Adolescent Heterosexual Males Talk About the Role of Male Peer Groups in Their Sexual Decision-Making

This research draws on in-depth, one-on-one interviews with a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 17 adolescent males, both virgins and non-virgins, to explore how they use talk to construct their sexual selves and present themselves as sexual decision-makers. The emphasis here is how some of the boys (n = 8) drew upon a particular discourse in their self-productions and implicated male peer groups in that production. I introduce the concept of the male fraternity and show how its particular qualities mediate boys’ sense of masculinity and belonging, as well as their understanding of females as sex partners. Attention is also paid to how the group context generates social control features that limit individual resistance to collective understandings about gender and sexuality. The findings require corroboration but suggest important ways in which adolescent talk and male peer groups are implicated in the production of male sexuality and the denial of female subjectivity.

Mark CohanEmail: