No Defining Characteristic

I struggled to choose just one important passage for my MVP this week, but I stuck with the conclusion from Diamond and Savin-Williams “The Intimate Relationsips of Sexual Minority Youth”

“Perhaps the single most defining characteristic of sexual-minority youths’ intimate relationships is that they have no single defining characteristics: the types of casual, intimate, platonic, and romantic relationships these youths pursue with same-sex and other-sex peers are as diverse as the youths themselves.”

I chose this passage I found it succinctly summarized the article’s arguments: no sexual minority youth is like the other. Yes, components such as the youth’s ethic background, sex, biology, or the potential partners they are exposed to can determine youth’s expression of sexuality. Yet, based on my impression from the readings, nothing is surprising when studying the intimate relationships of sexual minority youth. Educators must, then, embrace the diversity, as the article concludes, and challenge preconceptions about sexuality. Researchers must value the contribution of all youth when studying sexuality in adolescense, not exclusively heterosexual or homosexual youth.