| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Drawing upon interviews with second-generation Latina youth, this article extends knowledge on young women's sexual lives by examining how Latina girls construct their sexual subjectivity within the context of their first sex experiences. In their narratives, girls identified two types of relationships as appropriate for virginity loss-those defined by love and those characterized by a mutual sentiment of caring. Their perceptions of these relationships not only informed how Latina girls made sense of their first sex experiences but also entailed critical consequences for their ability to negotiate curiosity and safe sex with partners at this point in their sexual biography. The focus on the first sex experiences of Latina youth provides insight into their notions of gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual ideologies and how they use these ideas to socially construct their sexual identities.
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