Our search for a theoretical or conceptual framework for ordering the material ended with major emphasis being placed on the interactionist approach, but with allowance for the important developmental aspects of adolescent sexual experience. In an interactionist approach, the situation or the event and the meeting of the participants are central. A situation of sexual intimacy involves three presences: oneself (self or ego), the other person (specific other) or others (specific others), and peers, parents, community, and society in the consciousness of each of the participants (the generalized other). The specific other or specific others refer to persons physically present in a situation with oneself. They are the ones who act-the actors. In this study we will be looking at sexual encounters from the adolescent actor's point of view as much as possible, not from an adult's or a sexologist's point of view. How does the young person see his encounters? What do they mean to him? In other words, self (or ego) in this study is always the adolescent, no matter the age of the specific other or others.
The persons physically present are part of the environment for him. They are
part of the conditions of his behavior, and they are the subjects and the objects of his
behavior, as he is a subject and the object of their behavior. Theoretically, there is no
difference between self and the specific other, since both are participants in the
activity, except from the point of view of the observer, be he participant or researcher.
The one the observer identifies with is conceptualized as self or ego. Other
participants are referred to as specific others to designate them from self and from the
third category of "presences" in the situation, namely the generalized other. The
'generalized other' influences the situation, not as an active participant, but through
having had prior impact in socializing the actors.
For example, the adolescent is fully
aware that there are sexual principles of right and wrong that are accepted by his
peers, his parents, and by others in the community and in society. This constitutes the
generalized other present in his consciousness, which influence him as he and his
partner engage in intimacy-kissing, fondling, and caressing. If, on the other hand,
his parents or some other persons representing the generalized other happens in on
the activity, those people become an "audience" to that action, and drastically alter the
situation and the action.
For erotic interaction to take place, there must be at least two persons present-
the self and one specific other. On some occasions, almost the same effect can be
obtained, however, without the presence of a specific other. For example, an adolescent
boy masturbating may fantasize a desirable specific other (his girlfriend), or fantasize
what would happen if a generalized other (in the person of his mother) should happen
in on him while he is masturbating. Either fantasized person can markedly affect the
quality of his enjoyment of masturbating. To the extent that the fantasized other
affects his behavior or his pleasure, there is, in fact, another person present.
The outcomes of sexual encounters can be outcomes for the self, for specific
other(s), for the generalized other, or for all three. The outcome can be immediate or
long-range; they can be hidden or revealed. An adolescent girl who experiences
intercourse for the first time "loses her virginity." This is an immediate outcome. If she
becomes pregnant in the process, the outcomes are long-range and socially involved.
Loss of virginity may be hidden from the public; pregnancy cannot be hidden.
In a complex, pluralistic society, such as is characteristic of the United States, the
generalized other present in a situation may not be the same generalized other for all
participants or on all occasions.
There are proper generalized other and sub rosa
generalized other; there are generalized adult others and generalized youth others, for
example. Not all participants follow the same generalized other. What is proper in a
situation involving intimacy is a matter of judgment, and what is acceptable to the
actors and to the generalized other becomes very important. "All tactical advantage is
with the acceptable." Acceptability creates consensus; sexual behavior, like other
social behavior, is complex, and is mentally, emotionally, and physically tiring if it is
not acceptable behavior (Galbraith, 1958, p. 8). Seduction generally involves a greater
investment of effort, and is more tiring, than is intimacy between readily consenting
adults, for instance.
The participants must adapt not only to self, to each other, and to the
requirements of the generalized other, but also to the conditions of the external
environment. They must concern themselves with control over parts of the situation
in the performance of their activity, they must concern themselves with the
management and expression of their sentiments and tensions, and must attempt to
preserve the relationship between themselves, unless the encounter is a fleeting one
in which they have very little invested, such as a "blind" date, a casual sexual liaison,
rape, or other form of sexual exploitation.