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Historically, pro- versus anti-pornography debates have been positioned around the concepts of sexual objectification versus sexual agency—arguing that pornography, especially Mainstream content, results in objectification of women versus arguing that pornography, especially Feminist pornography or erotica, depicts and can lead to female sexual empowerment. To date, however, no one has examined the content of Mainstream compared to Feminist pornography. The present content analysis of 300 pornographic scenes compares categories of internet pornography aimed at women (including Feminist and For Women) to Mainstream pornography, examining indicators of both sexual objectification (including stripping, cumshots, aggression, genital focus, and gaping) and agency (including self-touch, orgasm, and directing and initiating sex). Results suggest that Mainstream pornography contains significantly more depictions of female objectification than both Feminist and For Women content. There is an objectification gender gap between men and women in all categories, which is significantly wider in Mainstream content than in pornography aimed at women. Focusing on empowerment, queer Feminist pornography contained significantly more indicators of female sexual agency than both For Women and Mainstream categories, although primarily heterosexual Feminist pornography did not. Findings suggest that different categories of pornography provide women with different scripts related to sexual objectification, agency, and gender dynamics, which may impact sexual behavior.

Young women’s sexuality traditionally has been marked along a gendered moralist continuum of sexual activity, ranging from virtuous (virgins) to licentious (sluts). However, this one-dimensional model cannot easily accommodate substantive changes in the norms that influence girls’ sexualities. Contemporary scholarship generated across the Anglophone West includes many signs that such a shift has occurred, ushered in by the cultural and ideological suffusion of neoliberalism. I enlist interdisciplinary and international evidence of neoliberalism’s influence on constructions of girls’ sexuality to argue that in the U.S., girls are now judged on their adherence not only to gendered moralist norms, but also to a neoliberal script of sexual agency. In addition to reviewing conceptual and empirical grounds for this claim, I consider the multidimensional normative field created by the intersection of this Agency Line with the long-standing Virgin-Slut Continuum. The primacy of agency within neoliberal discourse seems to legitimize women’s sexual autonomy and its subjective nature may permit them some control over their position above the Agency Line. But upon critical inspection it becomes clear that young women remain confined to a prescribed normative space that divides them from one another, compels self-blame, and predicates their worth on cultural appraisals of their sexuality.

Background Evidence shows that HIV prevalence among young women in sub-Saharan Africa increases almost five-fold between ages 15 and 24, with almost a quarter of young women infected by their early-to mid-20s. Transactional sex or material exchange for sex is a relationship dynamic that has been shown to have an association with HIV infection. Methods Using five focus group discussions and 19 in-depth interviews with young women enrolled in the HPTN 068 conditional cash transfer trial (2011–2015), this qualitative study explores young women’s perceptions of transactional sex within the structural and cultural context of rural South Africa. The analysis also considers the degree to which young women perceive themselves as active agents in such relationships and whether they recognise a link between transactional sex and HIV risk. Results Young women believe that securing their own financial resources will ultimately improve their bargaining position in their sexual relationships, and open doors to a more financially independent future. Findings suggest there is a nuanced relationship between sex, love and gifts: money has symbolic meaning, and money transfers, when framed as gifts, indicates a young woman’s value and commitment from the man. This illustrates the complexity of transactional sex; the way it is positioned in the HIV literature ignores that “exchanges” serve as fulcrums around which romantic relationships are organised. Finally, young women express agency in their choice of partner, but their agency weakens once they are in a relationship characterised by exchange, which may undermine their ability to translate perceived agency into STI and HIV risk reduction efforts. Conclusions This research underscores the need to recognise that transactional sex is embedded in adolescent romantic relationships, but that certain aspects make young women particularly vulnerable to HIV. This is especially true in situations of restricted choice and circumscribed employment opportunities. HIV prevention educational programmes could be coupled with income generation trainings, in order to leverage youth resilience and protective skills within the confines of difficult economic and social circumstances. This would provide young women with the knowledge and means to more successfully navigate safer sexual relationships.

By amplifying the voices of young college women with intellectual and developmental disabilities, this study explores the intersections of disability, gender, sexuality, and higher education. It highlights how maternal socialization shapes their sexual knowledge prior to college, revealing that mothers often leave their daughters misinformed, disempowered, and dependent, even into adulthood. The study also addresses how persistent taboos and embodied avoidance strategies, such as euphemisms and gestures, limit these women’s agency and reflect constrained communication patterns from their upbringing. The findings underscore the crucial role of mothers in their daughters' sexual self-determination and advocate for tailored resources to support both mothers and their daughters, aiming to enhance sexual autonomy and education for women with disabilities.

Women are less likely than men to engage in sexually agentic behavior (e.g., initiating sexual encounters), despite the benefits associated with sexual agency (Kiefer & Sanchez, 2007 ). Two studies examined possible explanations, related to person perception, for gender differences in sexually agentic behavior. In Study 1, participants viewed the dating profiles of targets who were either high or low on sexual agency and rated sexually agentic targets as more desirable but also riskier sexual partners (i.e., having more previous sexual partners), as well as more selfish partners overall. Participants believed the agentic female targets to be the most desirable but also to have the highest number of previous sexual partners. In Study 2, female participants weighed the importance and consequences of sexual agency differently than male participants. Based on the two studies, we suggest that although men and women are judged similarly for sexual agency, women may refrain from sexual agency because they view the traits and characteristics that are perceived to go hand in hand with sexual agency more negatively.

Background Food insecurity is an important underlying driver of HIV risk and vulnerability among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. In this region, adolescents account for 80% of all new HIV infections. The primary purpose of this analysis is to understand perceived mechanisms for how a multisectoral agricultural intervention influenced sexual risk taking among HIV-affected adolescents in southwestern Kenya. Methods We conducted semi-structured, individual interviews with 34 adolescent-caregiver dyads who were participants in Adolescent Shamb a Maisha (NCT03741634), a sub-study of adolescent girls and caregivers with a household member participating in the Shamba Maisha trial (NCT01548599), a multi-sectoral agricultural and microfinance intervention. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using framework and interpretive description analysis methods. Results Adolescents receiving the Shamba Maisha intervention described no longer needing to engage in transactional sex or have multiple concurrent sexual partners as a way to meet their basic needs, including food. Key mechanisms for these effects include greater sexual agency among adolescent girls, and increased confidence and self-efficacy in overcoming existing reciprocity norms and sexual relationship power inequity; as well as staying in school. The intervention also increased caregiver confidence in talking about adolescent sexual reproductive health issues. In contrast, driven primarily by the need for food and basic needs, girls in the control arms described engaging in transactional sex, having multiple sexual partners, being unable to focus in school, getting pregnant or becoming HIV infected. Conclusion These findings emphasize the need to address food insecurity as a part of structural interventions targeting adolescent HIV risk in low-resource countries. We recommend that future interventions build upon the Shamba Maisha model by combining sustainable agricultural production, with household level interventions that deliberately target gender norms that contribute to unequal power dynamics.

Background: The sexual double standard (SDS) governs behaviors related to sexual activity and abstinence, promoting negative evaluations of sexually assertive women. Conversely, the sexual agency norm encourages young women to express their sexuality freely. This study explores how this complex normative context, combining SDS and sexual agency norms, impacts young women’s self-concept and attitudes toward sexual consent. Methods: A total of 154 Spanish university women (Mage = 19.69 years; SD = 2.23) participated in a 2 × 2 quasi-experimental design [Personal Reputation Threat: Sexual Activity vs. Sexual Abstinence × Agency Belief Affirmation: High vs. Low]. Participants completed a self-perception measure and the Spanish Adaptation of the Sexual Consent Scale-Revised. Results: Personal Reputation Threat influenced positive self-evaluation, with higher scores in the Sexual Activity (vs. Abstinence) condition. Agency Belief Affirmation also affected self-evaluation, with higher scores in the low-agency (vs. high-agency) condition. An interaction effect emerged on attitudes favoring sexual consent: participants showed greater support for sexual consent when devalued for sexual assertiveness rather than abstinence, but only under low-agency belief affirmation. These findings highlight identity conflicts and inconsistent sexual attitudes that young women may experience within the complex normative frameworks of contemporary Western societies.

Sexual agency (i.e., the ability to make decisions and assertions related to one’s own sexuality) is associated with sexual health enhancing outcomes. Given that young women are expected to act passively, rather than with agency when it comes to sexual encounters, the present study aimed to explore whether parental support, knowledge, and communication about sexuality during late adolescence contribute to an enhancement of sexual agency in a sample of young women in the long-term. Using a longitudinal design (panel study), 320 female participants who participated in three data collection waves (T1, T2, and T5) were included in the analyses (Mage = 16.2 years, SD = 0.50 at baseline). Mediated by the frequency of parents’ communication about sexuality with their daughters, both dimensions of parental support (emotional engagement and support of autonomy) positively predicted adolescent women’s sexual agency two years later. In contrast, parental knowledge of their children’s whereabouts was unrelated to communication and female sexual agency. Specific dimensions of parenting seem to play a crucial role in empowering adolescent girls to act agentic through communicating, emotional support, and encouraging autonomy, which in turn may contribute to healthy sexual behavior in young adulthood.

Traditional sexual scripts (TSS) are associated with gender inequality for exposing women to vulnerabilities. Higher adherence to TSS has also been associated with deficits in sexual agency, contributing for decrease women’s sexual health and problems with sexual satisfaction. The sexual agency is achieved through sex education, and comparing Portugal and Brazil that treat this issue in different ways may contribute to understand the role of sex education policies. This study verified and compared the association between TSSs, sexual agency and sexual satisfaction in Portuguese and Brazilian women and analyzed the predictive power of the variables on female sexual satisfaction. A cross-sectional online survey with 322 women university students, 161 Brazilian and 161 Portuguese, aged between 18 and 29, was made using measures to verify sexual scripts, sexual agency and sexual satisfaction, and data were analyzed using statistical analyses. Results indicate a significant moderate positive association between sexual satisfaction and initiation, and communion in both groups. Initiation, refusal, communion, instrumentality, and permissiveness were predictors of sexual satisfaction in Portuguese, and initiation, communion were predictors of sexual satisfaction in the Brazilian group. Despite higher rates of sex education and practices to prevent STIs and early pregnancy in the Portuguese group, there was no significant difference in adherence to sexual scripts in the groups. Compulsory sex education in Portugal contributes to increasing sexual agency in sexual practices, but programs focused on STI prevention and early pregnancy are not enough to change TSS, promote an integral agency, and sexual satisfaction.

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.