies upon recently completed research that did
not presume to locate ‘young’ motherhood within such problematising
narrative structures. Rather the emphasis was on gaining an appreciation of
lives: how they are lived and how they are told. Presented in this chapter is
what might be termed a brief encounter with Abby. The data that is presented,
and analysed, focuses upon her pre-adolescent and adolescent relationships.
The story told here is not one of early pregnancy and caring for children;
although these are most certainly later aspects of her life story. Rather we offer
an account of a vibrant young woman who enthusiastically shares her
experiences and interpretations of events and locations where her
understandings and expectations around sex and sexual relationships
developed.