The Message is in the Bottle: Latino Youth Communicating Double Standard Ideologies Through Photovoice

Background

Young Latinas living in the United States experience inordinate sexual and reproductive health outcome disparities. However, though prioritized as subjects for prevention, they are also often denied sexual agency.

Purpose

This article reports the results of a study conducted to examine young Latino/a participants' perspectives on communicating and learning about sexuality in school and family settings.

Methods

A Photovoice project was conducted with 20 Latino/a high school students. Each participant received a digital camera to take photos for 2 discussion sessions. Participants discussed select photos in relation to self-generated topics.

Results

One overarching theme, double standards in expectations about sexual communication, and 2 related subthemes, contrasting gender expectations in sexual desire and pleasure and confirming ideologies in sexual taboos and disconnections, emerged during discussions.

Discussion

The persistence of a double standard placing responsibility for sexual protection on young women indicates a need to design health education programs centered on a critical examination of gendered and sexual expectations.

Translation to Health Education Practice

Research findings on gender inequities should be translated to health education practice. In sexuality education this means conducting activities that address subjectivity and agency as they are accorded to participants in their everyday lives.

Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by Award Number 03HD059613 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development or the National Institutes of Health.