Betydningen av seksuell erfaring, tiltrekning og identitet for ...

themselves as sexually attractive. Two heterosexual boys kissing at a party
was much less common, and was more strongly linked to subcultural
symbolism and to labelling an in-group as rebellious and daring, in
opposition to the rest of the mainstream boys at the party. Thus, the
homosexual kiss was interpreted in several ways: as ‘homosexual’, a symbol
of rebellion, a simulation of sexual behaviour and a simulation of a break
with heteronormativity (Hegna & Larsen, Submitted; Larsen et al., 2005).
Defined as ‘play’ and a game, such kissing may be normative behaviour in
some settings. However, a ‘real’ homosexual kiss is most likely nonnormative
behaviour among adolescents, and participants in this type of
kissing in a public setting potentially run the risk of stigmatisation.
In the current study, the group reporting homosexual behaviour without
attraction mainly comprised young people with homosexual kissing
experience only. Their frequent alcohol use and good social integration
could be explained as a consequence of a peer and party-oriented lifestyle,
where the homosexual kissing experience characterises a group of (female)
young people that are socially well integrated, popular among their friends
and the young males who are the goal of their attractions. The normative
party culture among Norwegian youth is still foremost a culture of alcohol
use and binge drinking (Pedersen, 1998), which is in the same context as the
homosexual kissing between two young women.
Research on non-normative sexual activity has shown for instance that
early sexual initiation is related to unconventionality and sensation seeking
(Costa et al., 1995; Kalichman, Heckman, & Kelly, 1996; Kalichman,
Tannenbaum, & Nachimson, 1998) and problem behaviour in adolescence
(Jessor, 1992). A propensity in young people to explore and to break
normative barriers may be an underlying factor for both homosexual
explorations as well as substance use. The finding that both alcohol and drug
use is more widespread in both homosexual groups compared to the
heterosexual group, indicates that unconventionality and non-normativity
may be important for explaining more frequent substance use in both groups,
as has been proposed by Bailey (1999). This should be investigated further
in future studies.
Homosexual attraction represents a more profound break with
heteronormative socialisation, than homosexual experience in itself does.
This break with heteronormativity may result in a feeling of being ‘different’
and an outsider, and may lie behind the strong feeling of loneliness and
disconnection reported by young people with homosexual attraction in this
study. Moreover, homosexual attraction may be taken as an indication of
– Homo? – 173