Bulletin

Issue: May 2005

Research in Action

Boy meets girl: how, where, what then?

How do young men initiate and organise their social and sexual relationships with young women? How, and very importantly where, do such friendships develop?

A La Trobe University research project is seeking answers to these questions, which have widespread ramifications for sexual and reproductive health.

A post doctoral fellow at La Trobe’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society (ARCSHS) Dr Michael Flood, has received a $218,000 ARC Discovery Grant to study these questions over three years.

A sociologist specialising in gender studies, Dr Flood says such research is timely given the growing attention being paid to men’s issues and changing gender roles.

He will recruit three groups of 30 young men aged between 16 and 25 from three areas, a workplace, a social group, and a sporting club. He will then trace the relations formed within the groups and then ‘work outwards’, tracing how relationships spread from these groups.

Dr Flood said Australian research on boys’ and young men’s participation in gender relations is among the best in the world, but it has not addressed substantially the intersections of masculinity and sexuality, particularly among males who are neither gay nor same-sex attracted.

‘Despite the increase in public and policy attention to the plight of boys, men’s issues and the state of masculinity, little is known about one important aspect of boys’ and young men’s lives, their sexual and social relations with girls and young women,’ he said.

‘Research in Australia on boys’ and young men’s participation in heterosexual sexual relations is remarkably rare, although more than 90 per cent of young men are heterosexual.’

The project will research three major areas:
What meanings, cultural understanding and social relations shape young heterosexual men’s sexual practices and relations?
In what way are men’s social and sexual practices shaped by settings, contexts and social collectives?
How is the organisation of young heterosexual men’s lives affected by other aspects of social differentiation such as work, class and ethnicity?

Dr Flood said results from the project would feed directly into prevention and education strategies in relation to four important issues of public health and public policy.

‘These are sexually transmitted infection, unplanned pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and sexual violence.

‘It will provide a wealth of information on the ways in which young heterosexual men understand and organise their sexual lives. This will enable health educators, service providers, and policy makers more effectively to address young men’s specific health needs, engage with young men in the promotion of sexual and reproductive health, and foster men’s health in general.’

He said social research of sexuality had shifted to the recognition that sexual relations were organised by local social networks associated with work, leisure, community and wider social structures.

‘These offer both possibilities and limitations for forming sexual activities. As well, male-male relations give meaning to young men’s sexual involvements with women but as yet there has been little research on ways in which heterosexual relations are shaped by setting and context.

‘In addition, my examination of the intersections of masculinity, heterosexuality and other dimensions of social difference such as ethnicity and class will make contribution to our knowledge of gender and sexuality.

‘It will form part of the booming international scholarship on men’s sexual and reproductive health and will complement similar studies in the USA and UK.’

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