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Interview with April, 16, White British, upper working class. Women, Risk and Aids Project, Manchester, 1989. Anonymised version (Ref: AMD2255)

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posted on 2020-03-04, 11:12 authored by Rachel ThomsonRachel Thomson
This interview is part of the Women, Risk and Aids Project (1989-90) archive which was created as part of the Reanimating Data Project (2018-20).

Anonymised transcript of an interview with a young woman (April), age 16, with a current male partner of three years who is 21 years old. She highlights some generational conflict within her family when it comes to discussing sex and contraception, where her mother (aged 55) is reluctant to address it, while her father is much more open. She also has two older brothers, age 30 and 25. This is her first sexual relationship and she waited 'a few months' before engaging in sexual intercourse with her partner. She feels that she trusts him, and he treats her as an adult, and has considered a future together but would like to establish her own career before getting married. They were originally using condoms and the morning-after pill, but April is now on the pill. She learnt about contraceptive methods through her older brothers, her aunt and from reading magazines. Her sex education at school was largely scientific and covered STI's and contraceptive methods, either through the science department or a visiting teacher from the local Family Planning Clinic; AIDS education was touched upon in biology lessons, but most of what she knows about AIDS has been picked up from television and other public health campaigns. As she has only had one sexual partner, she does not consider herself as 'at risk' (in comparison to some of her more promiscuous peers). Safe-sex, to her, means using condoms/barrier methods of contraception. She doesn't feel too much embarrassment about buying condoms from public places, like chemists, but would like them to be more freely available in more private spaces, like women's toilets and thinks she would be able to discuss risk and sexual history with a new partner in the future.

Funding

ES/R009538/1

History

Spatial

Greater Manchester, UK

Temporal

1989

Identifier

AMD2255/O

Relation

AMD2255/C

Creator

Women, Risk and Aids Project (WRAP, 1989-90)

Publisher

The Reanimating Data Project (2018-20)

Date

1989-09-25