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Abstract
In Russia, young adults face many barriers that prevent them from accessing reliable and up-to-date knowledge about what sexual communication between partners can look like. This may lead to episodes of sexual miscommunication, which in turn sometimes result in sexual aggression. The study aimed to identify how following prevalent sexual scripts facilitates clear sexual communication or alternatives leads to miscommunication between Russian young adults. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 women and 11 men aged 19-25 years living in St. Petersburg (Russia) who had had at least one sexual partner of the opposite sex. Data were analysed thematically. Four themes were developed from the interviews: (1) endorsing (or not endorsing) traditional sexual scripts, (2) the presence or absence of sexual compliance, (3) softening refusal of sexual contact or intercourse, (4) the belief that asking for consent is unusual. Findings indicate that patterns and clarity of sexual communication differ depending on the type of relationship (serious, casual, and other), its stage, and partners’ beliefs. Study findings underscore the need for sex and sexuality education for young people in Russia.
Acknowledgements
I thank those who helped in recruitment to this study and participants for their trust and honesty. I am also grateful to Ksenia Yurievna Eritsyan, who supervised the research, and the reviewers, whose comments helped me improve the paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This research received no financial support.