Introduction: in search of good sexual-developmental pathways for adolescent girls.

Historically, research has portrayed adolescent sexuality as a source of problems and risks rather than an integral aspect of human development. This is particularly true with regard to research on adolescent girls, traditionally cast as sexual gatekeepers whose primary task is to fend off boys’ sexual overtures and set aside their own sexual desires in order to reduce their risks for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Michelle Fine powerfully identified and critiqued this cultural framework over fifteen years ago in a seminal review article on school-based sex education discourses (Fine, 1988). By spotlighting the multiple ways in which sociocultural forces function to silence girls’ sexual voices and stunt their sexual agency, Fine’s analysis provided an important spark for researchers to begin creatively reimagining what healthy, self-affirming sexuality might look like for girls and how we might best identify and promote it. In the ensuing years, an increasing number of thoughtful and constructive critiques have challenged negatively oriented perspectives on sexual risk. These critiques have argued for more sensitive, in-depth, multimethod investigations into positive meanings and experiences of adolescent female sexuality that will allow us to conceptualize (and, ideally, advocate for) healthy sexual-developmental trajectories. This volume takes up the challenge by presenting a series of chapters by accomplished sexuality researchers setting forth diverse perspectives on healthy sexuality development among adolescent girls.