Understandings of the young sexual body

The seminar series will develop inter-professional understandings of young people's sexual bodies across key policy areas. It will do so through facilitating a creative dialogue between academics and practitioners, recognising that they often approach these issues from different perspectives, with different constraints and with different desired outcomes. A key difference stems from the very different world views of social scientists and medical scientists. In particular, social and cultural factors are not always fully recognised within biomedical literature (Einsten and Shildrick 2009). Einsten and Shildrick have further suggested that since the 1970s sociological feminist health theory and women's health practice have developed different understandings of the body, and they call for dialogue and openness between social scientists and clinicians around the subject of the body in healthcare provision. This series will promote such a dialogue as a starting point, and will then target a number of key policy areas in relation to young people's sexual bodies. These are: contraception and reproduction; sexual violence and bullying; sexualisation; sex and relationships education; and sexual behaviour and sexuality.

The series will draw on cutting edge research on young people's sexual health, relationships, sex education, and the role of media, popular culture, commerce and technologies in the construction of different understandings of the young sexual body. It will draw together two groups: firstly: leading academics, early career researchers and PhD students working in the key fields of childhood and youth studies, health and social policy, sexuality, sexual exploitation, sex and relationships education, and media and communication studies; and secondly: practitioners and agencies dealing with young people's sexual health and education in the UK (for example, Brook, Education for Choice, British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Sex Education Forum) and GPs and clinicians. A core group of ten participants constructed from these two groups will ensure continuity of discussion and learning throughout the series. The series will also build on a previous series funded by the ESRC (2010-2011): 'Pornified: complicating debates on the sexualization of culture'. Organisers of an AHRC funded research network, 'Onscenity', will also be participating.

This series thus aims to foster partnerships, and creative dialogue, between leading academics and practitioners broadly concerned with young people's sexualities and sexual health. Further, it aims to include front-line practitioners' experiences and perspectives within this dialogue so it is a dynamic interactive two-way process The seminar series aims to enable and explore joint understandings. Insights generated through current theoretically informed applied social research will be examined in the light of educational and clinical issues concerning young people's sexualities and sexual health. The series will question what we understand by young people's sexual bodies, and what kinds of diverse sexual behaviours exist. It will explore the notion of difference through locating different sexual bodies and behaviours within diverse social and cultural contexts and it will consider how gender, race, ethnicity, age, ability, class, and religious 'norms' impact on these. It will also examine notions of choice in relation to concerns such as bodily control, reproductive rights and sexual freedom. Key concepts such as risk, desire, safety, innocence, promiscuity, empowerment, and agency will be explored and critiqued. Discussions will focus on developing a grounded understanding of all these issues and their implications for young people's lives.

A website, final report and other publications will be used to disseminate the findings of the series to as wide an audience as possible. The overall aim is to facilitate the impact of applied social research in the policy areas being analysed.

A wide range of non-academic professionals and practitioners are likely to benefit from the proposed seminar series. These include: health care professionals, sex and sexual health educators; social care professionals; GPs; clinicians; youth workers; and charities and other organizations representing and/or supporting young people. Representatives from all these groups have attended a previous Sexual Health Research and Practice Conference at the University of Greenwich, and all have expressed an interest in learning about how applied social research can improve their practice. This is a key objective of the seminar series, and we have already invited a number of such practitioners as participants and speakers (as detailed in the Pathways ti Impact). Discussions will cover a number of themes including the relationships between different social and cultural contexts; young people's experiences and expectations; and the role of education in preparing young people for sexual relationships, adolescence and adulthood.
As our case for support outlines, the seminar series will take place in a context of anxieties about the young sexual body. These anxieties incorporate fears about the growing 'sexualization' of young people, reports of sexual violence and exploitation, and continuing concerns about unintentional pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. These are just some of the issues that practitioners, and policy-makers, are grappling with. The seminar series will address these, and other relevant, issues from academic and practitioner perspectives. The Errant Body seminar, for example, will investigate at least three key (under-researched) questions that practitioners working in contraceptive and sexual health settings are asking: why are increasing numbers of young women presenting for repeat abortions? Why are young women who do not want to become pregnant not taking emergency contraception following an incident of 'unprotected' sex? Why do so many young women have a contraceptive implant removed within one year of having it fitted? Each of the seminars has been carefully designed around a set of issues that are of concern to practitioners, and are currently being addressed in academic research.
The series will also benefit policy-makers and commissioners as improved understandings of these issues can influence that way in which professionals and agencies design policy interventions; as well as encouraging academics to recognize policy and practical constraints in their research plans and recommendations. Outputs from the series will help agencies and practitioners develop more effective practice. Finally, the participation of the sexual health programme leaders from the University of Greenwich and Anglia Ruskin University will ensure that lessons learnt will be incorporated into sexual health practitioners' training.
Services for young people are often driven by the needs to achieve targets and prevent 'risky' sexual behaviour. Young people, however, may have different priorities and needs that can undermine much of the rationale underpinning policy and provision. The seminar series will enable discussion of innovative and flexible approaches to the exploration of the issues and needs relevant to young people. It will also facilitate collaborations between practitioners and academics that will feed into the provision of services to young people.
The series will see the development of a web-based resource which will be widely publicised via existing academic/professional networks and which will realise the series' potential for ensuring that future research builds on existing knowledge and good practice. The results of the seminar series will also be presented as a report outlining differences, continuities and pressing issues across academic disciplines and practitioner boundaries and will be disseminated to charities, education groups, policy makers and youth organizations.