Institutional Vacuum and Media Construction of Adolescent Sexuality in Canada and Chile: The Risk Imaginary

Abstract

This paper compares the media coverage of adolescent sexuality’s narratives conveyed by a sample of mainstream newspapers in Canada and Chile, two societies committed to enhance their commercial and intercultural cooperation in spite of different juridical and political tructures, traditions and developmental levels. The analysis of discursive dominant axes such as the risks associated with sexual practice, the legitimization of contraception in reaction to sexual abuse, or self-aggressions among teens reveals an informative vacuum triggered by a catastrophist perspective of adolescent sexuality that limits the debate about who (the state, educators, parents, students) must assume a determinant role in the production and outreach of such contents. In response to this institutional vacuum, an alternative teen path emerges that not only highlights the doubts inherent at this stage of the personal development, but also welcomes the existence and manifestation of diverse sexual identities, thus challenging the restricted dichotomy between masculinity and feminity. Such openness subverts the risk imaginary depicted by popular written media in both countries.