“Once you get a reputation, your life's like … ‘wrecked’”

Abstract

Abstract This article concerns the issues of young women's reputations. By employing a notion of “technology” to investigate “the practices, knowledges and strategies” which surround young women's reputations, this article draws on the recent findings of a 3-year Australian study of young women, heterosexuality, and safe sex practices. By focussing upon the ways in which young women's social lives are both reflected in, and regulated by, a concern for reputation, new insights are generated about the social context in which young people's sexual practice takes place.