Att hantera sexualiteten i det tjugonde århundradet
en studie av sexualrådgivningen på ungdomsmottagningen och förmedlingen av normer från personal till ungdom
The subject of this paper is the mediation of norms about sexuality, from personnel working at the Swedish ?ungdomsmottagning? (youth centre for service and counselling about sexual health), to the visiting teenagers. The purpose of the empirical study is to investigate how the staff understands the part of their work that implies giving advice about sexuality; how they work, which norms they have about youth sexuality and how they see their roll as advisers. To answer these questions, I have interviewed six staff members working at different youth centres. Three of them work as social counsellors and three as midwifes.The main area of work at the centre consists of individual appointments, but another important task is meeting with school classes visiting for purposes of study. Young people turn to midwifes to test themselves for sexually transmitted deceases, for counselling about contraceptives, etc. They turn to the social counsellors to talk about problems, relationships, their identity etc. As advisors the staff tries to act on how the teenagers themselves view their situation. It does occur though, that they express their own opinions and mediate norms. These norms are, for example, that the purpose with having sex should be to experience pleasure, that sex should be mutual and that young people should take responsibility for their sexuality. In this way, the workers influence how youth manage their sexuality. They play a part in young people?s socialisation. The motif of their actions is to foster the physical and mental health of the youth.