Gender, Body and Sexuality: Youth and their Experience and Use of Urban Public Space

Abstract

Young people’s use and experience of public space is strongly determined by gender. This article seeks to explore how the intersection of age and gender gives rise to specific practices and behaviors that shape youths’ experience in the city. The study is based on a bibliographical revision, starting from the difficult definition of youth and their controversial relation with public space. The analysis centers on the relevance of the visibility of the sexed body in public space and how patriarchy determines both the practices and experiences of these spaces. Using fear on the streets as an example, the article shows how gender, sexuality and also ethnicity condition access to and mobility in urban public spaces. It demonstrates how gender and sexuality are determining factors in young people’s experience of public space and why it is necessary to take into account their changing identities when studying how youth use public space to avoid homogenizing biases.