What is it about?
In this paper, I show that gender norms within the medical discourse strongly influenced the understanding of adolescent sexual health in Sweden from the 1970s. The study revealed that responsibility for sexual health was closely linked to femininity and girls. This is significant because notions of adolescent sexual health and responsibility affect how society and institutions have directed their activities and information to young people, influencing and legitimising roles and norms. The findings presented in the paper will show how the gendered view of young people's sexual health was firmly founded in Sweden through the newly established youth guidance centres. Girls were seen as responsible but risk-taking, and boys were explained to have vital sexual needs but were irresponsible and uninterested in sexual health issues. However, in the 1990s, shared responsibility for girls and boys in sexual health seemed to emerge in the medical discourse.
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This page is a summary of: Girls’ Responsibilities, Boys’ Needs: Sexual Health, Gender and Youth in Sweden 1970–1999, European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health, October 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/26667711-bja10025.
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