'I want to do what I want to do': Young adults resisting sexual identities

Abstract

Sexual identities lie at the heart of social and public health writings about sexual health risk and, as such, are often subject to uncritical assumption and imposition. In this paper, a critique is offered of such discourses along with the equation that sexual identity can predict the nature of practice within and outside the bedroom. In doing so, the authors draw on the findings of two recent independent yet conterminous Australian qualitative studies of sexual identities and practices to examine how young women's and men's identities resist occupying stable, predictable and causal relationships to sexual practices. Finally, the implications of such empirical findings for HIV/AIDS and STI prevention activities are explored.