Teenage Intimacies

Young Women, Sex and Social Life in England, 1950-80
Based upon over 300 personal testimonies, the book traces the everyday experiences of teenage girls of the post-war period, illuminating how matters of romance, sex and intimacy shaped their young lives. In doing so, it reveals the pivotal role that young women played in changing English sexual culture in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Teenage Intimacies offers a new account of the ‘sexual revolution’ in mid-twentieth century England. Rather than focusing on ‘Swinging London’, the book reveals the transformations in social life that took place in school playgrounds, local cinemas, and suburban bedrooms.
Based on over 300 personal testimonies, Teenage Intimacies traces the everyday experiences of teenage girls, illuminating how romance, sex and intimacy shaped their young lives. The book shows how sex became embedded in ideas about ‘growing up’ and explores how heterosexuality influenced young women’s social lives and vice versa. It offers new explanations of why sexual mores shifted in this period, revealing the pivotal role that young women played in changing sexual values, cultures and practices in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.