A qualitative study of the interrelationship between alcohol, gender, sexuality and victimization among Danish youths below the age of 18.

Aims

The aim of the project is to explore the multiple ways in which gendered, social dimensions of intoxication influence sexual encounters during adolescence (14- 17), a period critical for youth in developing and establishing drinking practices as well as sexual behaviors. Two sub-projects expand the main project’s focus on adolescent intoxicated relations by focusing on two important, related areas; the role of parents and policies, and the role of social media.

Background

In Denmark, many young people view intoxication as an acceptable and ordinary behaviour, and getting drunk is considered an essential aspect of social and sexual youth lives. Nonetheless, there is little research on young people’s intoxicated sexual encounters. First of all, while extensive sociological research has focused on sexual relations and power dynamics, intoxication is generally absent from these accounts. At the same time, theoretical perspectives of sexuality and intimacy have largely been absent from research on the effects of alcohol in sexual encounters. Secondly, some studies among young adults have found alcohol to have a major contributory role in violent and aggressive sexual behaviour, making it important to understand the boundaries between consensual and non-consensual sexual situations and the social circumstances in which victimization occurs. Furthermore, as young adults have been the primary focus of such research, adolescents are an understudied group even though adolescents may be at heightened risk of experiencing sexual victimization in comparison with adults.

The study

The project uses a combination of different qualitative methods. The main project conducts 80 semi-structured interviews with youth between 14-17 years of age. The subproject on parents and policies conducts focus groups with a total of 60 parents of adolescents and a policy analysis focusing on both alcohol and sexual conduct. The subproject on social media conducts focus groups with 30 adolescents, structured diaries with 10 adolescents and selected digital ethnography. The project runs for 3 years, starting from 1^st of September 2023. Read more about the PhD study here.

The project takes a sociologically based theoretical approach, and draws on a combination of sexual script theory, theories of intoxication and alcohol expectancies, and context specific theories of intoxicated interactions. Additionally, theories of gender and digital media will be included to unfold how gendered practices and discourses play out in both offline and online intoxicated sexual encounters.

Funding

The research project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (Sapere Aude).

Collaborations  

The project is followed by an advisory board consisting of international researchers who have extensive experience within the research fields of alcohol, youth culture as well as gender and sexuality. The members of the advisory board are Professor Geoffrey Hunt (DK/USA), Associate professor Alexandra Bogren (SW), senior researcher Marienne Cense (NL) and professor Angus Bancroft (UK).