"The Accidental Virgin": An Analysis of Sex, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health in Seventeen Magazine
Berger-Singer, Leah
Citations
Abstract
Public debates on youth sexuality, sex education, and reproductive rights are forever changing. Social media outlets are important knowledge spaces for teens to learn, share, and seek information regarding these topics. Using feminist content analysis, I explore how eight issues of Seventeen magazine construct and uphold conservative fears of teen sexuality. With the application of Michelle Fine’s four discourses of female sexuality, found in public-school sex education, (sexuality as individual morality, sexuality as victimization, sexuality as violence, and the missing discourse of desire) I seek to address how Seventeen constructs its target audience as a cis-gendered, heterosexual, teen girl who lives without sexual desire or the need for medically accurate sex education or reproductive health services. With the recent overturn of Roe v. Wade, this study seeks to acknowledge how public discourses of sex, sexuality, and reproductive health directly impact how youth view their individual bodily autonomy or lack thereof.
