A Life Course Perspective on the Sexual Development of Young Intersex People.

Previous research has indicated that intersex people face specific challenges in their sexual development, including uncertainties or confusion about their gender, a negative genital self-image, and hesitance to engage in romantic and sexual relationships. However, in-depth knowledge regarding a central period in this development, adolescence, is missing. In our qualitative study, we explore which factors influence the relational and sexual development of intersex youth and what elements contribute to positive development. We interviewed eighteen intersex persons aged 18-38. We identified three main themes: (1) intersex experiences, (2) the described sexual and relational life course, and (3) factors influencing a positive development. Our findings show that intersex youth face many obstacles in their relational and sexual development, many of which are related to healthcare. However, their life stories also illuminate how healthcare professionals, as well as parents, friends, partners, teachers, and others, can make a substantial difference in intersex lives by breaking normative, binary thinking on sex and gender.

Working with young peer researchers in sexuality studies: benefits, challenges and lessons learnt.

Involvement as peer researchers provides young people with an opportunity to exercise their right to participation and can facilitate unique insights into young people's lives, social contexts, choices and negotiations. However, evidence on the approach has to date included little in-depth discussion on the complexities presented by sexuality research. Here, engaging young people as researchers is influenced by intersecting cultural discourses, particularly regarding youth agency and sexual freedom. This article provides practice-based insights from involving young people as peer researchers within two rights-based sexuality-focused research projects in Indonesia and the Netherlands. Drawing on two contrasting cultural contexts, it explores benefits and challenges regarding youth-adult power dynamics, the taboo nature of sexuality, research quality and dissemination. Recommendations for future studies include ongoing training and capacity strengthening for peer researchers which recognise cultural and educational backgrounds, strong youth-adult partnerships creating an enabling environment for the engagement of peer researchers, careful consideration of how young people are involved and critical reflection on adult-centric views of what constitutes "academic" research.

'Sex Is Not Just about Ovaries.' Youth Participatory Research on Sexuality Education in The Netherlands.

Young people are not satisfied with the sexuality education they receive in Dutch high schools. They rate their sexuality education as mediocre (5.8 on a scale of one to ten). In cooperation with 17 young peer researchers, we explored what good sexuality education looks like from the point of view of young people. The peer researchers collected data in their own high school, using mixed methods, starting with individual interviews, followed by focus group discussions and Photovoice sessions to get more in-depth views on topics, class atmosphere, and teacher skills. In total, 300 pupils aged 12-18 participated in the research. Our findings demonstrate that young people want more sexuality education, during their whole school career. They want sexuality education to move beyond biological functions, sexually transmitted diseases, and reproduction into issues like dating, online behavior, sexual pleasure, relationships, and sexual coercion. Moreover, pupils want sexual diversity integrated and normalized in all content. One of the main issues is that sexuality education should be given in a safe class atmosphere, which demands sensitivity from the teacher. In addition to the findings of the study, this article reflects on the steps to be taken to realize the changes desired by young people.

Navigating Identities: Subtle and Public Agency of Bicultural Gay Youth.

Young people who discover their sexual attraction to people of the same sex often go through a period of ambivalence or distress, especially when they grow up in an environment that condemns homosexuality. The Dutch sociopolitical context makes the expression of same-sex desires among those with non-Dutch roots even more complicated and risky, as prevailing schemes of interpretation render the two identities incompatible. This study explores the expressions of same-sex desires and identities as well as the different forms of agency of bicultural gay youth. In-depth interviews with 14 young adults reveal how young people negotiate bicultural identities in Dutch society that brings to the fore complexities in managing diverse sexual identities and strong religious and cultural affiliations in tandem. Their strategies have the effect of questioning dominant discourses and transcend the oppositional dichotomy between sexual and ethnic forms of sociocultural otherness.

Sexual discourses and strategies among minority ethnic youth in the Netherlands.

This study explores the way minority ethnic youth in the Netherlands evaluate their sexual experiences, how they frame these experiences in different sexual discourses and how they deal with conflicts between different sexual discourses, both at home and in Dutch society. During 46 narrative interviews, Dutch young people (aged 12-22 years) from different minority ethnic communities shared their sexual histories and their dreams for the future relating to love and sexuality. Different sexual discourses can be identified in the language they used to describe their ideas and their experiences. Young people grow up with a variety of discourses but actively re-shape them according to circumstances and need. In many cases, young people experience a conflict between the discourses of the home and those that are prevalent more generally in Dutch society. Young people's ways of negotiating these contradictory discourses comprise four main strategies: (1) conforming to parents' values, (2) breaking up with parents, (3) leading a double life and (4) integrating competing discourses. By bringing together different sexual discourses and acknowledging diverse strategies, sexual health policies can become more effective in promoting sexual health for minority ethnic youth. Findings from the study add fuel to debate on understanding (sexual) agency among young people, exhibiting the social 'embeddedness' of individual agency.